The origin of this conventional method is credited to Mr. Marshall Lauren Miles, who was born in Loma Linda, California, United States, on December 16, 1926, and died in Redlands, California, United States, February 5, 2013. Mr. Marshall Lauren Miles authored various and multiple articles about different features of the game of bridge for the publications The Bridge World, the American Bridge Digest, Bridge Today, and also for the Bridge Bulletin published by the American Contract Bridge League.

Short Biography

Mr. Miles Lauren Miles has won various tournaments throughout a distinguished bridge career, including the Fishbein Trophy and the Life Master Pairs in the year 1961. The Fishbein Trophy is awarded to that bridge player, who wins the most number of masterpoints at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship. He also won the Spingold in the year 1961 (Team mates were Mr. Andy Gabrilovitch, Edwin (Eddie) Kantar, and Mr. Bill Rootan), and also in the year 1962 with team mates Mr. Leonard Harmon, Mr. Edwin (Eddie) Kantar, and Mr. Ivar Stakgold.

Note: The Los Angeles Times published his obituary February 18, 2013.

He also won the World Series Teams Olympiad in the year 2004 with team mates Mr. Leo Bell, Mr. Neil Chambers, Mr. John Onstott, Mr. James (Jim) Robison, and Mr. John Schermer, and which was conducted in Istanbul, Turkey. He is also an ACBL Grand Life Master and elected into the ACBL Hall of Fame in the year 2005.

Principle of the Concept

The idea behind the concept is for the responder to be able to show a variety of holdings with artificial bids at the three level and at the four level with natural bids following an opening bid of 2 No Trump by partner. The range of the 2 No Trump is generally assumed to be limited to 19/20 to 21/22 high card points.

The following schematic should clarify and illustrate the application of this conventional response method.

Opener		Responder		Meaning
2 NT		3		This first response is the Stayman conventional method, which is asking for a 4-card Major suit.
3				If the opener has no 4-card Major suit, then the opener denies by bidding Diamonds.
		4		Miles Response. Following a denial bid by the No Trump bidder, then a bid of 4 Diamonds shows a distribution of exactly 4-4-4-1 with a singleton Club.
3				If the opener has both 4-card Major suits, then the opener bids 3 Hearts.
3				If the opener has a 4-card Spade suit, but not a 4-card Heart suit, then the opener bids 3 Spades.
		4		Miles Response. Following any positive reply of the No Trump bidder, a rebid by the responder of 4 Clubs is Gerber, asking for Aces or Keycards (Roman Keycard Gerber).
		4		Miles Response. Artificial and establishes the Major suit of partner as the trump suit. This artificial bid is a slam try.

When the responder holds slam values the concept of Miles response method only allows the responder to first employ the Stayman conventional method by bidding 3 Clubs and then asking for Aces or Keycards by bidding 4 Clubs as the Gerber conventional method. This means that the partnership may not bid 4 Clubs directly as Ace-asking or Keycard-asking. As a consequence the first response of 3 Clubs does not guarantee the holding of a 4-card Major suit.

Following a positive rebid of 3 Hearts or 3 Spades by the No Trump bidder, the responder can then bid 4 Diamonds as a slam try. The partnership can agree on several forms for responding and showing controls, Aces, and/or Keycards.

Continuances:

Following are other continuances by the responder immediately following a 2 No Trump opening bid by partner.

Opener		Responder		Meaning
2 NT		3		This is a transfer bid to Hearts.
3				Partner should accept the transfer.
		3		The responder is showing a 5-card Heart suit and a 4-card Spade suit.
		4		The responder is showing a 5-card Heart suit and a 5-card Club suit. The stipulation is that if the second bid suit is a Minor suit, then the Minor suit is as long as the Major suit, to which responder transferred the No Trump bidder.
		4		The responder is showing a 5-card Heart suit and a 5-card Diamond suit. The stipulation is that if the second bid suit is a Minor suit, then the Minor suit is as long as the Major suit, to which responder transferred the No Trump bidder.
		3		This is a transfer bid to Spades.
3				Partner should accept the transfer. The responder can, as a continuance, bid a second suit showing a two-suited holding. This strongly shows slam interest.
		3		Following the opening by partner of 2 No Trump the responder can bid 3 Spades. Although this bid is considered to be an artificial bid by the responder this first response is a transfer to 3 No Trump, which the No Trump bidder should accept. The responder then passes if a No Trump game contract is the optimal contract.
3 NT				The No Trump bidder accepts the transfer.
		4		If the responder considers worth a slam try, then a continuance bid of 4 Clubs signifies this slam interest. The No Trump bidder must puppet to 4 Diamonds, and the responder then clarifies his holding.
4				The No Trump bidder accepts the puppet.
		4		The responder promises a two-suited holding with length in Diamonds and a 4-card Major suit.
		4 NT		The responder promises a one-suited holding with long Diamonds.
		4		Following a puppet to 3 No Trump the responder can continue to show slam interest and clarify his holding. With a 4 Diamonds rebid the responder promises a holding with a distribution of 4-4-4-1 with a singleton in Diamonds.
		4		With a 4 Diamonds rebid the responder promises a holding with a distribution of 4-4-4-1 with a singleton in Hearts.
		4		With a 4 Diamonds rebid the responder promises a holding with a distribution of 4-4-4-1 with a singleton in Spades.
		4 NT		This rebid promises a two-suited holding with length in both Minor suits.
		3 NT		Following the opening by partner of 2 No Trump the responder can bid 3 No Trump. This first response is artificial and is forcing to 4 No Trump. The No Trump bidder may not pass. The response is a puppet to 4 Clubs. Once the No Trump bidder bids 4 Clubs, then the responder continues to clarify his holding.
4				The No Trump bidder accepts the puppet.
		4		This continuance shows long Diamonds and Clubs of equal or longer length.
		4		This continuance shows long Hearts and Clubs of equal or longer length.
		4		This continuance shows long Spades and Clubs of equal or longer length.
		4 NT		This continuance is not Ace-asking but rather promises a long Club suit of at least 6 cards.
		4		Following a 2 No Trump opening by partner a 4 Clubs first response is natural and promises a long, but broken Club suit. The Club suit is not solid.
		4		Following a 2 No Trump opening by partner a 4 Diamonds first response is natural and promises a long, but broken Diamond suit. The Diamond suit is not solid.
		4		Following a 2 No Trump opening by partner a 4 Hearts first response is natural and promises a long, but broken Heart suit. The Heart suit is not solid.
		4		Following a 2 No Trump opening by partner a 4 Spades first response is natural and promises a long, but broken Spade suit. The Spade suit is not solid.

If you wish to include this feature, or any other feature, of the game of bridge in your partnership agreement, then please make certain that the concept is understood by both partners. Be aware whether or not the feature is alertable or not and whether an announcement should or must be made. Check with the governing body and/or the bridge district and/or the bridge unit prior to the game to establish the guidelines applied. Please include the particular feature on your convention card in order that your opponents are also aware of this feature during the bidding process, since this information must be made known to them according to the Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge. We do not always include the procedure regarding Alerts and/or Announcements, since these regulations are changed and revised during time by the governing body. It is our intention only to present the information as concisely and as accurately as possible.