Source: BridgeHands
The benefit of NAMYATS is to differentiate between a strong distributional hand, which may provide a slam opportunity with less opponent interference, and a preemptive bid which has no slam opportunity.
An artificial opening bid of 4
or 4
used to signify a good hand with 7+ card length in Hearts or Spades, respectively. Opener’s hand should hold 8 or 8 1/2 playing tricks with good honors in the major suit, usually accompanied by an outside Ace or King. Conversely, an opening bid of 4
or 4
shows a weak preemptive hand not meeting that criteria.
NAMYATS was created by Sam Stayman who, after creating the Stayman 2 response to partner’s Notrump opener, coined the NAMYATS convention using his name in reverse order (Sam originally suggested the opposite meaning to friends who told him it was backwards; he agreed to their suggestion, saying he would give it his name, albeit with backward spelling of his name!
| Bid | Meaning |
|
4 4 |
Opener shows a good 8 card major with some defensive values, responder signs off in game |
|
4 4 |
Opener shows a weak 8 card major with no defensive values, responder signs off in game |
|
4 |
Responder’s 4NT initiates a straight-forward Blackwood slam convention. |
|
Method 1: Slam Asking NAMYATS Sequence Opener’s 4 |
|
|
4 4 |
Opener’s rebid notifies responder of weak 3+ card side suit. A rebid of Opener’s major suggests no side suit with 3 losers. |
|
Method 2: Key Card NAMYATS Sequence Responder’s step bids shows (not asks) responder’s Key Cards. |
|
|
4 4 |
1st step = 1 or 3 key cards |