By James R. Klein
Either I am getting a little rigid or my bidding is so bad that I can’t afford the luxury of exotic conventions to take care of hands that rarely come up during a session. However, the chance to expand on the treatment of a familiar cornerstone convention is quite intriguing. The Stayman convention over one no-trump is a prime example of constructive improvement in scope which accomplishes a great deal more than its primary intention of finding a 4-4 major suit fit.
Before you dismiss this idea, ask yourself some of the following questions. Have the opponents to often found the killing lead against your 1NT-3NT gambler? Do you miss your 4-4 minor suit slams and end up playing in bad 3NT contracts? Or worse, do you go down when a minor suit partial is marked? Do you miss games because you are afraid of incorrectly describing a hand with 15 to 17 points and a six card minor by opening 1NT? Do your 4-4 major suit fits frequently take as many or less than if the hand played in no-trump? In general, has your judgment been somewhat less than adequate after partner has opened one no-trump?
Without altering any of the primary meanings of the Stayman sequences, we should be able to handle minor suit slam tries which depend on finding 4-4 fits. Some of the hands referred to are shown below as examples. How would you handle the following hands if you were responding to a 1NT opening by partner?
| Mano 1 | Mano 2 | Mano 3 | Mano 4 | Mano 5 | ||||
 A 10 4 2  3  A Q 6 5  K Q 5 3 |
5 4 3 2 A 10 7 5 K Q 5 4 3 |
A J 10 9 4 K 9 7 5 K 9 8 7 |
J 10 9 5 3 A Q 6 5 K Q 10 9 |
A 10 7 6 J 10 8 A Q 7 2 K Q |
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Hand 1 and 4 will probably produce a minor suit slam if a 4-4 minor suit is found but each can play at other contracts. Hands 1 and 5 could be played at either a spade or a diamond slam if a 4-4 fit is found. If no such fit exists then a 3NT contract may be tried.In order to facilitate exploration of minor suits over 1NT bids, I propose a 2 club response followed by 3 clubs as an extended Stayman asking for other suit information. Let us take a look at some sequences and their meanings.
| Opener Bid | Responder Bid | |||||
| 1NT | 15-17 PH | 2 |
Bid 4 card major | |||
| 2 |
No Major | 3 |
Bid 4 card minor | |||
| 3 |
Suit is Diamond | 3 |
I like Diamond, spade control | |||
| 4 |
Club Control | 4NT | Keycards (Diamond) | |||
| 5 |
1-4 Keycards | 6 |
Slam in Diamonds | |||
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| 1NT | 15-17 PH | 2 |
Bid 4 card major | |||
| 2 |
4 spades cards | 3 |
Bid another 4 card suit | |||
| 3 |
no other | 3NT | to play | |||
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| 1NT | 15-17 PH | 2 |
Bid 4 card major | |||
| 2 |
4 spades cards | 3 |
Bid another 4 card suit | |||
| 3 |
4 heart cards | 4 |
to play | |||
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| 1NT | 15-17 PH | 2 a 2NT |
transfer a los 4 palos | |||
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| 1NT | 15-17 PH | 2 |
Bid 4 card major | |||
| 2 |
4 heart cards | 2NT | Invita a game | |||
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