Source: What You Don’t Know About Stayman by Chris Mulley
When I was young (and foolish?) I decided that I should try to play a relay system. My starting point was Nigel Dutton’s book on Moscito. One thing that Nigel said in that book has stuck with me over the years:
Stayman is a relay, asking opener to show major suit holdings.
Nigel was making the point that relays are not scary – we’ve all been playing them from early on in our bridge education. The point that I wish to make here is that because Stayman is a relay, you can use it for all sorts of weird and wonderful things.
Most people, however, don’t think about their Stayman continuations at all and hence they lose many, many opportunities. In particular, many people do not use the 3-level by responder in a useful way. In this article I will outline how Paul and I make use of these bids. The aim is not to get everyone playing what we play. The aim is to get you thinking of what you can do with Stayman.
1 Slam tries looking for fits (including minors): 3
as a further relay
Because we play full transfers (including 2
as a transfer to clubs), we do not need to use Stayman followed by 3 to show a hand that is weak with clubs. Some use it to show an invitational hand with clubs, but the gains in doing that are minimal (as there are a number of other options that you can choose with those hands) and the frequency is extremely low. Instead, we use a 3 bid as asking further questions about opener’s distribution. The responses to the 3 enquiry depend on exactly what opener responded to Stayman in the first place.
After a 2
response
3: 3 = 3 = (4 = 3). Responder can bid 3
to ask which is the 4-card minor (3 = clubs; 3NT = diamonds … we always show things “up the line”)
3, 5 clubs
3 5 diamonds
3NT (3 = 2) = 4 = 4 (sometimes this is 2 = 2 = (5 = 4) where we have perversely opened that hand 1NT. The key point is that the bid shows at least 4 cards in each minor).
After a 2/2 response
3 “Extra length” in a major (5 in the one bid or 4/4 in majors; 3 asks which it is)
3 4 clubs
3 4 diamonds
3NT 4-3-3-3 (four in the major already shown)
This is an absolute godsend when responder has a really good hand (16+) and might be interested in slam if a 4-4 or 5-3 minor suit fit can be located. It also highlights when opener has the dreaded 4-3-3-3, which is often a bad shape for playing slams opposite another balanced or semibalanced hand.
Incidentally, Paul and I also graft this part (with minor variations) onto our “Puppet Stayman” auctions after a 2NT opening.
2 Game forcing hands with 5+ diamonds and 4+ clubs
We recently decided to graft this onto our system. Hands with longer clubs than diamonds are easy: transfer to clubs and then bid diamonds. When the diamonds are longer, using traditional methods you are required to go past 3NT in order to show both of your suits. It occurred to me that we weren’t doing anything useful with our 3 bid after we have received a response to Stayman. So, we decided that “Stayman followed by 3” would show a game forcing hand with longer diamonds than clubs and an interest in playing something apart from 3NT.
3 Three-suited with a short major
These are hands where you often want to avoid 3NT unless partner has a double stopper in your shortage. Using Stayman can uncover a 4-4 major suit fit (or, potentially, a Moysian fit) as an alternative place to play. If partner responds in your shortage, 3NT is normally OK. Over 2, you can jump to 3/3 to show where your shortage is. This allows the 1NT opener to place the contract depending on his hand.
Conclusion
Hopefully this has shown that there is an opportunity for you to use 3, 3, 3 and 3 after the initial Stayman response to add further accuracy to your game and slam bidding. One of the advantages of playing relay systems is the ability to use seemingly idle bids to request and convey specific information. There is no reason why Stayman cannot also be used in that fashion.