Stayman, Transfers, and replying to 1NT
Jan. 24th, 2013 10:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackWhen partner opens 1NT, you know quite a lot about their hand. You know it's balanced, and you know how many high card points it has within quite a narrow range.
Thus, you should already know about what contract you want to play. The most common options are:
* We have 25+ points between us, we want to play in 3NT.
* I have a four or five card major suit and want to find out if partner has a fit for it
* We don't have enough for game but I'm happy to play in 1NT
* Agh! I don't have any points, but I have a 5+ card suit, playing in two of that will be
What you almost never need to do is convey any information to your partner. Since you know everything about her hand, and she knows comparatively little about your hand, most of the potential bids are directed to finding out something quite specific about the 1NT hand (eg. "does it have four spades" or "do you have 14 pts or only 12") or just to bid the final contract.
Stayman 2C response to 1NT
If one partner opens 1NT and the other partner sees they have 25+ pts between them, they normally bid 3NT.
However, most people reckon that if you have the same strength but also an 8-card fit in a major suit, 4H or 4S will make more often than 3NT. I honestly don't think this is vital for beginners -- if you're a beginner, just be happy that you found a game, and worry whether another game would be 20% better later.
The major purpose of Stayman is that you can open 1NT with a four card major suit, and then partner is able to find out if you have an 8-card fit in a major suit and bid 4H or 4S instead of 3NT. If you're happy to just always play in 3NT, that's fine, but almost everyone plays stayman and assumes you do too, so it's worth knowing what it is.
It's actually quite simple. As an immediate response to 1NT, bidding 2C is not natural, but says, very specifically, "Partner, do you have a four card major suit? If so, bid it. If not, bid 2D".
Note, someone bidding Stayman will usually have a four card major suit themself and points for game, but the point is an INSTRUCTION to partner, not to convey information to them.
The idea is that if you ALREADY know that you want to bid 3NT, you can bid stayman first, find out what partner has, and then bid 3NT, 4H or 4S as appropriate. If you don't know what level you want to bid, stayman won't help you!
Invitation
If partner opens 1NT and you have 24-26 points between you, you may not know if you have enough points for game. The normal solution is to bid 2NT, meaning "We may have enough for game. If you have a minimum number of high card points for your opening, pass. If you have a maximum, bid 3NT."
It's possible to combine this with stayman. Eg. bid stayman first, and if partner bids a suit you have four of, bid 3H or 3S to say "pass or bid game in this suit", and if not, bid 2NT to say "pass or bid 3NT".
Bidding suits in response to 1NT
Other than "do you have a four card major", the other two most common responses to 1NT are "Ooh, I have lots of hearts, lets play game in hearts" or "Agh! I have no points, but lots of hearts, lets play in two hearts, that's less disastrous than everything else".
I think it's important to decide WHICH of those bidding hearts means. If you're a beginner, either assumption will be fine, but you can't just bid hearts to say hearts, and then expect opener to do something sensible. You already know roughly how many points they have, so either 2H is always forcing, or opener will essentially always pass.
My suggestion for someone who doesn't want to play artificial bids is that 2D, 2H, 2S and 3C mean "agh, no points, lets just play in this contract". Shows 5+ cards and no points, so you have a 7 card fit and maybe an 8 card fit. Opener should pass.
If you have six hearts or spades and enough points for game, you should just immediately bid game. You know partner has at least two trumps for you, if you bid something else, what are you hoping they'll contribute to the discussion? You're just giving them a chance to pass when they shouldn't.
If you have five hearts or spades, you can bid 3H or 3S to say "partner, bid 4H/4S if you have three cards, else bid 3NT." Or maybe that should also mean "pass with a minimum", I'm not sure.
I don't mind if people get this exactly right, but I want to convey a sense of the possible meanings you want to convey.
Transfers
Most non-beginners play transfers. This means, instead of bidding H or S, bid 2D or 2H which asks partner to bid H or S automatically on your behalf. This shows 5+ cards. It says absolutely nothing about what partner has, they just automatically bid what you want.
This means, you can convey different hands quite precisely.
* If you want to exit the bidding in a suit, transfer then pass
* If you want to bid game in a suit, transfer then bid game.
* If you want to bid game in NT, but have five hearts or spades and want to play in that suit if partner has a fit, transfer, then bid 3NT.
* If you have five or six cards, and nearly the points for game, then transfer and bid 2N or 3H/3S, and trust partner to raise to game with a maximum.
* If you have a four card major, bid stayman, then bid game or invite.
Many people have a few more bids to show more sorts of hands, but Stayman plus major suit transfers is what you can rely on most people knowing, and if you don't know what your partner plays, don't assume they know what it means if you bid 2S.
Thus, you should already know about what contract you want to play. The most common options are:
* We have 25+ points between us, we want to play in 3NT.
* I have a four or five card major suit and want to find out if partner has a fit for it
* We don't have enough for game but I'm happy to play in 1NT
* Agh! I don't have any points, but I have a 5+ card suit, playing in two of that will be
What you almost never need to do is convey any information to your partner. Since you know everything about her hand, and she knows comparatively little about your hand, most of the potential bids are directed to finding out something quite specific about the 1NT hand (eg. "does it have four spades" or "do you have 14 pts or only 12") or just to bid the final contract.
Stayman 2C response to 1NT
If one partner opens 1NT and the other partner sees they have 25+ pts between them, they normally bid 3NT.
However, most people reckon that if you have the same strength but also an 8-card fit in a major suit, 4H or 4S will make more often than 3NT. I honestly don't think this is vital for beginners -- if you're a beginner, just be happy that you found a game, and worry whether another game would be 20% better later.
The major purpose of Stayman is that you can open 1NT with a four card major suit, and then partner is able to find out if you have an 8-card fit in a major suit and bid 4H or 4S instead of 3NT. If you're happy to just always play in 3NT, that's fine, but almost everyone plays stayman and assumes you do too, so it's worth knowing what it is.
It's actually quite simple. As an immediate response to 1NT, bidding 2C is not natural, but says, very specifically, "Partner, do you have a four card major suit? If so, bid it. If not, bid 2D".
Note, someone bidding Stayman will usually have a four card major suit themself and points for game, but the point is an INSTRUCTION to partner, not to convey information to them.
The idea is that if you ALREADY know that you want to bid 3NT, you can bid stayman first, find out what partner has, and then bid 3NT, 4H or 4S as appropriate. If you don't know what level you want to bid, stayman won't help you!
Invitation
If partner opens 1NT and you have 24-26 points between you, you may not know if you have enough points for game. The normal solution is to bid 2NT, meaning "We may have enough for game. If you have a minimum number of high card points for your opening, pass. If you have a maximum, bid 3NT."
It's possible to combine this with stayman. Eg. bid stayman first, and if partner bids a suit you have four of, bid 3H or 3S to say "pass or bid game in this suit", and if not, bid 2NT to say "pass or bid 3NT".
Bidding suits in response to 1NT
Other than "do you have a four card major", the other two most common responses to 1NT are "Ooh, I have lots of hearts, lets play game in hearts" or "Agh! I have no points, but lots of hearts, lets play in two hearts, that's less disastrous than everything else".
I think it's important to decide WHICH of those bidding hearts means. If you're a beginner, either assumption will be fine, but you can't just bid hearts to say hearts, and then expect opener to do something sensible. You already know roughly how many points they have, so either 2H is always forcing, or opener will essentially always pass.
My suggestion for someone who doesn't want to play artificial bids is that 2D, 2H, 2S and 3C mean "agh, no points, lets just play in this contract". Shows 5+ cards and no points, so you have a 7 card fit and maybe an 8 card fit. Opener should pass.
If you have six hearts or spades and enough points for game, you should just immediately bid game. You know partner has at least two trumps for you, if you bid something else, what are you hoping they'll contribute to the discussion? You're just giving them a chance to pass when they shouldn't.
If you have five hearts or spades, you can bid 3H or 3S to say "partner, bid 4H/4S if you have three cards, else bid 3NT." Or maybe that should also mean "pass with a minimum", I'm not sure.
I don't mind if people get this exactly right, but I want to convey a sense of the possible meanings you want to convey.
Transfers
Most non-beginners play transfers. This means, instead of bidding H or S, bid 2D or 2H which asks partner to bid H or S automatically on your behalf. This shows 5+ cards. It says absolutely nothing about what partner has, they just automatically bid what you want.
This means, you can convey different hands quite precisely.
* If you want to exit the bidding in a suit, transfer then pass
* If you want to bid game in a suit, transfer then bid game.
* If you want to bid game in NT, but have five hearts or spades and want to play in that suit if partner has a fit, transfer, then bid 3NT.
* If you have five or six cards, and nearly the points for game, then transfer and bid 2N or 3H/3S, and trust partner to raise to game with a maximum.
* If you have a four card major, bid stayman, then bid game or invite.
Many people have a few more bids to show more sorts of hands, but Stayman plus major suit transfers is what you can rely on most people knowing, and if you don't know what your partner plays, don't assume they know what it means if you bid 2S.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-24 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-24 01:58 pm (UTC)Yes, it's rather brain-dumpy, sorry :) I think if we talk through it, though, we can clarify which bits are actually important, whatever we decide to play.