Saturday, December 07, 2002 8:40 AM

Hand Evaluation – Systemic ( Puppet Stayman )

PITBULLS:

Bridge bidding as a rule , should follow the basic principle of describing your hand pattern to partner. If you have a balanced hand even with a 5 card suit ( 5-3-3-2) , your rebid or opening bid should be some number of NT. Do not get hung up with your 5 card major when you have a balanced hand & soft values suitable for NT. Sometimes in Bridge , a 5-3 major fit is a better contract than 3NT . Quite often it is nice to know if partner has a 5 card major or minor when she has bid NT. Over 1NT , we have “re-Stayman” to find these things out. What about the 2NT hands ?

Normal Stayman over 2NT is very clumsy for slam bidding. In order to compete with forcing 1♣ systems , you need some systemic help with your 2NT openers. Say the auction goes

2NT-P-3♣-P

3♠-P-4