Sunday, October 30, 2005 6:10 PM

Weak Stayman Hands

PITBULLS:

Playing two level Smolen , assumes that Stayman is bid with all invitational hands or game forcing or slam going hands with the Smolen shape ( 5-4 majors) . Match point players who like garbage Stayman so that they can get out of NT to a major , do not like 2 level Smolen. There are some hands though , that you can gamble with Stayman and not get hurt playing this system. The stiff club hands that you are willing to pass 2♦ or any major works OK. With 5♠ & 4♥ and a weak hand you can have the best of both worlds. You bid Stayman and if partner has a major she bids it so all well and good , you are out of 1NT. If partner bids 2♦ , you bid 2♥ which is a Smolen relay to 2♠ which you now pass. You lose nothing over standard garbage Stayman with these weak major hands.

What about the 4♠ & 5♥ weak hands ? With this particular weak hand , you can not bid Stayman so you must transfer to hearts and pass. With weak hands you may miss your 4-4 spade fit. Not a huge price to pay in IMPS ( inferior partial possibly) . With all other Smolen shape hands , you must use Stayman ( with that one exception) . With an invitational range 4♠ & 5♥ you bid Stayman and if partner bids a major then success. If opener bids 2♦ , you bid 2♠ Smolen showing the 5♥ and 4♠ . The NT opener 2NT as ordered. If you were gambling slightly with your Stayman and are willing to play 2NT you just pass. Axxx Kxxxx xx xx .

The advantage of this Smolen system is you can show all invitational 5-4’s in the major hands as well as all game forcing or slam invitational hands with their patterns at a low level. BJ Trelford held a classic hand for this system AQxxx AKxx Qxx x during the CNTC zone final. This hand has the classic “Smolen shape” so you start proceedings with Stayman. Partner gives the disappointing response of 2♦. Here is the power of this system . You can show 5-4-2-2 , 5-4-3-1 or even 5-4-4-0 hands either invitational , game forcing or slam invitational.

OK invitational 5♠-4♥ hands are described by bidding Stayman followed by a Smolen relay of 2♥ and then 2NT after the 2♠ forced response. Partner knows that you are 5-4 in the majors with invitational values. Simple. With 5♥-4♠ non game going hands are simple to invite . Over a 2♦ response to Stayman , you bid 2♠ Smolen and partner is forced to relay to 2NT. You just pass or bid 3NT. Simple.

The game forcing Smolen hands you can map out your pattern so partner can bid the best game. This discussion of course assumes a 2♦ response to your Stayman. With 5-4-2-2 (both ways) partner leaps to 3NT after the relay to 2♠ ( 5 spades) or bids 3NT after the Smolen 2♠ bid forces 2NT ( 5 hearts) . Now to the 5-4-3-1 or 5-4-4-0 hands with game forcing values but no slam interest. The 3♠ bid is reserved in both Smolen sequences to shows the 5-4-3-1 or 5-4-4-0 hands . This treatment also allows invitational 5-5’s to be shown naturally. The NT opener is now aware that there is extreme shortness in a minor over there so may prefer the 5-3 or even 5-2 major fit..

Back to the BJ hand in the CNTC zone finals. With slam interest , you use splinter theory for slam investigation. BJ has modified the system to jump in the fragment but same difference. BJ with his hand leaps to 4♦ which shows a stiff club. Partner can evaluate her hand based on club duplication and spade fit. I held Kxx QJ AJ10 Axxxx and 6♠ is a 50 % grand ! With serious club duplication , it is very likely that 6♠ would have no play. It does not matter which Smolen sequence you initiate 5♥-4♠ or 5♠-4♥ , the jump to the 4 level shows the 5-4-3-1 or 5-4-4-0 slam going hands . Change BJ’s hand to AKxx AQxxx Qxx x and after a 2♦ response to Stayman he would bid 2♠ . This usually brings 2NT ( unless heart preference) and then a jump in the minor or just bidding the minor at the 3 level describes the slam try perfectly. If I held QJ Kxx AJx Axxxx we are in 6♥ due to the good fit and lack of club duplication of value.

What if we struck out in these slam try hands ? In other words , the splinter showed that we have horrible duplication of value. 4NT is KCB in support of the long major so returning to the trump suit is the “death response” to play. If we bid the shorter major, this is a relay to 4NT to play ! We have a 4-3 major fit and with duplication of value 4NT is the spot to play this hand.

These Smolen bids have an unexpected good side effect. You can cheat and bid Stayman with invitational 5-5’s as long as you have spades as the anchor suit. After the relay to 2♠ , hearts , diamonds and clubs bid at the 3 level are all invitational 5-5’s ! . With hearts as the anchor suit & invitational hands you transfer to hearts and then bid 2♠ which is also used as a relay to 2NT. Now bidding a suit shows an invitational 5-5 with hearts as the anchor suit. The relay principle in action. If you use a relay you are weaker then bidding naturally which is game forcing.

With practice , this relay structure is an excellent approach to Stayman & Transfers. You cover all invitational hands , game forcing hands , slam hands and some of the weak hands with the majors. You give up very little over the standard approach and gain accuracy with invitational hands and slam going hands. Standard Stayman & transfer sequences have no invitational 5-5 sequences nor good slam try tools. Actually , minor suit slam try theory has surpassed major suit slam tries ! With re-Stayman , showing 5-5 strong minors , and 5-4-3-1 hands in the minors are quite advanced. Stayman & Transfers have their original understandings circa 50 years ago and lag way behind .