Sunday, February 23, 2003 12:50 AM

Hand Evaluation - Re-Stayman

PITBULLS:

Playing 4 way transfers , 2♠ is already defined to show all ♣ hands. Therefore Re-Stayman replaces minor suit Stayman. A 1NT opener is supposed to be a balanced hand . There are only three patterns that fit that criteria . 4-4-3-2 , 4-3-3-3 and 5-3-3-2 unless you are taking some terrorist action . Playing 4 way transfers , you have a very useful idle bid . You do not need a club bid after Stayman anymore to show a weak club hand & you do not need it to show a strong club hand . 5-4-3-1 hands with 5 clubs are also described with other bids . You can define 3♣ after using Stayman as a minor suit Stayman or “re-Stayman” with the purpose of getting to a slam . This bid also has the dual use to find out if partner opened 1NT on a 5 card major . This bid is puppet Stayman & minor suit Stayman all rolled into one bid !! For those who only play Puppet Stayman after a 2NT opener , you also need this bid to find awkward to bid minor fits .

You have this hand ♠xx ♥xx ♦AKxxx ♣AQJx and partner opens 1NT . With the appropriate hand , we have a minor suit slam . Lets put our distribution asking re-Stayman to work . The fact that Stayman is used first & partner denies a major or bids a major before the 3♣ bid is made makes pin pointing the suits easy. You are putting the Stayman bid to work for you as you build on the information to find out the exact distribution of the 1NT opener. Since My partners & I play Stayman extensions that 2NT & 3♣ show 4-4 in the majors , this major suit combination can not exist with the re-Stayman bid. Therefore , there are only 3 cases that Re-Stayman applies.

Case I Where partner does not have a major and bids 2♦. You have bid 2♣ and partner bids 2♦ so lets bid 3♣ to find out her distribution . It can only be the 3 patterns above , so it is not hard to agree to bids to describe these. Lets define 3♦ to show the 3-2-4-4 distribution with 4-4 in the minors. O.K. that takes care of that pattern . She could have opened 1NT with a 5 card minor so lets define 3♥ to show the lower ranking 5 card minor and 3♠ to show the higher ranking 5 card minor after your 3♣ inquiry . O.K. that gets rid of the 5-3-3-2 pattern . Only 1 pattern left and that is the ugly 4-3-3-3 distribution . Lets define a 3NT response to 3♣ for that pattern .

Case II If partner responds a major ( hearts ) to your Stayman , you can still ask for her pattern . Bid 3♣ and if she opened 1NT with a 5 card heart suit she rebids it . This is the puppet Stayman part of this bid . After your 3♣ inquiry , 3♦ says she has a 4 card diamond suit with her 4 hearts & 3♠ ( other major) shows the club suit ( black ) with the 4 hearts. 3NT directly over 3♣ would show the 4-3-3-3 hand . Again all three distributions covered. Diamonds are always natural with Re-Stayman.

Case III Finally if partner responds spades to your Stayman , 3♣ can still ask for the various distributions and you have more room so you can pin point the minors right away . Partner bids spades again with 5 of them, 3♦ with a 4 card diamond suit & the other major 3♥ with a 4 card club suit . Diamonds are always natural with these major sequences. 3NT after 3♣ would show the ugly 4-3-3-3 . Again all distributions covered.

Once a minor fit is found , 4 of the minor is KCB by either partner and setting that suit as trumps. If no fit is found we play 3NT , if a fit is found we are off to the races. This is not as complicated as it seems and it fits right in with 4 way transfers . It is the only complete pattern asking bid in Bridge that I know about anyway. The bid makes minor suit toys extinct like 2♠ minor suit Stayman and puppet Stayman .

Tom and I had a sequence where this tool would be very helpful. I held ♠AJ87 ♥Jxx ♦KQ10x ♣Ax and Tom opened 1NT . I bid Stayman and he replied 2♦. I do not like our chances in 6NT as I only held 15 HCP. However, I had a lot of controls and a doubleton club so a minor suit slam might be a possibility. The 3♣ pattern asking bid should find our minor fit if we have one. I bid 3♣ and Tom bids 3♠ which shows a 5 card diamond suit after denying a major in the first instance! I have struck gold but I can not bid 4♦ as that is KCB and I do not have a heart control. Any bid other then 3NT implies diamonds so I bid 4♣ which is a club control . Tom replies with 4♥ and with my spade ace & good trump I leap to 6♦ . With a non club lead this in an excellent slam ( Tom held Qx of clubs ) . The spades behave so a club gets discarded on the 4^th spade and you just concede the heart king and the jack of hearts is your 12 th trick .

Tom & I had another sequence recently that brings in understandings after you use the 3♣ inquiry. I held ♠QJx ♥AJ10 ♦1098 ♣AQJx & opened 1NT. Tom bid Stayman & after my 2♦ reply , he asked for my distribution. I bid 3NT which shows the 4-3-3-3 with an undisclosed 4 card minor. Tom continued with 4♣ so I can show a 4 card diamond suit by bidding 4♦ , I can show a maximum with clubs by Q bidding & bid 4NT with a minimum . Tom held ♠Ax ♥xx ♦AKxx ♣K1098x so if I had a maximum like ♠KQx ♥Axx ♦Qxx ♣AQxx , we are cold for a grand in clubs. However with my minimum 15 HCP , QJx in the major, I bid 4NT so that’s where we play it for 660.

Tom and I had an auction where we got to a 75% vulnerable slam with the “puppet Stayman” part of the tool. I held ♠Q98 ♥KQxx ♦AQ1098 ♣x and Tom opened 1NT . I bid Stayman , Tom bid 2♠ so I decided to “re-Stayman” the hand . I bid 3♣ , LHO doubled & Tom bid 3♠ to show the 5 card suit !! Aided by the opponent who doubled my singleton , I bid Blackwood . Tom had ♠AJ10xx ♥Ax ♦Jxx ♣Axx so it’s a two finesse grand or a 75% small. A victory for the system to “check back” to find out if he had a 5 card major suit !!

This bid can be used as a passed hand . I open 1NT with ♠AQx ♥A109x ♦xx ♣AQxx , Tom as a passed hand bids 2♣ . I bid 2♥, Tom bids 3♣ which I responded 3♠ to show my 4 clubs. Tom has ♠K10xx ♥Qxx ♦x ♣K109xx , leaps to 5♣ for +600. At the other table they were in 3NT down one with no diamonds on an invitation to 3NT auction.

Anyway , the 1NT bid is the corner stone of your bidding system . You should have a tool that identifies a 5 card minor or major in partners hand & also allows you to find a 4-4 minor fit. The repeated Stayman bid is the tool to do this . All established partnerships should have a variation of this bid . Might be a high learning curve at first but with practice it is very logical. Stan Cabay & Maurice have their own scheme , which is different from the above , but it works so they find their minor fits.