Friday,
April 14, 2006 11:03 PM
Stayman - Smolen Basics
PITBULLS:
Showing
5-4 in the majors has always been a part of Stayman. If partner responded 2♦ to your Stayman inquiry , a jump in your 5
card suit showed this particular hand. This “style” violates the bidding
philosophy of keeping the bidding low when you have unlimited hands . Slam exploration on these auctions started
at the 4 level and you have no idea if partner is 5-4-2-2 , 5-4-3-1 , 5-4-4-0
or even 6-4 . This treatment wrong sided the contract as the lead came through
the strong NT , if you did play in your 5-3 fit.
Lee
Barton came up with the idea to preserve the transfer by jumping in your 4 card
suit. This treatment got registered as a convention by Mike Smolen. This was
only a partial fix however , as the auction was still up at the 4 level. Stayman took a gigantic turn for the better when somebody came up with
the idea of having Smolen at the two level. This
has a multitude of advantages as you get to describe all 5-4’s in the majors either weak , invitational or strong. If strong , you get to
find out if partner is 5-4-3-1 and where the stiff is located so splinter
theory can be used for slam purposes. There are also useful spin-off effects where you can use this structure to show 5-5 invitational
hands and 5-4 & 6-4 in the minors with a 4 card major. This is invaluable
for slam investigation or finding the right game.
Here
are 4 hands of the “Smolen” distribution with spades
as the anchor suit and watch how easy it is for this structure to
identify them . QJ10xx J109x xxx x
, QJ10xx KQxx xx xx
, AKxxx QJ10x xxx x , AKxxx
QJ10x Axx x . All auctions start with Stayman and you get a 2♦ response. With the 1st
hand you bid Smolen at the two level which is 2♥. With this structure , the
1NT opener must relay to 2♠ and you drop her in that
spot. The 2nd hand you now bid 2NT
after the 2♠
relay which is the invitational Smolen hand with spades as the anchor suit. The
3rd hand you raise the relay to 3♠ which shows the 5-4-3-1
Smolen hand that is forcing to game but not a slam try. The 4th hand
after partner takes the relay to 2♠ you jump in the fragment (
4♦)
to map out your stiff club. Partner with QJ10
AKx Kx Axxxx might
drive to a grand slam in spades via 4NT KCB for spades. If partner held QJ10 Kxx KJx KQJx , she would bid 4♠ to play due to the club
duplication. If xx Kxx KQxx AKQx
she would bid 4♥
which is a relay to 4NT by responder to play
it there.
Here are 4 hands of the “Smolen” distribution with hearts as the anchor suit. J109x QJ10xx xxx x , KQxx QJ10xx
xx xx , QJ10x AKxxx xxx x , QJ10x
AKxxx Axx x . All auctions except
the first, start with
Stayman and you get a 2♦
response. With the 1st hand you transfer to hearts and drop her
there instead of using Stayman. The 2nd hand you bid 2♠ ( Smolen relay ) . With this structure , the 1NT opener must relay to 2NT and you drop her in that
spot or bid 3NT. The 3rd hand after the 2NT relay , you bid 3♠ which shows the 4-5-3-1
Smolen hand that is forcing to game but not a
slam try. The 4th hand after partner takes the relay to
2NT you jump in the fragment ( 4♦)
to map out your stiff club. Partner with AKx
QJ10 Kx Axxxx might
drive to a grand slam in hearts via 4NT KCB for hearts. If partner held Kxx QJ10 KJx KQJx , she would bid 4♥ to
play due to the club duplication. If Kxx xx KQxx AKQx she would bid 4♠ which is a relay to 4NT by
responder to play it there.
The above is just the basics
of this excellent system. As mentioned
there are spin offs where you can show 4 of a
major coupled with a 6 or 5 card
minor . You can show any invitational 5-5 with spades as the anchor
suit. The structure blends in with Re-Stayman to reach your minor slams. It
does involve some study &
practice to get use to the Smolen relays. As the 1NT bid is the corner stone of
your bidding structure , this structure improves the partnerships ability to
handle most
distributions that are likely to crop up.