Partner opens a 15-17 1NT. What's your response holding ♠Q982 ♥Q53 ♦AQ6 ♣1075 ?
Not long after I learned Stayman, I tried it with a hand like this, found a 4-4 spade fit and bid 4S. I was pretty happy that I’d remembered how to use this convention, but disappointed when I saw the traveling score. Other tables had beaten our +620 by scoring +630 in 3NT. When I asked my partner and opponents what I had done wrong, they answered in unison: “Nobody Staymans with that pattern.”
I started doing it their way, most memorably in a team event when I held this hand type again and raised 1NT to 3NT. It failed and we lost 13 IMPs because my counterpart at the other table responded 2C and got to a making 4S. When I asked him why he used Stayman when he had no ruffing value, he replied, "Because partner usually has one.”
Is one of these strategies superior? Or were one or both results just bad luck?
What appears to be conflicting advice is sometimes just two potentially successful ways of solving the same problem. In this case, it will be right to raise to 3NT with some hands and to use Stayman with others. To choose, you have to ignore “always” and “never” rules and evaluate each hand separately.
Keep in mind that what was considered “good bridge” in the past may not work as well today. I heard the “nobody Staymans” rule back when 1NT openers were almost always 4333, 4432 or 5332 with a 5-card minor. Now, players freely open 1NT with a 5-card major, 6-card minor, two doubletons, even a singleton honor. Those possibilities increase the likelihood that a trump contract will play better than notrump.
The recommendations below can help you make the Stayman- vs.-Notrump decision when you hold a 4333 hand with a 4-card major.
Extra values. Choose the notrump raise when you have at least 28 combined points. If partner’s 1NT is 15-17, you’d want to have at least 13 points (or a very strong 12) for 3NT. The extra high-card strength reduces the chance that you have an unstopped or weak suit that the opponents might run. With 12 or fewer high-card points, seek the safety of a 4-4 major fit.
This strength guideline is the one that’s been most successful for me, but it has exceptions, too. Here are some other ways to evaluate borderline hands:
Rule of Three Queens. “With three queens, go out of your way to play notrump", advises expert Danny Kleinman. The more queens you have, the more attractive 3NT is because you don't need a ruff to win the third trick in a suit. You also don't have to worry about a good queen being trumped by the opponents. If I had known about this theory when I held the hand at the top of this page, I might have bid 3NT instead of using Stayman.
Pender Rule. The late Peter Pender recommended raising notrump if your worst tripleton is 9xx or better. With any weaker holding, look for a 4-4 fit. That may seem a strange benchmark, but a 9 can have positional value when opener has AJx or similar. If it worked for Pender -- a Hall of Fame member with 14 national championships – it’s worth considering.
Hearts vs. spades. In close cases, prefer Stayman when you have four hearts and a weak spade holding. If partner happens to have an off-shape 1NT, spades is often his short suit. With spade length, he would have fewer rebid problems and might have opened one of a suit.
“Notrumpish” vs. suit values. This is a more subjective assessment that focuses on the type and location of your honor cards. Best for notrump is a hand that’s heavier in lower honors and high spot cards -- ♠KJ5 ♥Q1083 ♦Q92 ♣K105 . A hand with “aces and spaces” -- ♠872 ♥A873 ♦A53 ♣K64 – tends to be better for suit play, especially if you have no honor in one of your 3-card suits.
© 2021 Karen Walker