Ambitious beginners are often eager to add new conventions. Many bridge teachers will caution them to do this slowly, after they’re comfortable with basic bidding. The reason isn't just that too many new gadgets can tax the memory. It’s that with even the simplest conventions, success depends on much more than just remembering what a bid means.
Some of the first conventions taught to beginners are Stayman and transfer responses to 1NT. Most of us learn these before we have the skills to judge when not to use them and how to handle the follow-ups when we do. With this incomplete knowledge, it’s easy to develop bad habits that have to be “unlearned” as we improve.
Here are some common errors and misconceptions about responses to 1NT openings that you'll want to consider discarding, if you haven't already:
Suicide Stayman. When you first learn Stayman, there's a natural tendency to try it with any hand that has a 4-card major. Responding 2C with a weak hand such as ♠54 ♥QJ54 ♦Q64 ♣J843 is called “Suicide” Stayman because you can’t survive opener’s reply of 2S.
After a disaster or two, most of us see the wisdom in passing 1NT with this hand. Others, however, continue responding 2C in hopes of getting lucky and finding a heart fit. It’s not a good gamble.
Stayman with a weak 5-4. It's tempting to respond 2C to try to find your better fit with ♠Q10843 ♥Q1083 ♦3 ♣654 . That strategy will work as long as opener has a 4-card major, but it becomes another form of Suicide Stayman when he bids 2D. In that auction, the standard meaning for your 2S rebid is invitational.
There's little benefit in searching for a 4-4 fit. The weaker your hand, the less likely it is that a 4-4 will play better than a 5-3 (maybe even a 5-2). To avoid getting too high, it’s better to just transfer to spades and pass when you have less than invitational values.
Telling the same story twice. One source of confusion in Stayman auctions is the inferences in the subsequent bids. After 1NT-2C-2H, a newcomer’s instinct is to show his spades with ♠KQ104 ♥Q5 ♦A865 ♣753 . It usually takes some practice to realize that any bid but a heart raise will confirm the 4-card spade suit.
That may seem to be a problem only for bare beginners, but more experienced players sometimes make the same type of mistake in transfer auctions. In a recent 499er game, more than a third of the field transferred and jumped to 4S holding ♠AQ1043 ♥75 ♦KJ3 ♣863 . They chose to over-emphasize their spades because the suit was strong and/or they were worried about the unstopped suits.
If you look hard enough, you can always find reasons to take partner out of the decision. The most successful players, however, do the opposite. With this hand, the only legitimate excuse for rejecting the choice-of-games 3NT rebid is that you had a club in with your spades (difficult to sell that story in an online game).
Transferring to 5-card minors. When partner opens 1NT or 2NT and you hold a 5-card major, you almost always transfer to your suit, no matter what your strength. Some who play minor-suit transfers believe it’s logical to do the same for clubs and diamonds, but these hands require a different approach.
It’s virtually never right to transfer to a 5-card minor. Even when you hold a 6-card minor, the only times you should show it with a transfer are when you’re weak (planning to pass) or strong (looking for slam). Almost all other minor-suit hands are notrump hands.
Stolen bids. This is a surprisingly popular agreement where responder uses a double of RHO’s overcall to say, “That’s the bid I was going to make”. After 1NT by partner - 2D by RHO, for example, double is a transfer to hearts (bidding 2H would be a transfer to spades).
Mel Colchamiro, Michael Berkowitz and other Bulletin columnists have written about the weaknesses of this convention, so I won't belabor their points. The short version is that it’s helpful to play a double of a 2C overcall as Stayman, but there are better meanings for doubles of other overcalls. I play these doubles as penalty at the two-level, takeout at the three-level. Others prefer to treat all as takeout. Whichever you choose, it rates to be more flexible and effective than the stolen-bid meaning.
© 2021 Karen Walker