Puppet Stayman++


Normal Puppet Stayman is used to find out if a 2NT opener has a 5 card major.

2N - 3C ( asks for a 5 card major and is game forcing 6+pts  )

  3H / 3S will show 5 cards major in the bid suit
  3D shows an undisclosed 4 card major
  3NT shows no 5 or 4 card major.

After a 3D response,
                     With one 4 card major, responder will bid the other major at the 3 level.
                     With both 4 card majors, responder will bid 4D.
                     Without a 4 card major, responder bids 3NT.



In order to find 5/4 major suit fits, we have added the following agreements:

To show 5 spades and 4 hearts

2N - 3S ( 5 S and 4 H )
and the responses

3NT = to play.  Opener does not like the majors.
4C  =  super accept in hearts.
4D  =  super accept in spades.
4H  = to play.  Opener has 4 hearts
4S  = to play.   Opener has 3/4 spades

After a super accept, the responder will re transfer to the trump suit and can then use 4NT as normal 1430 or 5C/D as exclusion if void.

for example
2N  -  3S
4C  -  4D
4H  -  5C

4C was a super accept for hearts as trump
4D was a retransfer
4H was setting the trump suit
5C was exclusion blackwood with a void in clubs


To show 5 hearts and 4 spades


You transfer to hearts and bid 3 spades.  This is sorta like Smolen over 2NT.

2NT - 3D  ( xfer to hearts )
3H  -  3S   ( 5 hearts and 4 spades game forcing+ )
opener then can choose between 3NT, 4H and 4S.  Responder will still be able to look for slam once the flavor of the game is established.

All of the normal slam conventions are still available.
over 3N, 4 Clubs is regular gerber
over 4H or 4S, 1430 is used ( or exclusion if responder has a void )

Any Problems???

So what are you giving up using these bids?
You can not use 2N-3S as a minor suit drop transfer.  But with a long minor suit make a guess and bid 3NT.

What about finding minor suit slams after a 2NT opener?