The Whole Point

8th October – Board 9. East/West Game. Dealer North.

The whole point of puppet Stayman is to let the strong hand be declarer and how to achieve that can be confusing at times.

	North: S K 8 4 H J 10 9 4 D K 8 6 C 7 4 3
West: S 9 5 3 2 H A 8 6 2 D A 9 5 C 10 9		East: S A J 10 6 H K Q D Q 3 C A K J 6 2
	South: S Q 7 H 7 5 3 D J 10 7 4 2 C Q 8 5

West	North	East	South
	No	2C	No
2D	No	2NT	No
3C	No	3D	No
3NT	No	4S	End

East will show her big hand one way or another and 3C asks for five card majors. 3D denies a five card major but promises a t least one four card one so West knows that the final contract should be either 4H or 4S. However responder is now supposed to bid the major he doesn’t hold which can be problematic when he holds both and the suggested way to get round this is to bid 3NT showing both majors – and to stare at partner hard. (Not really, this last bit. But it does happen!) So an attentive opener can now bid four of the appropriate major and everyone is happy.