1. Lesson 5: STAYMAN (Chapter 13)
Surendra Mehta
January 2007

2. Quick recap
Recap of what we have learnt so far

3. Counting points High Card points Length points Support points Ace - 4
King – 3
Queen – 2 Jack – 1
5-card suit - 1
6-card suit - 2
7-card suit - 3
8-card suit - 4
Voids - 5 Singleton - 2 Doubleton - 1
(when responding)

4. Suit ranking
Clubs
Diamonds
Hearts
Spades
No trumps

5. Unbalanced hand Could have a void Could have a singleton
Could have more than one doubleton
Examples of unbalanced hands: ; ;

6. One No-trump opening bid
Balanced hand
12 or 13 or 14 points
(i.e. not < 12 and not >14 points)
(IT IS IMPORTANT TO STICK TO THIS RULE RIGIDLY TO PASS A CONCISE MESSAGE TO YOUR PARTNER)

7. Opening bid one of a suit
Requires:
Unbalanced hand of > 12 points; or
Balanced hand of with > 14 points
BID LONGEST suit;
If 2 4-carder, bid lower ranking;
If 3 4-carder, bid middle ranking;
If 2 5-carder or 2 6-carder, bid higher

8. Responses to 1NT Balanced hand – 10 pts or less – No bid
Balanced hand – 11 or 12 ????????????
Balanced hand – 13 to 18 pts – 3 NT
Balanced hand – > 18 pts – 4 clubs Gerber
Unbalanced hand with 6-carder or 5-carder - Bid 2D, 2H or 2S in longest suit
(Why not 2 clubs? – Stayman)
Pass with no 5 or 6 carder suits

9. Stayman
What is Stayman?
Condition for Stayman (10 – 12 points)

10. Responses to 1NT (cont)
2Club response is a Stayman asking partner for which major he prefers.
(Partner bids Hearts or Spades or diamond if he does not like any major)
With 14 points and very good major – bid 4 of that major
With 13 points and good major – bid 3 of that major inviting partner to go 4 if he/she has 12 points
With 12 points – just bid 2 of your better major – must have at least 4

11. What if you want to bid clubs?
Responses to 1NT (cont)
What if you want to bid clubs?
Respond two clubs
Partner will take that as stayman and will bid, H, S or D
You bid clubs again and the partner will get a message that club is your genuine bid.