Конвенция Stayman в бридже

Bidding convention in contract bridge

Stayman is a bidding convention in the card game contract bridge. It is used by a partnership to find a 4 4 or 5 3 trump fit in a suit after making a one (1NT) opening bid and it has been adapted for use after a 2NT opening, a 1NT overcall, and many other natural notrump bids. The convention is named for Sam Stayman, who wrote the first published description in 1945, but its inventors were two other players: the British expert Jack Marx in 1939, who published it only in 1946, and Stayman's regular partner George Rapée in 1944.

A bid and made in a major suit (i. e. 4 or 4 ) scores better than a game contract bid and made in a minor suit (i. e. 5 or 5 ) or in notrump (i. e. 3NT). Also, the success rate for a game contract in a major suit when a partnership has a combined holding of 26 points and eight cards in the major is about 80%, whereas a game contract in 3NT with 26 (HCP) has a success rate of only 60%, or 50% with 25 HCP; the success rate for a minor suit game contract when holding 26 points is about 30%. Accordingly, partnership priority is to find an eight card or better major suit fit when jointly holding sufficient values for a game contract. 5 3 and 6 2 fits are easy to find in basic methods as responder can bid 3 or 3 over 1NT, and opener will not normally have a 5 card major to bid 1NT. However, finding 4 4 fits presents a problem. The 2 and 2 bids cannot be used for this as they are weak takeouts, a sign off bid.

Today, most players use Stayman in conjunction with Jacoby transfers. With Stayman in effect, the responder practically denies having a five card major, as otherwise he would transfer to the major immediately. The only exception is when responder has 5 4 in the majors; in that case, he could use Stayman, and in the case of a 2 response, bid the five card major at the two level (weakness take out / Garbage Stayman) or at the three level (forcing to game). However, the latter hand can also be bid by first using a transfer and then showing the second suit naturally. The Smolen convention provides an alternative method to show a five card major and game going values. A minor drawback of Jacoby transfers is that a 2 contract is not possible.

The Smolen convention is an adjunct to Stayman for situations in which the notrump opener has denied holding a four card major and responder has a five card major and a four card major with game going values. If the notrump opener responds to the Stayman 2 asking bid with 2, denying a four card major, responder initiates the Smolen Transfer with a jump shift to three of his four card major. The jump shift shows which is the four card major and promises five in the other major. The notrump opener then bids four of the other major with three cards in the suit or 3NT with fewer than three. Smolen may also be used when responder has a six card major and a four card major with game going values; after the 2 negative response by opener, responder double jump shifts to four in the suit just below his six card major and the notrump opener transfers to four of his partner's six card major. This convention allows a partnership to find either a 5 3 fit, 6 3 and 6 2 fit while ensuring that the notrump opener, who has the stronger hand, will be declarer.

"Garbage" Stayman (or "Weak Stayman" or "Rescue Stayman") and "Crawling" Stayman are adaptations of Stayman frequently used for damage control when holding a weak hand opposite a 1NT opening bid. For example, on the following hand. Partner opens 1NT (15 17), and right hand opponent passes. Opponents have 23 25 HCP. Thus, 1NT is virtually certain to go down by at least three or four tricks. Indeed, in No trumps, this dummy will be completely worthless. In "Garbage Stayman", you bid 2 Stayman with this "garbage" hand rather than passing on the first round, and then pass opener's response. If opener rebids a major suit you have found a 4 4 fit and ability to trump club losers. Likewise, a response of 2 guarantees no worse than a 5 2 fit in diamonds and, with a fifth trump, a potential additional ruff. Declarer can also reach dummy with ruffs and may then be able to take finesses or execute a squeeze that otherwise would not be possible. The result is a contract that will go down fewer tricks or may even make, rather than a contract that is virtually certain to go down at least three or four tricks. However the hand must be able to tolerate any rebid from opener. "Crawling Stayman" is an optional extension of "Garbage Stayman" for situations in which the responder's diamond suit is short. In "Crawling Stayman", the responder rebids 2 over the Notrump bidder's 2 reply. This conventional bid shows a weak hand with at least four cards in each major suit, asking the Notrump bidder to choose between the major suits at the cheapest level by either passing the 2 bid or correcting to 2. The name "Crawling Stayman" comes from the fact that the bidding "crawls" at the slowest possible pace: (pass) – 1NT – (pass) – 2; (pass) – 2 – (pass) – 2; (pass) – 2; (pass) – pass – (pass). Alternatively, responder's 2 and 2 bids after the 2 rebid can be weak sign offs. This allows responder to effectively bid hands which are 5 4 in the majors, by looking first for a 4 4 fit and, if none is found, signing off in his 5 card suit. "Garbage Stayman" is even more useful opposite a weak NT opening (12 14) as it occurs more frequently and can mitigate very expensive penalties if responder is weak. It is in frequent use in Acol. "Garbage Stayman" and "Crawling Stayman" bids over a 2NT bid work the same way, but occur at the "three" level. Disadvantage is that it tells the opponents the opener’s distribution. Don’t apply 2NT as showing both majors. Instead use 2.

Many variations to the Puppet Stayman bidding structure have been devised since Woolsey's 1978 summary; partnership review and agreement on the preferred modern treatment is required. Some no longer advocate use of Puppet Stayman over a 1NT opening preferring to use the concept exclusively over a 2NT opening and reserving other Stayman variations and conventions such Jacoby Transfers and Smolen Transfers in search of major suit fits after a 1NT opening.