My two cents.
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
Over a 1NT Opening Bid
Advantages:
1. You can include 5-card majors within your 1NT range
Over a 2NT Opening Bid:
Advantages:
1. You can include 5-card majors within your 2NT range
It is standard to include all balanced hands in NT openings even if you don't use puppet stayman.
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
3. Forgetting that you are playing Puppet Stayman and not Standard Stayman
I would as soon forget I was playing Puppet Stayman instead of Regular Stayman as forget I was playing Keycard Blackwood and not regular Blackwood.
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
4. More information disclosed to the opponents
Exactly the same amount as regular Stayman - in fact less, if the auction goes 2NT 3
♣ 3
♦ 3NT - they don;t know which 4-card major opener has, whereas 2NT 3
♣ 3
♥ 3NT tells them explicitly.
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
6. Responder with 5♠+3♥, the partnership may have a 5-3 ♠ or ♥ fit. If you play Puppet the 5-3 ♠ fit is lost. If you transfer to ♠ then the 5-3 ♥ fit is lost. You cannot butter your bread on both sides. The odds say that it is better to transfer into the ♠ suit.
And common sense too - anytime you have two fits, better to play in the weaker hand's fit. The rationale being they have fewer entries and once it is set up it might be stranded. While if it is trumps, the small cards will always take tricks. This is the same reason that with a yarborough and a five card major opposite a 1NT opening, you always transfer to the suit. In 1NT that suit would be useless.
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
7. You cannot show a 5♠+4♥ holding effectively (with 4♠+5♥ it is easy to transfer into the ♥ suit and then bid the ♠ suit).
This is ALWAYS a problem - nothing whatsoever to do with Puppet Stayman.
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
8. The purpose of Puppet Stayman is to find 5-3 major fits when opener has opened 2NT with a 5-card major. Thus, responder will use puppet Stayman more often than he would use regular Stayman, since responder will use it on some hands with just a 3-card major as well as on hands with a 4-card major. This means that information about opener's hand will be revealed to the opponents more often. (If responder never uses puppet Stayman without a 4-card major, then I don't see the point of playing Puppet).
Actually, LESS information is transferred - using it more often means the opponents are less likely to know what's going on. The old adage of always leading a major against 2NT-3NT or 1NT-3NT because responder failed to use stayman is lost - responder could equally well use stayman whether he has his own major or not! Also, the 3
♦ bid showing a four-card major doesn't disclose which it is, so less information is given to the opponents than regular stayman.
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
9. How often do you and your partner open 2NT with a 5-card major? If the answer is only if the 5-card major is so good that no 3-card support will help it or only if the 5-card major is so bad that you need 3 honors to make it worthwhile to play as a trump suit, then you don't need puppet Stayman at all.
It is standard to always open 1NT or 2NT with a balanced hand and the right point-count - if you don't you are living in the (long-distant) past.
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
10. How often do you open 2NT when you are precisely 4-4 in the majors? If the answer is as often as possible, then the more common variation of Stayman is far more useful.
Again, whenever you have a balanced hand!
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
12. How do you show minor suit hands after: 2NT-3♣-3♦-?
Easy - bid your minor. That usually shows slam interest with a long minor suit. Opener can reject the slam invite with 4NT. More importantly, is after 2NT 3
♣ 3NT (no major). The solution? Play Muppet Stayman, where the 3
♥ and 3NT bids are switched. Then 3
♠ after 3
♥ is minor suit stayman.
32519, on 2012-March-16, 07:49, said:
13. The 5-3 major fit is not that important at IMPS. The major suit fit most often produces 10 tricks versus 9 in NT. 1 IMP is lost. 4M plus 3NT both making 10 tricks is a push. 3NT making versus 4M down 1 is a huge gain.
Actually, you only want to play in 3NT with a major suit fit when you have an excess of high-card points (27-30 for 3NT instead of 4-major, 34 - 37 for 6NT instead of 6-major - with 31-33 and a major fit, you'd usually try for 6-major). In this situation, you are often making the same number of tricks in NT as the major, as well as having safety when the suit splits badly (you should have enough high cards outside of the major to find nine tricks). When you don't have an excess of high cards, it is better to play in the major, for safety against them finding the killer lead, or any of the other three suits splitting badly.
The most useful time to have Puppet Stayman in your arsenal is when you want to overcall 2NT over 2
♥ but you have five spades and are worried they might be lost, whereas if you overcall 2
♠ you don;t get across your shape and strength. Perfect solution - play Puppet Stayman over natural 2NT overcalls, then you never need worry about losing that 5-card major!
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