[pescetom]

Stephen Tu, on 2018-February-13, 11:32, said:

Your scheme doesn't handle single suited minor well if 4c is Gerber as it would be for most intermediates.

4♣ by responder after 2NT by opener is still Gerber under this scheme.
The 4♣ bid I described is one of the replies by opener to the 3♠ enquiry by responder.

Stephen Tu, on 2018-February-13, 11:32, said:

You have a club slam try, then partner bids 4♦, now you are inconveniently high to both show clubs and get useful feedback from opener below 5♣.

This happens, although it is neither as likely nor as problematic as it might seem. You can see if your clubs are going to be useful anyway in diamonds (if you have a second fit) or in NT. If slam now looks unlikely now you can bid 4NT signoff. Otherwise you can cue-bid in diamonds which will tell you the Aces and Kings you need to know, then sign off in diamonds or NT (hopefully 6NT, which partner knows to leave well alone).

Like any simple and natural scheme it has limits, but it's easy to remember and copes reasonably well with this once in a month situation. For an intermediate partnership that plays mainly MP my feeling is that it makes more sense to save brain space for tricky problems that occur on a daily basis, such as defence against interference or bidding over preempts.

[johnworf1]

GrahamJson, on 2018-February-11, 12:50, said:

Playing Muppet Stayman, in which (2C - 2D -) 2NT - 3C - 3H denies a four or five card major, a rebid of 3S by the 3C bidder shows a five card suit in a 54 majors hand. That is the whole point of playing Muppet. With normal Puppet Stayman opener has to rebid 3NT to show no 4 or 5 card major, making it impossible for responder to look for a 53 spade fit below 3NT. This is why some play an immediate response of 3S to show 54 in the majors. If you play Muppet Stayman it frees up the 3S bid (I.e. 2NT - 3S) for other purposes. One option that I use is for 3S to be a puppet to 3NT after which responder can bid a minor, setting the suit and asking for key cards (minorwood), or show both minors by bidding a major suit shortage.

This is a different alternative you bid 3s when you don't have 5 spades because you want the strong hand to play it out in spades not the week hand. The downside of this system is it's easy to forget :-)

[johnworf1]

hirowla, on 2018-February-10, 19:17, said:

Hi,

I was after suggestions on continuations after an opening 2NT bid or 2♣ - 2♦ - 2NT (showing a strong balanced hand). I’m mainly after suggestions to help navigate to slam.

I don’t need to know about the following when just heading to game

• Stayman or Pupper Stayman
  
• Major suit transfers
  
• Texas Transfers

Things I’d like suggestions on:

• Handling long minor suits
  
• Handling 2 minor suits
  
• Handling 2 suiters, especially after a major suit transfer, so you can pick the suit you’re playing
  
• How to "lock in" a suit, so Blackwood or cue bidding can be used, or whether the 2nd suit is chosen
  
• How to tell when 4NT is quantitative rather than a Blackwood ask

I can answer most of these after a 1NT opening because there is plenty of room to show this, but not over 2NT because there is a lot less bidding room.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Ian

ok so my two peneth....

3c muppet stayman
transfers
3s=transfer to 3nt
3nt = 5/5 minors
4c = slam try in hearts, 4d = acceptance of slam 4h = sign off
4d = slam try in spades, 4h acceptance of slam, 4s sign off
4h = slam try in clubs 4nt = sign off, 4s = rkcb, 5c to play where you have 3 card support but think might be safer to play in 5 that in 4nt...if teams.
4s = slam try in diamonds, 4nt = sign off, 5c rkcb, 5d to play where you have 3 card support but think might besafer to play in 5 than in 4nt if teams.


also just introduced 2nt - 3d - 3s which shows only 2 hearts and 5 spades...a bit like muppet...this caters for 3523 or 3532 shape from responder.

with 55 in majors use muppet stayman then probably get response of 3h...then bid 4h to show 5/5 can also bid 5h to show slam interest or 6h to say pick a major.

also can use 6 ace roman keycard blackwood...e.g

2nt-3nt(55 minors) 4nt or 4h as roman keycard if you want to keep the bidding down.
if we are weak with 5-5 in the minors we will just settle on passing 2nt or bidding 2nt-3s-3nt.