Responses with a Minimum after Stayman

[Elyk25]

♠ Q862

♥ QT2

♦ KJ543

♣ 5

 

Bidding in a 1NT auction after not finding a fit with stayman with responder holding a minimum can sometimes be tricky. The other day my partner held the above hand. The Auction went: P-1NT(by me)-P-2C-P-2D-P-3D-P-3NT.

 

We ended up in a disagreement on if 2NT is a possible bid responder can make, and what 3♦ would mean. My partner choose to bid 3D, and me with a minimum 1NT opener and very nice diamond support (AQxxx) decided to bid 3NT (with stoppers in all suits-- 2aces, 2kings).

 

Is 2NT a good bid by my partner with the hand above? should 3D be taken as invitational to game (asking if I have Diamond support) or as a signoff?

 

Thank you for the commentary.

[Vampyr]

3♦ is normally game forcing, though of course you can have other agreements for hands with a 4-card major and longer diamonds, eg you transfer to diamonds and then bid a 4-card major. Now 3♦ can be invitational in your auction. But of course in this particular case, if it was intended as a signoff, why did partner not simply pass 2♦?

 

There is an old-fashioned method whereby one bids Stayman (with or without a major) and then bids 3 of a minor as a weak takeout. But again this cannot be the case here, since partner did not pass 2♦.

 

There seems no particular reason why partner cannot bid 2NT after the Stayman sequence, since clearly he wanted to invite. Do you not play that as natural and invitational?

[helene_t]

If 16 points including AQxxx of diamonds is a minimum 1NT in your style then it is ok to force to game with this hand. So 3♦ is fine.

[Zelandakh]

Your NT range is relevant information here. If 1NT was weak, such as is normal in the Acol Club, then Responder would do best passing 2♦. If the range is 15-17 then an invite would be appropriate - how to invite depends on agreements but 2NT would be the default rebid. If the range is 16-18, popular for example in the WP Club, then Responder can force to game. Again, agreements vary here but the default meaning for a 3♦ rebid would be natural and forcing, so that would be ok. On the other hand, a practical call for a pick-up partnership would be 3NT, thus side-stepping the issue. I would not suggest using the 3♦ rebid for invites or as a sign-off without a specific agreement to play it that way.

[gwnn]

I'd just pass over 2D. It's going to be a great contract and I'm ok with missing game every now and then. It's tougher if you add a jack or two. Ideally I like to have some sort of shortness showing call over 1NT, if not, then it gets messy. It's actually a very natural and to me appealingly simple way of bidding (say, 3m=4+ suit, stiff in other minor, 3M=4+ suit, stiff in other major - there are better ways of arranging them but it's a start), you could consider adopting it.

[Tramticket]

As Helene T pointed out you seem to have 16 points with a 5-card suit (the opening post mentions two aces, two kings and the queen of diamonds). I'm not sure of your NT range, but if playing 15-17 wouldn't you have accepted a 2♦ invite and ended in 3NT anyway?

 

Game seems to be a reasonable chance (there is some unfortunate duplication in diamonds). What was the problem? Were the opps able to run club tricks?

[alok c]

If you play 1nt with 5 carder minors,this sort of overbidding/underbidding may crop up.

[creatbid]

It seemed that the range of your 1nt was 16-18 when you said you had 2A, 2K and ♦Q for the minimum. Since your pd was stopped on ♦ only with singleton♣ and the least hcps for stayman, it's safer to pass 2♦ than to bid 2nt. Although 3♦ also promises 5+♦, how could your pd expect the pass was as strong as 3♦？3♦ absolutely became invitational trying 5♦, 3nt or even slams with your support and agreement. Of course, you two could stop at 3♦ or 4♦.