Puppet Stayman

By Marc Smith
EBU Grand Master, teacher, and author

A balanced hand with 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, or 5-3-3-2 shape should generally open 1NT if the point count falls within your designated range. This means that sometimes you will have a five-card major when you open 1NT.

The same is also true when you hold enough points to open 2NT. Obviously, a 2NT opening takes up more bidding space, but you still need to be able to investigate both 4-4 and 5-3 fits in the majors. The popular solution is to play a variant of Stayman known as Puppet.

As with regular Stayman, responder uses a Three Clubs response to 2NT to initiate the conversation. Responder may hold one or two four-card majors in search of a 4-4 fit. Or he may just have three-card support for one or both majors.

Examples of hands that might respond Three Clubs opposite an opening 20-21 HCP 2NT:

Hand A 7 5 A Q 8 6 8 5 4 Q 8 6 5

Hand B J 2 9 7 3 5 3 K Q 10 9 4 3

Hand C K J 9 2 9 7 3 8 6 4 K 10 5

Holding four hearts, Hand A still makes a standard Stayman response.

Hand B lacks a four-card major. But playing Puppet, responder should bid Three Clubs — just in case there's a 5-3 heart fit.

Hand C is 4-3-3-3 with four spades. My suggestion is to use Puppet with 4-3-3-3 shape, but only to find a 5-4 fit. If partner does not show five of your 4-card suit, then bid 3NT.

Opener's Responses

Opener’s responses to the Three Clubs inquiry are as follows.

Response	Meaning
3	No 5-card major, but at least one 4-card major
3	Five hearts
3	Five spades
3NT	No 4-card or 5-card major

Let’s take each of these scenarios in turn.

Opener Bids 3 and You Hold One Four-card Major

If you hold only one four-card major, you may or may not have a 4-4 fit. If you do, though, you would surely prefer the strong hand to become declarer. To make sure that this happens, you now bid the major in which you DO NOT hold four cards. For instance:

You J 6 K 10 6 5 8 7 5 A 8 6 2

Partner K Q 4 A Q J 7 A Q 6 K 7 3

You want to reach Four Hearts, but the contract is much better played from partner’s side of the table, with the diamonds tenace protected from the opening lead. Thus:

You — 3* 3* Pass

Partner 2NT 3* 4

Voila! Note also that if opener holds four spades and not four hearts, he will bid 3NT over Three Spades.

Similarly, switch the majors:

You K 10 6 5 J 6 8 7 5 A 8 6 2

Partner A Q J 7 K Q 4 A Q 6 K 7 3

You — 3* 3* 4

Partner 2NT 3* 3

This time, you show four spades with your Three Heart bid and partner can set the suit at the three-level. If you had slam interest, you could now begin cue-bidding. With this moderate collection of high cards, you simply raise to game and, once again, it's played from the right side.

As above, opener rebids 3NT over Three Hearts if your four-card majors do not match.

Opener Bids 3 and You Hold Two Four-card Majors

If you hold two four-card majors, then a fit is guaranteed. You can make one of two bids, depending on your strength:

4	Two four-card majors and some slam interest
4	Two four-card majors and no slam interest

Let’s deal with the easy one first: you bid 4. For example:

A 9 6 2 K 10 6 5 8 7 5 10 8

You — 3* 4* Pass

Partner 2NT 3* 4/

Opener simply chooses the contract. If he holds only one four-card major, he obviously bids that suit. If he also holds two, he uses his judgment to pick which one to make trumps.

If, instead, you bid Four Clubs over Three Diamonds, you not only show both majors but also at least some slam interest. Unfortunately, this is often the extent of a partnership’s discussion of this auction.

A 9 6 2 K 10 6 5 K Q 5 10 8

You — 3* 4* ?

Partner 2NT 3* 4/

If opener has an unsuitable hand for slam, he can say so by picking the trumps suit at the four-level. Depending on how strong you are, you can now pass, having shown some slam interest. If strong enough, you might bid RKCB for the agreed suit (whether you do this with 4NT or by using Kickback will depend on your partnership methods, but either works fine). You might also advance with a cue-bid or you might simply jump to slam in the suit partner has chosen.

That’s easy enough, but what if opener wants to co-operate with your slam try. How does he do so in a way that you know which suit is trumps? There is no standard method and your partnership can answer this question however you wish. The following is a playable method that you might use as a template.

Perhaps opener has the right hand that he wants to use RKCB. Alternatively, he may just want to show a suitable hand for slam, tell you which suit is trumps, and leave the rest to you.

You — 3* 4*

Partner 2NT 3* ?

4	RKCB setting hearts as trumps
4NT	RKCB setting spades as trumps
5	Co-operation setting hearts as trumps. 5 is now a puppet to make opener declarer.
5	Co-operation setting spades as trumps. 5 is now a puppet to make opener declarer.

Once opener has co-operated with your slam try, you can transfer at the five-level to make him declarer. Not that you are obliged to do so – you could also just jump to slam in the agreed suit over partner’s 5/ bid.

This will be fairly straightforward most of the time. You can bid 3NT (or make a quantitative notrump raise) if you have failed to find an eight-card fit with partner’s suit. (If opener shows a five-card major he should rarely, if ever, have four cards in the other major.)

If you do find a fit, you can raise to game or jump to slam. Can you use Blackwood now? No, a jump to 4NT would show a quantitative notrump raise. To use RKCB you must first agree partner’s suit. So, how do you agree opener’s suit and then start cue-bidding or use Blackwood?

K 9 K 10 6 10 9 8 5 A Q 5 2

You — 3* ?

Partner 2NT 3*

You cannot possibly have a natural Three Spade bid in this auction. Partner is assumed not to hold four spades, and you cannot hold five as you would have started with a transfer. (Note: with 4-5 or 5-4 majors, I recommend transferring into the 5-card major first, and showing the 4-card major next. Refer to the Muppet Stayman section below.)

Therefore, bidding Three Spades says nothing about spades, but shows a slam try in hearts. Having set the suit, you can then use Blackwood at your next turn if you so wish.

Can you also cue-bid in one of the minors to agree hearts?

You — 3* 4

Partner 2NT 3*

No. Bids in the minors are needed as natural bids. Might you not hold something like:

A 9 7 5 J 6 7 K J 9 6 3 2

You started with Three Clubs in order to investigate a possible spade fit. When partner showed five hearts, that could be ruled out, but surely a club slam is still a possibility. Perhaps partner holds something like:

K Q A K Q 5 3 A 8 4 Q 10 5

The J probably means that those playing in 3NT will probably be able to make nine tricks on a diamond lead. However, barring an unfortunate ruff, twelve tricks are very likely to be easy with clubs as trumps.

You — 3* 4 4* Pass

Partner 2NT 3* 4* 6

Thus you cannot afford to use the four-level minor-suit bids as cue-bids agreeing opener’s major as they are needed as natural slam tries. Bidding the other major, therefore, is the slam try agreeing opener’s suit. Similarly, if you hold a slam-oriented hand and opener shows five spades:

K 8 6 5 7 A 10 8 2 A Q 8 4

You — 3* 4

Partner 2NT 3*

Now Four Hearts is the bid that agrees opener’s major and shows slam interest.

Partner opens 2NT (20-22) and your combined hands are something like:

You K 8 6 3 7 Q 9 8 2 A J 8 4

Partner A Q A J 5 K J 10 7 5 K Q 5

You start with Three Clubs, looking for a 4-4 spade fit. When partner responds 3NT denying a four-card major, you know that you have at least one eight-card or bigger fit in a minor.

Your singleton heart, a suit in which partner holds at most three cards, also suggests that a minor-suit contract may play better than notrumps. You have the strength for a quantitative raise to 4NT, but you want to investigate a minor-suit contract.

You — 3* 4 4 5 Pass

Partner 2NT 3NT 4 4 6

Your Four Clubs shows at least a four-card suit and slam interest. Opener can agree clubs by cue-bidding in a major. Four Diamonds, though, is natural.

You could deny a diamond fit with 4NT now, showing a quantitative raise in notrumps with a four-five card club suit and, probably, one or more four-card majors.

When you cue-bid hearts, though, diamonds are then agreed. Partner shows a spade control and then jumps to slam when you show the A with a cue-bid.

Six Diamonds bid and made with even 3NT perhaps going down at some tables.

Puppet is typically played with a 2NT opening bid. However, you can use Puppet whatever range a 2NT bid shows, assuming that it promises a (relatively) balanced hand. It doesn’t matter whether your point range is 18-20, 19-21, 20-22 or something else.

Puppet after a Strong Two Clubs Opening

When you play Puppet after a 2NT opening, it also makes sense to use the same method when partner shows an even stronger balanced hand, e.g. via:

You — 2

Partner 2 2NT

This 2NT essentially shows the same hand as a 2NT opener, just with a couple of extra HCPs. You can also reach the same 2NT with even stronger hands (25+) using the Kokish convention (see the related article for how this works).

Note that with a balanced 23+, you should rebid notrumps to show the general nature of your hand, rather than bidding a game-forcing Two Hearts or Two Spades on a 5-3-3-2 shape. Using Puppet, partner can find out about your five-card major if he is interested in doing so.

Puppet After a Natural Balancing 2NT

There are a couple of other auctions where it also makes sense to play the same method. However, you need to agree with your regular partner that the same system applies.

One such situation is:

LHO 1-suit

Partner Pass

RHO Pass

You 2NT

This 2NT should show a strong balanced hand. Exactly how many points will depend on your partnership range for 1NT in the balancing seat.

Suppose you play 1NT as 11-15. Then, double followed by 1NT would be the next range up (say, 16-18), and 2NT would therefore show 19-21.

Puppet After a Natural 2NT Overcall

The other common situation is auctions such as:

LHO —

Partner —

RHO 2

You 2NT

Again, exactly what range this 2NT shows is a matter for partnerships to agree. I would suggest it should be something like 16-20. Why so high, you might ask, but consider what the next range up means.

If you start with a takeout double, partner is either going to bid a 2NT relay (if you play Lebensohl) or make a natural bid at the three-level even no matter how weak his hand. With the strong balanced hand, you now have to bid 3NT. Do you really want to be doing that on flat 17 or 18 counts?

A number of variations to Puppet Stayman have been spawned recently. As is often the case, though, adopting a particular convention means giving up the ability to bid one hand type in order to bid another that you think will occur more frequently.

Muppet Stayman

The variation known as Muppet Stayman is designed to address a particularly troublesome hand type, when responder to a 2NT opener is 5-4 in the majors.

One option is to start with a transfer to spades, intending to bid Four Hearts next. That’s just about okay when you are only strong enough for game but, with Four Hearts presumably non-forcing, what about when you have slam values? Do you then jump to Five Hearts, or to Six Hearts?

And, how does opener know when you are 5-4 and when you are 5-5? What about when you barely have the values for game and opener is 2-3 in the majors? Does he then sign off in 4NT or is that Blackwood? Even if you can stop in 4NT, might that not be one level too high? Lots of questions there and not many good answers.

Perhaps, instead, you start with Three Clubs Puppet. That will work out except when opener responds 3NT. Now you cannot tell if he has three spades or two. Enter Muppet Stayman.

Muppet is identical to Puppet as described above except with the Three Heart and the 3NT responses switched. So, with no four-card or five-card major, opener responds Three Hearts:

You — 3* ?

Partner 2NT 3*

3	A relay asking opener to bid 3NT
3NT	Showing 5/4 and asking if opener holds three spades

Note that responder's advances are this way around so that opener becomes declarer in Four Spades when you do find a 5-3 fit.

So, this solves the problem of bidding 5-4 hands in the majors. What you give up in exchange, though, is a way for responder to make a slam try below game when opener has five hearts.

Whereas in Puppet, you had the auction 2NT—3—3—3 to agree hearts and show slam interest, after 2NT—3—3NT you have no bid available below game. Perhaps this is a price worth paying, though.

Puppet Over 1NT

At the start of this article, we talked about why you should open 1NT on balanced hands within your notrump range, even if you hold a five-card major. There are various Puppet-type options that enable you to find your major-suit fit when opener has a five-card major.

a One option is simply to play Two Clubs as Stayman for five-card majors, which is the method my partnership uses. It works a bit differently to Puppet over 2NT in that all hands without a five-card major respond Two Diamonds. Responder then advances by bidding majors up the line. (Note that responder here bids the lowest major he holds, rather than bidding ones he does not hold.) Thus:

You — 2* 2*

Partner 1NT 2*

Your Two Hearts bid shows four hearts and at least game-invitational values. You may or may not hold four spades too. The bidding continues naturally, with opener assuming invitational values opposite until you show something stronger.

Note that as Two Hearts is forcing, you give up Garbage Stayman. With a hand too weak to invite game, you cannot start with Stayman unless you intend to pass any response, including Two Diamonds.

Another alternative that is fast gaining in popularity is to keep Two Clubs as regular Stayman, which would be used on hands lacking game-forcing values or on any hand with two four-card majors. With game-forcing values, responder can jump to Three Clubs, asking for five-card majors.

Once again, Three Diamonds from opener neither promises nor denies a four-card major. Since he cannot hold four cards in both majors, responder can now advance by bidding the major in which he does NOT hold four cards, seeking to find a 4-4 fit having discovered that opener has no five-card major.

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We will address auctions starting with 1NT, including the use of Puppet, in greater depth in related articles, We will also return to 2NT auctions elsewhere, in particular auctions starting with a transfer to a major, two-up transfers at the four-level, and the question of when notrump bids are quantitative raises or something else.

Puppet Stayman appeared in a pair of 1977-1978 Bridge World articles by American expert Kit Woolsey. Woolsey, in turn, has credited Neil Silverman for the original concept. Since then, the convention has undergone many permutations.