Conventions in depth
A 2♣ Stayman bid on a weak hand with both four-card majors and short diamonds, followed by 2♥ as pass-or-correct if opener replies 2♦.
Like Garbage Stayman, this is a weak hand with both majors trying to escape a misfitting 1NT. The difference is the minor: here responder is short in diamonds, so opener’s 2♦ reply is the one answer that cannot be left to play.
It is weak — fewer than 8 points, below the strength ordinary Stayman needs — with exactly four hearts and four spades and no more than two diamonds. A five-card major would have been transferred instead, so arriving here always means a true 4-4. The aim is to trade a misfitting 1NT for a playable major part-score.
Responder bids 2♣. If opener answers 2♥ or 2♠, a major fit is found — responder passes. If opener answers 2♦, responder bids 2♥ as pass-or-correct: opener passes 2♥ holding three hearts, or corrects to 2♠ with only two. Either way the partnership “crawls” into its best major.
The partner convention, for a weak hand short in clubs that can happily pass any reply, is Garbage Stayman.
