Conventions in depth
Over a 2NT opening, 3♣ asks opener for a four- or five-card major.
Over a strong balanced 2NT, opener may hold a five-card major that ordinary Stayman would not find. This applies whether 2NT was opened directly or reached through a 2♣ opening and a 2NT rebid, which BidMaestro treats the same way. Puppet Stayman is designed to catch both a five-card major and an ordinary 4–4 major fit.
Responder bids 3♣. Opener answers:
This looks backwards at first. Over opener’s 3♦, responder bids the major not held: 3♠ with four hearts, 3♥ with four spades.
The reason is to make the strong hand the declarer, sometimes called right-siding the contract. By naming the other major, responder lets opener bid the real one when there is a fit, so the opening lead is made into the strong hand rather than through it.
Holding both four-card majors, responder bids 4♦ instead, and opener chooses the major-suit game.
| Opener | Responder |
|---|---|
| 2NT | 3♣ |
| 3♦ | 3♠ |
| 4♥ |
Responder holds four hearts, so bids 3♠, the major not held. Opener, also holding four hearts, names the fit, 4♥, and declares it, keeping the strong hand hidden.
Responder does not even need a four-card major to ask. With a three-card major and about 4 or more points responder can bid 3♣ as well, this time hoping opener holds a five-card major, which would make a 5–3 fit. If opener shows the five-card major, responder raises it to game.
If opener lacks responder’s major, the partnership settles in 3NT; and if opener denied a major altogether with 3NT, responder passes.
There is one more, rarer use. A hand with a long, strong minor suit and slam ambitions can also start with 3♣, checking for a major fit first, then falling back on the minor. If opener shows a four-card major with 3♦ and you have no matching major, you now want to say “never mind the majors. I have a one-suited minor and I’m thinking slam.” With a long club suit that is easy: bid a natural 4♣. With a long diamond suit it is trickier, because 4♦ is already taken (it shows both majors, above). So instead you bid 4♥ as an artificial message: “a one-suited diamond hand, slam interest.” It says nothing about hearts. Opener, holding a diamond fit, takes charge and asks for aces (4NT); with a poor fit opener signs off in 5♦. Either way opener stays the declarer.
With more than game-going values, responder can take the same auction further. Once the major question is settled, a raise to 4NT is a quantitative slam invitation (opener passes or accepts by strength), and the strongest hands can name 6NT outright or drive toward a grand.
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