Puppet Stayman: Finding 5-3 Major Fits Over 2NT

Puppet Stayman is a 3♣ response to a 2NT opening that asks opener for a four-card or a five-card major. Opener bids 3♥ or 3♠ with five cards in that major, 3♦ with one or two four-card majors, and 3NT with no major at all.

Regular Stayman only finds 4-4 fits. Puppet finds the 5-3 fits too, and it does so in a way that keeps the strong 2NT hand as declarer. It is a popular add-on in Standard American and 2/1 Game Force, and many Acol players use it over their 2NT opening as well. Not every pair plays it, so you can see how each system reads 2NT - 3♣.

A 2NT opening shows a balanced 20-21 HCP in most Standard American and 2/1 systems (Acol players often use 20-22). Balanced includes 5-3-3-2 shape, and with 20 points and five hearts most experts prefer 2NT to a 1♥ opening that partner may pass.

That creates a problem. Suppose you hold three hearts and 5 points opposite that 2NT. A 5-3 heart fit plays well in 4♥, but regular Stayman can never find it: opener only shows four-card majors, and transfers need you to have the five-card suit. Without Puppet, you bid 3NT and hope.

Puppet Stayman fixes that. It also has a second benefit: when the fit is 4-4, the follow-up lets opener name the major first, so the 20-point hand stays hidden and the opening lead comes up to it.

After 2NT - 3♣, opener answers like this:

After a five-card major answer, responder raises with three or more cards, or bids 3NT without a fit.

The clever part comes after 3♦. Responder now bids the major he does not hold:

• 3♥ shows four spades (and not four hearts).
• 3♠ shows four hearts (and not four spades).
• 4♦ shows both four-card majors. Opener picks his major at the four level.
• 3NT says responder has no four-card major. He bid 3♣ only to look for a five-card one.

Opener then bids game in the major if he has four cards in it, or 3NT if he does not. Either way, the 2NT bidder declares.

Muppet Stayman, popular in Britain, is the same structure with two of opener's answers swapped:

• 3♥ says opener has no four-card or five-card major.
• 3NT shows five hearts.
• 3♦, 3♠ and the follow-ups stay the same.

The swap gives responder room after the "no major" answer: 3♠ and 3NT are both still free, so responder has space to show hands such as five spades and four hearts and still let the strong hand declare a 5-3 fit. The exact follow-ups differ from pair to pair. The price: when opener shows five hearts with 3NT, there is no bid left below game to agree hearts and show slam interest. If your partner says "Puppet", ask which version before you sit down.

You are South. Partner opens 2NT, and you hold three small spades, ♥Q82, ♦Q964 and ♣J72: only 5 HCP, but enough for game opposite 20-21. You bid 3♣, partner shows five hearts with 3♥, and you raise to 4♥.

Look at the spades. In 3NT the defenders run five spade tricks and take the ♣A as well. In 4♥, declarer loses two spades and the ♣A, then ruffs the third round of spades in the North hand, which holds only two. The heart game makes ten tricks; 3NT goes down two. Regular Stayman would never have found this fit, because North has no four-card major and South has no five-card one.

Now give South four spades, three hearts and 6 HCP. The auction goes 2NT - 3♣ - 3♦ (opener has a four-card major) - 3♥. South's 3♥ does not show hearts. It says "I have four spades". Opener holds four spades, so he jumps to 4♠ himself and becomes declarer. Without four spades he would bid 3NT.

Compare that with regular Stayman: when opener holds both majors he answers 3♥, South has to bid spades first, and the weak hand declares the spade game. With Puppet, the defenders lead into the 20-point hand, and its tenaces (holdings such as AQ or KJ) stay protected.

Some pairs use a Puppet structure over 1NT as well, usually because they open 1NT freely with a five-card major. The idea is the same: opener shows a five-card major at once, and later bids find the 4-4 fits with the notrump hand as declarer.

Over 1NT the case for Puppet is weaker. There is more room for regular Stayman and Jacoby transfers, and 2♣ Stayman is also the start of many invitational sequences that Puppet would disturb. The details of 1NT Puppet vary a lot between partnerships, so treat it as an expert agreement, not a default.

1. Bidding the major you hold after 3♦. The whole point is to bid the other one. 2NT - 3♣ - 3♦ - 3♠ shows four hearts.
2. Using Puppet with a five-card major. With five or more cards in a major, transfer instead. Puppet is for three-card and four-card majors.
3. Forgetting the 3NT exit. With 3-3 in the majors you can bid 3♣ to look for a five-card major, then bid 3NT over 3♦. That shows no four-card major.
4. Responding with a bust. With 0-3 points and no long suit, pass 2NT. 3♣ commits your side to game.
5. Mixing Puppet and regular Stayman. If you play Puppet over 2NT, partner answers 3♦ with 4-4 in the majors, not 3♥. Agree it once and write it on your convention card.

After a five-card major answer, a raise to four is to play. A new suit by responder at the four level is a slam try in the agreed major. For the slam tools that come next, see Roman Key Card Blackwood.

The quickest way to make Puppet automatic is to bid real hands. In the BridgeDummy Bidding Room you bid random deals with EPBot robots in 2/1 Game Force, SAYC, Acol and other systems, so 2NT auctions come up at the table instead of only on paper. Our bidding puzzles then test single decisions: every option is solved double dummy over hundreds of deals that fit the auction, and you see which call scores best.

• Smolen convention: five-four major hands after regular Stayman.
• Texas transfers: going straight to game with a six-card major.
• Notrump in bridge: the openings Puppet is built on.