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Responding to Notrump with Bad Hands — page 4
Conclusions
Whew! Mere mortals cannot be expected to retain all the information from analyses of more than 430,000 deals, so a friendly chart is in order. This one details SIM's suggested actions for each hand type:
| HAND PATTERN | STRATEGY | |
| 4-3-3-3 | All | Pass |
| 4-4-3-2 | 4.4 majors
4.2 or 2.4 majors 4.3.2.4 or 3.4.2.4 4.3.4.2 or 3.4.4.2 4.4 minors |
Garbage Stayman
Xfer to the major w/ 0-2 ; else Pass (same) 2C, then Pass Pass |
| 4-4-4-1 | 4.1 or 1.4 majors
4.4.1.4 4.4.4.1 |
Xfer to the major
Garbage Stayman 2C, then Pass w/ 0-5 ; else Garbage Stayman |
| 5-3-3-2 | 5-card major
5 clubs 2.3.5.3 or 3.2.5.3 3.3.5.2 |
Xfer to the major
3C exit w/ 0-2 ; else Pass 3D exit w/ 0-2 ; else Pass 3D exit w/ 0-3 ; else 2C, then Pass |
| 5-4-2-2 | 2.2.4.5
2.2.5.4 4.2.x.x or 2.4.x.x 5.4.2.2 4.5.2.2 |
3C exit w/ 0-6 ; else Pass
MSS/3D if available ; else 3D exit 2C -> 2M or 3m exit if available ; else minor exit Xfer to 2S Garbage Stayman |
| 5-4-3-1 | 4.5.x.x
5.4.x.x 4.3.5.1 or 3.4.5.1 4.3.1.5 or 3.4.1.5 1.4.x.x or 4.1.x.x 3.1.4.5 or 1.3.4.5 3.1.5.4 or 1.3.5.4 |
Garbage Stayman
Xfer to 2S 2C, then Pass Xfer to the 4-card major Xfer to the major 2C -> 3-card major or 3C if available ; else 3C exit 2C -> 2D/3-card-major or 3D if available ; else MSS/3D exit |
| 5-4-4-0 | 0.4.4.5
0.4.5.4 4.0.4.5 4.0.5.4 4.4.0.5 4.4.5.0 4.5.x.x 5.4.x.x |
2C -> 2D/2H or 3C [pass 2D only w/ 0-2]
Xfer to 2H w/ 0-2 ; else MSS/3D exit Xfer to 2S w/ 3+ ; else MSS/3D exit xxx Garbage Stayman 2C, then Pass Garbage Stayman Xfer to 2S |
| 5-5-x-x | Both majors
One major Both minors |
Garbage Stayman
Xfer to the major 5-5 minor exit |
| 6-3-x-x | Long major
Long minor |
Xfer to the major [game w/ 7+]
Play in the minor |
| 6-4-x-x | 6-card major 4-card major No major |
Xfer to the major [game w/ 5+] 2C -> 2M or 3m if available ; else minor exit Play in the long minor |
| 6-5-x-x | 5.6.x.x
6.5.x.x Both minors One major |
Garbage Stayman
Xfer to Spades 5-5 minor exit Xfer to the major |
| 7-2-2-2 | Long major
Long minor |
Xfer to the major [game w/ 5+]
Play in the minor |
| 7-3-x-x | Long major
Long minor |
Xfer to the major [game w/ 4+]
Play in the minor |
| 7-4-x-x | 7-card Major
4-card major No major |
Xfer to the major [game w/ 3+]
2C -> 2M or 3m if available ; else minor exit Play in the long minor |
| 7-5-1-0 | 7-card major
5-card major Both minors |
Xfer to Game in the long major
Xfer to the major [game w/ 3+] Play in the long minor |
So what have we actually learned? Most everyone follows at least these few rules:
We now know, however, that there is so much more to it than that. I believe that the computer's findings can be summarized with these guidelines:
SIM's Rules for Responding to Notrump with Bad Hands
Note that hands of fewer than three high-card points seem to fall into a special category. With such weak holdings, every effort should be made to get out of a notrump contract. That directive seems worth remembering.
Good luck with your new bidding system, which now includes Garbage Stayman
and the ability to sign off in a minor after a major-suit enquiry.
Of course, if you never pick up bad hands, or if your partner is not allowed to
open 1NT, then you might have decided just to continue wallowing
in your existing methods.
Should someone actually wish to peruse the entire database of computer studies, here it is in Wordpad (RTF) format:
– SIM's Database Analyses of Weak-Hand Responses to Notrump –
