Stayman Convention - Garbage Stayman and Crawling Stayman

Garbage Stayman and Crawling Stayman

"Garbage" Stayman and "Crawling" Stayman are adaptations of Stayman frequently used for damage control when holding a weak hand opposite a 1NT opening bid. Consider the following hand.

♠ 5432 ♥ 5432 ♦ 65432 ♣ –

One's left hand opponent passes, one's partner bids 1NT (15-17), and one's right hand opponent passes. Now, what?

In this scenario, one's partner has about 16 HCP and one's opponents have about 24 HCP. Thus, 1NT is virtually certain to go down by at least three or four tricks. Indeed, in Notrump, this dummy will be completely worthless.

But consider what happens if one interjects a bid of 2♣ rather than passing on the first round, then passes one's partner's response. If the Notrump hand rebids a major suit, it's an instant 4-4 fit and ability to trump club losers (or, alternately, to sluff the other major on club winners and then to trump losers in the other major). Likewise, a response of 2♦ guarantees no worse than a 5-2 fit in diamonds and, with a fifth trump, a potential additional ruff. The ability to get the board with a couple ruffs also may allow the declarer to take a couple finesses or execute a squeeze that otherwise would not be possible, and which might yield another trick or two. The result is a contract that will go down fewer tricks or that might even make, especially with a somewhat better hand than the example, rather than a contract that is virtually certain to go down at least three or four tricks. The practice of bidding Stayman with a relatively weak hand of this (or similar) shape and then passing the Notrump bidder's reply is often called "Garbage Stayman" because it is bidding Stayman with a "garbage" hand.

"Crawling Stayman" is an extension of "Garbage Stayman" for situations in which the responder's diamond suit is short. In "Crawling Stayman", the responder rebids 2♥ over the Notrump bidder's 2♦ reply. This conventional bid shows a weak hand with at least four cards in each major suit, asking the Notrump bidder to choose between the major suits at the cheapest level by either passing the 2♥ bid or correcting to 2♠. The name "Crawling Stayman" comes from the fact that the bidding "crawls" at the slowest possible pace: (pass) – 1NT – (pass) – 2♣; (pass) – 2♦ – (pass) – 2♥; (pass) – 2♠; (pass) – pass – (pass).

"Garbage Stayman" and "Crawling Stayman" bids over a 2NT bid work the same way, but occur at the "three" level.