Contract Bridge

When Sylvia first heard about the Stayman convention, a brand-new world opened before her eyes. Gadget-minded by nature, Sylvia readily adopted every convention she came across with an exuberance that left her frantic partners limp with each additional experience.

Consider this deal that arose at the club shortly after Sylvia took up Stayman. Sylvia held the North cards, and when her partner opened with one notrump, her face was a joy to behold. She responded with two clubs, asking South to bid a four-card major suit if he had one. The fact that she did not have a four-card major herself did not concern her in the least.

South obediently responded with two spades, after which Sylvia, having exploited her newest toy, jumped to three notrump.

But South naturally assumed that if Sylvia did not have four spades, she had to have four of the other major, so he bid four hearts. South was apparently worried about his diamond weakness and thought the hand might play better in hearts than notrump, even though he would be playing in a 4-3 fit.

Sylvia passed, of course, and West led the king of spades. Declarer was surprised to find only three hearts in dummy, but this did not stop him from scampering home with the contract.

He took the spade lead with the ace, ruffed a spade, played a club to the king, ruffed another spade, played a club to the ace and ruffed his last spade. The A-J-10 of trump and ace of diamonds then rounded out 10 easy tricks. Three notrump, of course, would have had virtually no chance of succeeding.