Stayman

Stayman is a bidding convention in the card game contract bridge. It is used by a partnership to find a 4-4 or 5-3 trump fit in a major suit after making a one notrump (1NT) opening bid and it has been adapted for use after a 2NT opening, a 1NT overcall, and many other natural notrump bids.

The convention is named for Sam Stayman, who wrote the first published description in 1945, but its inventors were two other players: the British expert Jack Marx in 1939, who published it only in 1946, and Stayman's regular partner George Rapée in 1944.

A game contract bid and made in a major suit (i.e. 4♥ or 4 ♠) scores better than a game contract bid and made in a minor suit (i.e. 5♣ or 5 ♦) or in notrump (i.e. 3NT). Also, the success rate for a game contract in a major suit when a partnership has a combined holding of 26 points and eight cards in the major is about 80%, whereas a game contract in 3NT with 26 high card points (HCP) has a success rate of only 60%, or 50% with 25 HCP; the success rate for a minor suit game contract when holding 26 points is about 30%.

Accordingly, partnership priority is to find an eight card or better major suit fit when jointly holding sufficient values for a game contract. 5-3 and 6-2 fits are easy to find in basic methods as responder can bid 3♥ or 3♠ over 1NT, and opener will not normally have a 5 card major to bid 1NT. However, finding 4-4 fits presents a problem. The 2♥ and 2♠ bids cannot be used for this as they are weak takeouts, a sign-off bid.

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