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Garbage men have mixed results - your mileage may vary
Computer to the rescue
And the answer is...
But don't forget other considerations
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The
Garbage Stayman bid
usually works great but I'm not sure when to use it. Playing
Duplicate matchpoint scoring, sometimes it seems the results are better just
leaving partner in 1 Notrump. Can you help give me some guidance?
Nice
question, and curious minds deserve good answers on their quest for
knowledge. First, let's assume you and your partner open 1
Notrump with a 15-17 HCP balanced or semi-balanced hand; while the point
range isn't relevant for our discussion, we need to use something as a
baseline to try various permutations for various responder hands.
For this
simulation, let's assume the responder has a singleton or a void in Clubs
and no 5 card major. After plugging the data in a simulator,
running hundreds of hands that meet various combined HCP strength
thresholds, and checking the "double dummy" output to determine the
available tricks, we find:
| Responder's HCP |
Making 1 Notrump |
| 0-3 |
7% |
| 4 |
36% |
| 5 |
45% |
| 6 |
64% |
Noting the
results, we can see that up to 5 HCP the responder is wise to make the
Garbage Stayman bid. Of course, this is a generalization
depending on Environmental
Factors. For instance, holding a singleton Club honor generally
helps offset the shortage in a Notrump contract.
In
conclusion, the 0-5 HCP guideline is a nice rule of thumb; that's 15-20 HCP
for partnership if using different 1 Notrump opening range. |
