On 4/30/2008 3:17 PM, Jim Greer wrote:
> I have been playing Smolen for years and have never played Puppet
although
> I'm familiar with the rudiments.
>
> Am considering adding Puppet but would like to know if there are
conflicts.
>
> Thanks in advance for replies.
>
It depends on exactly what you mean by Smolen and Puppet. Many pairs
play Puppet only over 2NT, and Smolen only over 1NT, and they obviously
have no conflicts. If you are planning to play them both over 1NT there
shouldn't be any any conflicts, except that the Smolen bid will now look
more like 1n-2c;2n-3h.
Personally I don't think Puppet over 1NT is a good idea, because it
removes a lot of the other nice features of Stayman (you can invite
game, bid a minor naturally, use Garbage Stayman to get out at the two
level, etc.), in exchange for being even better at finding major-suit
fits. In the partner****ps where I play Puppet over 1NT, I usually prefer
to have 1n-2c as regular Stayman, and 1n-3c as GF Puppet. This gives up
the option of inviting with a broken minor, but I find those hands are
rare enough that I don't mind so much. I believe I am in the minority
here, as I've run into few people who play 1n-3c as Puppet, but if you
want to be able to open 1NT with a five-card major, without making big
changes to your system, this isn't a terrible way to do it.
If you want to play them both over 2NT, you are out of luck. There isn't
room, and you'll have to decide which one you like better (either one is
playable).
--
Cheers,
Alan (San Jose, California, USA)
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