Bidding Conventions >

Crawling Stayman


Crawling Stayman is an additional treatment of Garbage Stayman. It is used when the auction begins:

Opener   Responder
1NT 21
22 2

1 Stayman, asking for a 4-card major
2 Denies a 4-card major.

The 2 rebid by responder shows a weak 3-suiter short in diamonds. Some examples of hands suitable for Crawling Stayman:

ST987
HA984
D--
CA9832
      SQ653
HQ432
D5
CJ832

Opener's Rebids

After hearing a 2 response, opener responds as in regular Stayman:

  • 2D - Denies a 4-card major
  • 2H - Shows 4 (or rarely 5) hearts, and may have 4 spades
  • 2S - Shows 4 (or rarely 5) spades, and shows fewer than 4 hearts


Responder's Rebids

  • Over 2 - Bid 2 to show a weak 3-suited hand. Partner is expected to pass or correct.
  • Over 2 - Pass.
  • Over 2 - Pass.


Other Considerations

  • By playing Crawing Stayman, you lose the ability to play the 1NT-2, 2-2 sequence as natural, showing 5-4 hearts and spades.

  • Crawling Stayman is so named because the auction "crawls" along as each player takes multiple bids.