Checkback Stayman – The Gee Chronicles
Sep 192002
 

N/S Vul
IMPs
Dealer: East
Lead:D6

ahmed1
S J 5
H A J 9 3
D 6 5 2
C J 9 6 5
caguirre
S A 2
H K Q 10 7
D Q 8 7
C A 8 3 2
[W - E] Maestro
S Q 10 7
H 8 4
D A K J
C K Q 10 7 4
baher1
S K 9 8 6 4 3
H 6 5 2
D 10 9 4 3
C
West

2 C
3 C
Pass

North

Pass
Pass
Pass

East
1NT
2 D
5 C
South
Pass
Pass
Pass

 

It’s not the auction that counts, it’s the reasoning:

G (in spec): club rebid does not make sense
Spec #1: I am with g man on this one
Spec #2: me too
Spec #3: it was checkback stayman, everybody plays that
Spec #4: lol!!!!!!!!
Spec #3: he was checking back to make sure you had no four card major
G: that’s what I thought it would be, but I don’t trust him
G: as a checkback stayman, is asking if I have a 3 cards heart suit
G: first time asking for 4 cards
G: 2nd time asking for 3 cards

Questions for Discussion
1. What methods are available to show a five-card major over a 1NT if you decide not to play the Cohen treatment of checkback Stayman?
2. What methods are available to show a 5-4 hand in the majors?
3. Gee is an expert. One of the better-known tenets of expert bridge is “trust your partner.” Discuss.

Non licet bovi.
 

None Vul
IMPs
Dealer: East
Lead: S7

Maestro
S K Q J 5
H Q 4
D K J
C 9 8 7 6 3
hkubilay
S 10 9 8 6 3
H A 9 5 3
D 2
C Q 10 4
[W - E] aqualung
S 7 2
H K J 2
D 10 9 8 7 4 3
C J 5
demolay
S A 4
H 10 8 7 6
D A Q 6 5
C A K 2
West

Pass
Pass
Dbl

North

2 C
3 C
Pass

East

Pass
Pass
Pass

South
1NT
2 H
6 C
Pass

Questions for Discussion
1. Which major suit is Gee asking about with his 3C checkback bid?
2. Can you construct a 1NT opener for South on which 6C has a play?

Quod licet Jovi.

  5 Responses to “Checkback Stayman”

  1.  

    My head is spinning and here’s why ….

    The hands and discussion presented today involving our “expert” hero are absurd.

    In one of our enlightened chats Gee told me that he was a genius therefore to not underestimate his intelligence. I believe Gee and I don’t underestimate him. He continues to live up to my expectations at every turn.

    I have heard that genius people go crazy dealing with the absurdities in life. What I haven’t heard is whether geniuses are accredited with creating many of the absurdities in life? If so, then would a real genius recognize his absurdities, go crazy, create more absurdities, go more crazy and eventually spiral out of control (into oblivion)?

    We need to make allowances for the geniuses of the world and appreciate them for what they can offer; absurdities, insanity and all. Geniuses have minds of infinite proportions that just can not be bothered with nailing down the trivial details of life (or bridge).

    Sounds like the start of the re-make of “A Beautiful Mind” ala bridge.

    As much as I want to trust Gee, for some inexplicable reason the words, “Gerard,” “expert,” and “genius” still have an incongruous feeling to me.

  2.  

    Aaron, as usual, you lie, you misrepresent everything on the sole purpose to make me look like a fool. Firstly, checkback Stayman is not my invention. I don’t have my personal treatment of it, contrarily to what you want everybody to believe. Secondly, in the first auction there is a denial of both majors with 2D. 3C is not a checkback Stayman. I still don’t know what it is except probably showing a long club suit and preference for game in C versus game in NT. You carefully suppressed the lines in between that lead to my comments, but this is not the first time you do that. You are very deceptive, Mister! In the 2nd auction, I am showing 4 spades, denying 4 hearts and 3C is checkback Stayman only as a product of your delirious imagination.

    Now my question is: why do you spent so much time trying to belittle me, harrassing me, humiliate me? My take is that you are doing that because 1) you have nothing else to do, 2) you are a nobody and it gets to you and 3) since you don’t have anything positive to offer, your only way of “shining” is to try to bring others down to your own level. I feel sorry for you.

    On another subject, you reported in your so called columns a discussion we had, you and I, about a squeeze play. That discussion never happened, it is a pure invention of your imagination, and I don’t care if what you wrote makes me look good, it is all false. On the same token, you reported questions asked by justinl and shotgun. They never asked you these questions. So I will conclude this by telling you and your readers that you have no integrity. You are just a wannabe writer, columnist and website designer, but you need higher standards to make it in the big city, and you are not even close to par on that. The famous websites that you manage are just a bunch of pages that you put up for yourself. I don’t believe you have any client. Should I now talk about your quality as a bridge player? not much to talk about there either… So, my dear Aaron, make friends, not enemies, stop your BS and maybe things will get back to normal in our relationship. Meanwhile, for all the reasons I mentioned earlier, I do not accept a challenge by you at the bridge table until these columns about me either stop or stop being a character assassination of me. Show yourself as a gentleman, and then we’ll talk, but not before.

  3.  

    This is actually an exact reprint of what happened in spec. I remember who specs 1, 2, 3, and 4 were, and I was one of them. So basically, I confirm Aaron’s story.

  4.  

    Ax AJxx xxx AKxx, Ax Kxxx Axx AQxx are 2 hands where there is play for 6 Clubs. Adding the JC in the first hand actually makes it a favorite. It doesn’t mean that I approve of 3 Clubs but there are some hands which can make 6 Clubs.

  5.  

    You are a good writer. You make Gerard “come alive” and you give both sides to a story. I like that about you. People do not see both sides to the Aaron-Gerard story. Thank you, Aaron.

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