[vincit]

I read in their cc that Meckell is playing 2NT as puppet stayman after 1NT strong
Any ideas what are the advantages ? Obviously you avoid a lead directing double of 3C and you gain space.

Then if 3 ♣ shows a 4 card-major and 3M shows 5 cards, what would be an effective use of
3♦ ?

[rbforster]

Simple answer: you could use 3♦ to show both card majors (or have 3♣ and 3♦ show 1 vs 2 somehow).

However, I feel that Puppet in general gives away too much information in the auction which helps the defense (especially after opener bids 3N denying either 4cM). Now you've told the defense to lead a major even when responder may be as short as 1=3 in the majors and was just checking for that rare 5-3 fit. Correspondingly, you might consider using the extra space to reverse the question and have opener ask rather than tell.

1N-2N has interest in playing in a major if opener has the right 4-5 major

Now rather than have opener show, you have opener ask for a fit. There's even space to ask for an unstopped suit in case you're nervous. Here's a more detailed scheme:

3♣: do you have any unstopped suits (pick your shortest/weakest if several)
.....3♦ either major
...........3♥ which?
................3♠ hearts
................3N spades
.....3♥ clubs
.....3♠ diamonds
.....3N none, this should be easy!

(Note the above scheme will never give the opponents a chance to double for lead of the weak suit shown.)

3♦: how many spades do you have?
.......3♥ 4 (transfer)
...............3♠ also 4 hearts?
........................3N no
........................4♥ yes
.......3♠ 2 or fewer
.......3N 3

3♥: how many hearts do you have?
.......3♠ 2 or fewer
.......3N 3

3♠: do you have 4 hearts?
.......3N no, <4
.......4♦ yes 4 (transfer)

3N: I'm not interested in looking for an alternative major game

This is only one example, but manages to get almost all the major games right-side - only when responder has 4=4 majors and opener has 4 hearts (and not 4 spades) does responder declare.

I've also arranged this scheme so that it's rare that responder will go past 3N in answering the questions. Consequently, there's lots of room for opener to ask questions about responder's length and then ignore the answer if he wants to be tricky on his way to 3N .

[downagain]

their responses are 3M = 5-card, 3♣ = no 5-card M. They use it in the following situations:
- looking for 5-3 M fit
- GF stayman with a 4-card major, not both (concealing opener's hand: responder shows which 4-card M he has, nothing is known about the other M)
- GF (31)(45) hands
- and some balanced slam try hands with 3-card M