Namyats
Encyclopedia
In the cardgame bridge
Namyats denotes the conventional agreement
to open hands with a long major suit
that are too strong for a direct preemptive opening
with a 'two-under' transfer bid. The method was originally named 'Four Club and Four Diamond Opening Transfers', and is also referred to as 'Mitchell Transfers', after the developer of this bidding method, Victor Mitchell. The name 'Namyats' is the name of Mitchell's bridge partner, Stayman
, spelled backwards.
When playing Namyats, a one-suited
hand too strong for a preemptive opening, like
can be opened with a 4 bid. This allows the partnership to explore for slam by deploying a conventional one-step (4) relay response. In case partner has no slam interest a two-step response is made that completes the bidding. Also, a slam can be bid directly over the opening with sufficient strength. Hence, the responses to both Namyats openings can be summarised as:
4 - ??
4 - ??
The advantage of Namyats is that the it allows the partnership to narrow the range of hands opened in a major suit at the one-level and rebid in a later round. Also, the method may prevent the opponents to enter the bidding despite having a cheap sacrifice against the major suit game indicated by the Namyats opening. Disadvantage is that the 4 and 4 bids are no longer available as preempts, although proponents of the method argue that this is hardly a disadvantage as such preempts are hardly made in practice out of fear to bypass a making game in notrump.
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
Namyats denotes the conventional agreement
Bridge convention
A bridge convention is a system of calls made during the auction phase of a contract bridge game which conveys a coded meaning about the players' card holdings...
to open hands with a long major suit
Major suit
In the card game contract bridge, the major suits are spades and hearts . The major suits are of prime importance for tactics and scoring as they outrank the minor suits while bidding and also outscore them...
that are too strong for a direct preemptive opening
Preempt
Preempt is a bid in contract bridge whose primary objectives are to thwart opponents ability to bid to their best contract, with some safety, and to fully describe one's hand to one's partner in a single bid. A preemptive bid is usually made by jumping, i.e. skipping one or more bidding levels...
with a 'two-under' transfer bid. The method was originally named 'Four Club and Four Diamond Opening Transfers', and is also referred to as 'Mitchell Transfers', after the developer of this bidding method, Victor Mitchell. The name 'Namyats' is the name of Mitchell's bridge partner, Stayman
Samuel Stayman
Samuel M. Stayman was an American bridge player, author and administrator. A graduate of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College, he was also a successful textile executive and portfolio investment manager.He was the eponym of the Stayman convention...
, spelled backwards.
When playing Namyats, a one-suited
Single suiter
In contract bridge, a single suiter is a hand containing at least six cards in one suit and with all other suits being at least two cards shorter than this longest suit. Many hand patterns can be classified as single suiters. Typical examples are 6-3-2-2, 6-3-3-1 and 7-3-2-1...
hand too strong for a preemptive opening, like
- 9
- A K Q 10 8 6 5 3
- 4
- A J 7
can be opened with a 4 bid. This allows the partnership to explore for slam by deploying a conventional one-step (4) relay response. In case partner has no slam interest a two-step response is made that completes the bidding. Also, a slam can be bid directly over the opening with sufficient strength. Hence, the responses to both Namyats openings can be summarised as:
4 - ??
- 4 : slam interest
- 4 : to play
- 6 : to play
4 - ??
- 4 : slam interest
- 4 : to play
- 6 : to play
The advantage of Namyats is that the it allows the partnership to narrow the range of hands opened in a major suit at the one-level and rebid in a later round. Also, the method may prevent the opponents to enter the bidding despite having a cheap sacrifice against the major suit game indicated by the Namyats opening. Disadvantage is that the 4 and 4 bids are no longer available as preempts, although proponents of the method argue that this is hardly a disadvantage as such preempts are hardly made in practice out of fear to bypass a making game in notrump.