[mike777]

Finding learning puppet and 2S range ask bit frustrating.
Asking for help

1. How does responder handle hands with one 4 card major?

2. Responder has invitational hand with long minor, specifically looking for help in that minor. Not if you simply have max Hcp hand.

3. Do you play puppet over 2NT openings? If so how do you handle all the different hands?

I know the answers to all of the above
Not playing puppet or range ask 😕😞

Do those that play these two conventions feel whatever camouflage advantages you are gaining worth the effort?

[DavidKok]

Firstly, there is a low-information version of puppet and a high-information one. The answers are different for both, especially regarding your last question.
Personally I think the fusion of clubs/range ask in 2♠, and using either 2NT or 3♣ over 1NT as puppet stayman, are both worse than the alternative. I've played both, and they're not great. But they also don't come up that much, so if partner strongly believes in them I'll play them. The costs are small. The answer to question 1 boils down to 'with which hands do you bid puppet, which bid stayman, and which bid neither', and the answer depends on the form of puppet you play.

Question 2 is simple: if you play a fused range ask/clubs (or range ask/either minor) you simply cannot ask for this anymore. That's part of the compromise. In return you get to combine several hand types into a single bid, saving bidding sequences for other uses.

Question 3: over 2NT I do play puppet, as is common here. I think regular stayman is probably slightly better. There are also muppet versions for 2NT-3♣ that are better than default puppet, but only by a little.

Personally I think a Heeman-based system, using 1NT-2♣ as low-information puppet, is a much more effective alternative. It leaks far less information than both forms of popular puppet stayman over 1NT, can show more hand types, and even has more runouts. However, I think this is too far outside the Overton window. Of the more fashionable options I think puppet is fine. It wins some and it loses some. On balance I think it's a slight loss compared to some optimised standard alternatives, but a slight gain over less-optimised alternatives.

[mw64ahw]

Interesting use of the term Overton window David.

Q1 I use a low information 5-card Major ask over both 1N & 2N so this covers a single 4-card major.
This Heeman inspired approach http://snortingmarad...kebeach_nt.html has always appealed to me, but I have yet to try it with a partner.

Q2 I introduced a partner to the range ask once we started playing the 5cM ask, but after some poor results then switched to using it only with 4333 hands and finally discarded it altogether. So back to Clubs only with 3♣ being the super-accept.

Q3 The version I use over 2N avoids 22(54) vs 55xx hands playing in a Major. Transfers are also GF so that 2N-3R-3N shows (52) in the Majors.