Thursday, May 08, 2003 12:51 AM

4th Suit Forcing - Review

PITBULLS:

Years ago the dinosaur of Bridge – strong jump shifts by responder roamed the playing field . Although it did have the advantage of describing your hand in one bid , it used up far too much bidding room . Over time , the bid died out and was replaced by 4^th suit forcing to game . 4^th suit forcing to game understandings are for those partnerships who do not play a strong jump shift as responder. 4^th suit forcing is necessary to show hands too strong to make a jump to game when you have found a fit.

A	x	A	A
K	x	x	x
Q	x
x
x
x

Partner opens a diamond a you bid 1♠ . Partner bids 2♣ and you want to game force without giving up a chance of a spade slam . Playing “recovering the strong jump shift” you do not need 4^th suit forcing when you have a strong suit of your own.  A jump to 3♠ shows a strong suit and forcing to game

4^th suit forcing brings in a new understanding . All jump preferences are invitational by responder !!

A	x	A	K
x	x	K	Q
x		x
x		x
x

Partner opens a diamond and you bid a spade and partner rebids 2♣ . You are way too strong to bid 3♦ invitational or leaping to game so you bid 2♥ – 4^th suit forcing to game first. When you later take preference to diamonds , partner gets the message about the strength of your hand.

 This use of 4^th suit forcing is very common when you find a major suit fit and you are too strong to jump to game in the major.

A	A	x	x
K	K	x
J	x
x	x
x	x

Partner opens a diamond and you bid a spade . Partner bids 2♣ and you game force with 2♥ and partner bids 2NT . You quietly bid 3♥ and partner bids 3NT which you pass All of partners points are in the minors and both 4♥♠ goes down . Good bidding as 3NT gets you 630 . Standard bidding has

 3♥ as describing this hand also. Just a matter of partnership agreement.

K	A	x	x
x	K	x
x	x
x	x
x	x

Partner again opens 1♦ and you bid a spade and partner rebids 2♣ . You can not bid 2♥ forcing to game as that is ludicrous opposite a possible misfit .Misfit auctions ( all 4 suits biddable ) are an exception to all jumps are invitational. In misfit auctions all jumps are splinters with a fit. Here since partner is showing 9 or 10 cards in the minors its time to bail out to 2♦ as a preference.

x	A	A	x
x	K	K
	x	Q
	x	x
	x	x

Partner bids 1♣ and you respond a heart . Partner rebids 2♣ and you bid 2♦ which similar to 4^th suit forcing is a game force . Partner bids 2NT and you bid 3♦ and you arrive in 6♦ which makes for +1370. A new suit by responder should be a game force rather than a one round force in the absence of strong jump shifts . Strong jump shifts by responder has to be replaced by some understanding and this is one of them.

There has to be a way of describing strong hands by responder in the absence of strong jump shifts which immediately flashed the forcing to game signal. Having these responses as only a one round forces assume you play strong jump shifts . Standard bidding with strong jump shifts allowed that luxury and the one round force hands were the invitational range . WJS leaves the invitational range hands as impossible to bid unless you reserve the jumps to describe them You can not have a new suit by responder as either a game forcing ( possibly jump shift range ) and/or maybe invitational ( one round force ) . It just encourages single handed bidding by the big hands and bad results follow. Jumping to games or shooting at a slam are far too common .

K	x	A	x
x	x	K
x		x
x		x
x		x

Partner opens a club and you bid a spade . Partner rebids 2♣ and you can not force to game with 2♦. All jumps by responder are invitational when its not a misfit auction.. Bid 3♦ and describe your distribution and HCP in one bid ! Real easy on the memory, all jumps are natural and invitational by responder except in the one case of a misfit auction !

.

K	K	x	x
x	x		x
x	x
x	x
x	x

Partner opens a diamond and you respond a ? . You should respond a heart as you are not strong enough to go the invitational route. Bypassing your spade suit allows partner to bid spades if she has it and gets you to a heart fit if there is one.

Do not use 4^th suit forcing to game when a natural bid is available It just confuses things. Susan held this hand KJxx AJxxx xx Kx and heard Maurice bid 1♦ . Susan responded a heart and Maurice rebid 2♣. This is a clear cut 3NT bid. With partner showing 9 or 10 cards in the minors bidding 2♠ is a waste of time. What if you were too strong to bid 3NT ? Should you bid 4^th suit forcing now and then bid 3NT ? Partner needs some way to tell the difference so that understanding is fine. If you have a hand say a flat 19 HCP show that range with a leap to 4NT . You hold KQJx AQxxx KQ Qx and the same auction leap to 4NT. The 4^th suit forcing bid in a misfit auction should be avoided & reserved for hands with a fit in most cases. If you had a strong freak hand say 5-6 in the majors you can make an exception to force a preference but 4^th suit forcing should be avoided in misfit auctions.

4^th suit forcing is an important part of our bidding structure. Discuss with partner .