Thursday, September 12, 2002 4:37

4th Suit Forcing - Serious 3NT

PITBULLS:

Serious 3NT auctions occur in forcing to game auctions after a major suit is established and either hand could be unlimited . In our bidding methods this occurs in 2/1 , Jacoby 2NT , splinter , negative double , reverses & 4^th suit forcing auctions . This e-mail will discuss the implications of merging “serious 3NT” into 4^th suit forcing auctions .

Prior to “serious 3NT” theory in 4^th suit auctions , if you did not bid the 4^th suit and instead jumped to game this abided by the principle of “fast arrival” and showed a minimum hand that had a shot at game. You showed strong hands by bidding the 4^th suit first instead of a game jump. With “serious 3NT” , this jump to game has to be a very tightly defined rare “picture bid” so it does not come up very often . “Serious 3NT “ & “fast arrival” do not mix. By taking things slowly we find out if we have the controls and fit to make slam even with minimums. This is specially so when the opener might be very strong for her one level rebid.

1♦ 1♥ AJxx Axxxx Qx Qx Not playing “serious 3NT” you would leap to 4S showing a minimum

1♠ ?

AJxx AKxxx Qx Ax Must bid 4^th suit first as too strong for a 4 spade bid

Playing “Serious 3NT” you can not leap to game with the first hand because the 1♠ rebid by opener can show a wide range of hands . You must bid 4^th suit with that hand also. In fact you must bid 4^th suit with all non invitational hands with major fits and allow the “serious 3NT” to sort things out later to show the strength of your hand .

Therefore what should this rare leap to game mean ? To be consistent with other jump to games with “serious 3NT” implications it should be a dog with no outside controls . Theses hand usually show good trump .

AKJx QJ10xx xx xx

Lets try some “serious 3NT” auctions with its usual understandings

KQxx x AKJxx Kxx opposite AJxx Axxxx Qx Qx

Old way New way

1♦ 1♥ 1♦ 1♥

1♠ 4♠ 1♠ 2♣

P Trying for slam is very iffy ( 5 level could go down ) 2♦ 2♠

3♣ 3♥

3NT 4♦ ( could not be King or Ace as bypassed to bid 3H )

4NT 5♥

6♠

Do not forget that in serious 3NT auctions , the Italian style Q bids are used . Bypassing clubs denies the 2^nd round control in clubs. Therefore the King of clubs is Q bid before the Ace of diamonds. The “serious 3NT” implications ( Q bids do not show extra) allowed the weak hand to Q bid her Ace of hearts and her diamond Queen . Italian style Q bids demands that responder Q bids her diamond control before her heart control .

I find the Italian style Q bids very effective and I am starting to get used to them . As long as the auction is under 4NT , controls ( 2^Nd or 1^St ) are bid up the line . There is the usual inference that if you skipped a suit you do not have a control in it . With Italian Q bids , this means you do not have 2^Nd or 1^St round control in the skipped suit . Blackwood is necessary on all Q bidding auctions as we can not assume 1^St round controls bid initially .

I can see why the Italian Blue team always beat the Americans in slam bidding …