Wednesday, October 30, 2002 9:21 AM

4^th Suit Forcing Inferences

PITBULLS:

A bidding system that makes slam investigation easier by keeping the bidding low will pay dividends in the long run . Also a system that eliminates the Standard Goren method of making responders rebids a “one round force” only in favour of a game force is the modern practice .

Two related concepts invented for that purpose is new minor forcing and 4^th suit forcing . New minor forcing is specialized after a 1NT rebid and 4^th suit forcing is for all other auctions. The beauty of these two bids is that there is no need to have jumps forcing anymore . You can define a meaning to the jumps which makes invitational hands easier to bid and therefore eliminate this one round forcing by responder concept .

O.K. one of the most useful spin offs of 4^th suit forcing is slam investigation . You can now differentiate between game values and a slam try . Here is a standard auction

AJxx AKxx Kx Axx Partner opens 1♦ and you respond a heart and partner bids 1♠ . Now what ? You can not bid 4♠ so 4^th suit forcing to the rescue . You bid a quiet 2♣ and then support spades. Partner will infer that you did not bid 2 , 3 or 4 spades initially so you must have a slam try.

AJxx AKxx xx xxx With this hand you have a 4♠ bid over 1♠ as this shows enough for game but no slam interest. As discussed previously in an E-mail , if you have a “serious 3NT” inference you can bid 4^th suit forcing with that hand also . Then a jump to game can be a tightly defined “picture bid” .

Unless you play the 2-way NMF over 1NT rebids the same principles apply . If you bid new minor forcing you are interested in finding the best game or a slam try . Jumps are not needed to force so they are all defined as invitational .

4^th suit forcing is best for the minor fit hands . This tool allows all jumps to be defined as invitational as you did not drag out the 4^th suit forcing weapon .

AJxxx xx AKxx Ax Partner opens 1♦ and you respond a spade and partner rebids 2♣ .

Standard Goren would bid 3♦ with this hand “to force” . There are many things wrong with that bid . One it does not show the difference between enough for game and a slam try . Also there is no way to invite say with the same hand less 4 HCP’s. Also it hogs bidding room by jumping . All bad bids by modern standards . 4th suit forcing to the rescue and you bid 2♥ . Partner now has another opportunity to make a descriptive bid at the 3 level and you can bid a quiet diamond preference without fear of being passed and making easier slam investigations .

O.K. 2-way NMF allows an opportunity to make jump bids pre-emptive and descriptive. However , if you have not studied all of the ins and outs of 2-way NMF then all jumps are invitational . You do not need redundant bids ( new minor ) and jumps as both forcing .

My opinion is that all jumps should be defined as invitational and natural in 4^th suit forcing auctions also . There is a school of thought that they should be reserved as splinter bids . I think having all jumps as invitational makes the most Bridge sense and is easiest on the memory. The only exceptions are “misfit auctions” where all 4 suits are biddable. The jump in these auctions is a splinter !!

For example the fix 5-5 hands can be handled better that way . Partner opens a diamond and you hold these 3 classes of hands . 5-5 weak ,5-5 invitational and 5-5 strong.

Axxxx Qxxxx xx x AKxxx K109xx xx x AKxxx AKQxx xx x

I would bid a heart with the weak hand treating my 5 card spade suit as a 4 card suit . This maximizes my chances of finding a major suit fit . The 2^nd hand I bid a spade and over 2♣ just give preference to diamonds . The 3^rd hand can be bid quietly as possible starting with a game forcing 2♥ bid and more delicate bids for slam investigation.

Axxxx xx KQJ10x x

1♥ 1♠ 2♦ by responder is forcing to game so 3♦ can be defined as invitational or a splinter. To get rid of the one round force

concept I prefer 3♦ to be invitational and natural.

2♣ 3♦

AKJxxx xx Q10x xx

1♥ 1♠ 2 spades is highly invitational as 3 spades is “recovering the strong jump shift” and is forcing showing a good suit

.

2♣ 2♠

With the Italian style of Q bidding of bidding 2^ND round controls first if applicable , the necessity of splintering in these auctions loses some importance. Quite often its sufficient just to know that you control the suit for slam bidding purposes . Anyway I see it as a tradeoff between making responders rebids as a one round force only and the luxury of splinter bids . Apples , oranges and very rotten bananas again .