Sunday, September 24, 2006 5:11 AM

Hand Evaluation - Fixing 4th Suit Forcing

PITBULLS:

4^th suit forcing was a kludge invented so that jumps & jump preferences could be invitational. The bid was artificial , ambiguous and boxed partner into a corner more often than not. One of the worst thing about 4^th suit forcing was when the 4^th suit was bid you were not sure if partner had a stopper there. You bid the 4^th suit but it had no meaning re stoppers or distribution. This caused NT contracts to be wrong sided , wasted efforts to find out if you indeed had a stopper in the 4^th suit. 4^th suit forcing caused leaping to game ( 3NT ) and pre-empting partner if you did have a stopper in the 4^th suit.

A 4^th suit fix which is now in vogue , is to play 2NT by responder as a “new suit” forcing one round. Think about it. In today’s game it is more of a gamble to pass 2NT trying for exactly 8 tricks in NT. In IMPS , it is less of a gamble to be in 3NT where the lead or bad defense might give you your contract. What this 2NT bid does is remove the ambiguity from the 4^th suit forcing & describes the entire class of NT hands with a stopper in the 4^th suit . The 2NT bid by responder ranges from invitational strength to slam invitational strength. This bid keeps the auction at the two level where you have right sided the NT & leave a lot of room for best game or slam invitation. Opener can escape from 2NT by returning to her minor so if partner has the invitational 2NT hand , she must pass. Otherwise , the auction is forced to game somewhere.

This understanding complements XYZ which is a 4^th suit fix for the one level as this is a fix for 4^th suit forcing at the two level. Playing this treatment means you can have your cake & eat it also. You can right side the NT as you have the stoppers in the 4^th suit and you can make a slam try in partners minor by keeping the bidding low. If the slam attempt fails , you have 3NT from the correct side to fall back on. Now when partner bids the 4^th suit , you know partner does not have a stopper in that suit or its natural. This treatment removes ambiguity from 4^th suit forcing. You can pattern out after 2NT and find out duplication or the lack thereof. Slow arrival for slam investigation or even an excellent Moysean contract.

BJ & I have been playing this treatment for some time and get good results. Here is a sample auction

ª A987
© Q875
¨ K2
§ AJ2

Partner opens 1♣. You respond 1♥. Partner rebids 2♣.

1♣  pass  1♥ pass
2♣  pass  2NT pass

Partner now bids 3♦. You bid 3♠ and partner bids 4♠! Are you prepared to bid a slam now? You can actually make 7♣. But at the table, the player with this hand bid 3NT over 2♣ and went down one.

   North
ª KQ3
© --
¨ A654
§ KQT876
West            East
ª J2             ª T654
© AJ943      © KT62
¨ J87           ¨ QT93
§ 543          § 9
   South
ª A987
© Q875
¨ K2
§ AJ2

1♣  pass  1♥  pass
2♣  pass  3NT (all pass)

Opener did not remove 3NT fearing horrible duplication of value in hearts which is not unreasonable.

BJ & I do play 2NT by responder as a “new suit” forcing one round. This is an excellent addition to natural bidding that allows the opener to pattern out before 3NT is reached. I held ♠AK9x ♥xx ♦Axxx ♣Qxx , BJ opened 1♥ . I responded 1♠ & BJ bid 2♣ . I bid 2NT forcing one round so BJ patterned out by bidding 3♠. I had horrible diamond spots so with BJ showing a singleton diamond encouraged me to bid 4♠ for another pickup. BJ held ♠Jxx ♥AKxxx ♦x ♣Axxx so 3NT is a hopeless contract . I made 4♠ by ruffing a number of diamonds. Which contract would you rather be in with a diamond lead ?

A natural system has an advantage over a forcing club system by the ability to “pattern out” . The 2NT forcing as a new suit is built for this . Partner can pattern out so nice minor suit slams can be reached after the 2NT bid. Partner opens a diamond & you respond a spade. Partner bids 2♣ , you have ♠Jxxx ♥AQx ♦KJx ♣Kxx so in standard methods you leapt to 3NT . Partner passes with ♠x ♥Kxx ♦AQxxx ♣AQJ10. With the 2NT new suit forcing bid , partner “patterns out” to show extra by bidding 3♥ so +1370 is reached in diamonds.

Bryan Maksymetz tells me experts now play 2NT as a one round force especially after a 2 of a major rebid. This solves the 6-4 problem with minimum hands nicely . After 2NT if opener bids another suit , it is a weak 6-4. The stronger 6-4’s are bid by mentioning the 4 card suit earlier. This treatment means even a forcing 1NT auction & a 2NT rebid is forcing one round if opener rebids a major. Just another way of allowing opener to escape if she has opened a light 5-5 or 6-4 .