Saturday, April-18-09

Hand Evaluation – 4^th suit Forcing

PITBULLS:

        Playing a natural bidding system , 4th suit forcing does not fit in very well. Instead of bidding suits ( hand pattern ) & showing where you live , 4th suit forcing is just a series of meaningless noises as far as suits & HCP concentration are concerned. The bid was invented so that jumps & jump preferences could be invitational but 4^th suit forcing brings a whole set of new problems that artificiality in general , creates. Natural bidding is defined as showing your hand pattern along with your HCP allocation.

In this month’s Bulletin , an author gives this sequence  

1♦-P-1♠-P

2♣-P-2♥-P

3♦-P-3♥-P                     responder is showing a nice 6-5 or equivalent in the majors correct ? No , here is responders hand.

♠AKxxx ♥xxx ♦Ax ♣Q10x . Ridiculous bidding ! Responders 2♥ bid is 4th suit forcing. Responder cannot bid 3♠

over 3♦ as a NT grope because in 4th suit forcing lingo , that shows a strong single suited ♠ hand. 3♥ was

a 5th suit forcing to steer the hand to 3NT . Appalling stuff.

        Not playing the Kokish 1♦-P-2♣  treatment you are even allowed to 4th suit force after a 2/1 to show stoppers . We allow that ambiguous treatment with a single suited 2/1 only . So here is the auction

1♦-P-2♣-P

2♦-P-2♥-P

3♥-P-3♠-P       So once you have found the heart fit , we are Q bidding for a heart slam right ? No this means I do not have hearts & I am groping for 3NT. Hand presented ♠xxx ♥Axx ♦Kx ♣AKxxx so the bidders stoppers mentality confused the auction. I simply bid 2NT as I have a balanced hand opposite an opening bid which I probably would have opened 1NT ! A NT bid does not mean you have every suit stopped !! Why should it now ? You open 1NT & rebid 1NT without all the suits stopped. Why muddy the waters at the expense of your hand pattern ? Ridiculous auction opposite an opening bid. Pick the best lie & show your hand pattern rather than stoppers. You do not need to jump through 4^th suit forcing hoops that way.

1♣-P-1♥-P

1♠-P-2♦-P

2♠-P                       Openers hand a nice 5-5 in the blacks or equivalent correct ? No , due to the beauty of the stopper mentality , the hand is ♠AKJx ♥xx ♦109x ♣KJxx . Sheer stupidity ! You have a flat weak NT opener so rebid 1NT so as not to get into ridiculous 4th suit forcing auctions like this one. 2♦ by responder is artificial so you cannot clarify your hand with a 2NT bid due to not holding a ♦ stopper ! Just horrible stuff. Hand patterns should have priority over stoppers. Bidding stoppers bring in unnatural & ambiguous sequences that contradict a natural bidding system.

Over the decades & millions of bad 4th suit forcing auctions coupled with bad results later , my system is now built on trying to avoid 4th suit forcing. Natural bidding works way better. Leave artificiality to forcing ♣ systems.

            For the 1st hand presented , we play "recovering the strong jump shift" to remove the strong single suited hand from the clutches of the 4th suit forcing fiasco. We also announce our slam intentions & good suit with one bid . With the 1st hand , we can calmly bid 3♠ as a NT grope & partner with a ♥ stopper can right side the 3NT. We do bid 2♥ 4^th suit forcing as we do not have a stopper in the 4^th suit. With a stopper in the 4^th suit , a godfather 2NT works best.

        The 2nd hand , we do not allow stoppers to be shown by responder’s 2^nd bid in 2/1 auctions ( Kokish style ) . We bid our flat hand ( pattern ) before stoppers or just bid our suits naturally.  A 2nd bid by responder after a 2/1 is defined to be a suit. No ambiguity , no stopper confusion. We will find our stoppers later in the auction or hope the suit is 4-4. The 3rd hand is solved by bidding patterns before stoppers with balanced hands. This relieves the 4th suit forcing from those ridiculous auctions.

         Two other treatments I recommend to avoid 4th suit forcing auctions. The excellent XYZ structure avoids silly 4th suit forcing auctions at the one level. The godfather 2NT takes balanced hands with the 4th suit stopped from the 4th suit forcing structure. Godfather 2NT also allows strong minor raise to avoid the clutches of the 4th suit forcing contraption. Natural bidding in a natural bidding system should be the default. Use 4th suit forcing only when you are backed in a corner . Reducing paranoia about stoppers goes a long way in avoiding 4^th suit forcing auctions. The 4^th suit forcing structure is really that bad.