Saturday,
October 07, 2006 4:22 AM
Hand Evaluation - 4th Suit Forcing Understandings
PITBULLS:
Playing
2NT as a “new suit” by responder
in 4th suit forcing auctions is indispensable
. Take this common 4th suit auction so you can see the
difference the understanding makes. ♠10xx ♥AKxxx ♦Qxx ♣Ax partner opens 1♦ , you bid 1♥. Partner bids 2♣ so out comes 4th
suit forcing of 2♠ . Partner bids 3♦ so now what ? Playing 2NT as a one round
force , this hand is simple. Opener bids 3♠ asking
partner to bid 3NT with a spade stopper or length in spades. You
have the inference that responder did not bid 2NT as a one round force so there are no spade
cards with a balanced hand.
Partner
has ♠Jxx
♥x ♦AKJxx ♣KQxx so 3NT is the best spot with
normal spade breaks. 4th suit forcing caused partner to show a 6-4
when she had a 5-4 but no choice. A treatment I like is to “pattern out” after
a 4th suit forcing . So with this hand I would bid 3♠ to show my
5-4-3-1 with no spade stopper.
What if she had a 6-4 ♠x ♥xx ♦AKJxxx ♣ KQxx she would have bid the same way
so over 3♠
by partner ? I guess 4♥
would be the best bid to pattern out the stiff spade. Say partner bid 2NT one round force with ♠QJ10 ♥AKxxx ♦Qxx ♣Ax
you could now bid 3♦
with your 6-4 as a slam try. Partner would comply with 3♥ so you could show your spade control with 3♠. This brings 4♦ as KCB & you get to your +1370 in
diamonds.
Note
how difficult if not impossible it would be to get to 6♦ if partner jumped to 3NT which hogs the bidding room & brings in the
possibility of extreme spade duplication. You take a chance by bidding 4♦ as most of us play that as KCB. 3NT bids pre-empt partner & 4th suit forcing
auctions screw up partner. 2NT as a “new suit” is a good fix for the
problem. Keeps the bidding at the two level
so partner can describe her real distribution
& not the distribution that the 4th suit forcing caused her to bid. You have an inference
that partner did not bid “new suit
NT” so there are no cards ( duplication )
in the 4th suit.
Vive la difference !!