Thursday, September 22, 2005 2:19 AM

Hand Evaluation - 4th suit forcing ( Replacement )

PITBULLS:

4^th suit forcing is a kluge . It was invented so that previous forcing bids could be considered as invitational only. In the early days of Bridge , a 2NT bid or a jump preference or a jump rebid or a secondary jump shift by responder were all forcing to game. Somebody decided that these jumps would be better used as invitational so a sometimes artificial 4^th suit was invented to accommodate this. These artificial 4^th suit forcing bids caused problems all of their own.

One of the worst side effects of 4^th suit forcing is that it added artificially to a natural bidding system . One of the strengths ( only strength ?) of standard bidding is that it is natural . When you bid a suit you have it so it shows where you live. You are allowed to “pattern out” to show a singleton in the 4th suit. You right side NT contracts by bidding NT from the correct side. 4^th suit forcing destroys this natural bidding. The 4^th suit may not be a suit at all. You hide your real distribution & quite often wrong side the NT contract. Your strength & especially your distribution is concealed , so you distort your hand. You distort strong hands to have invitational hands . This is the trade off.

Take this hand for example , ♠AQx ♥KJxx ♦Kxxx ♣Jx , partner opens 1♦ so you respond a heart. Partner bids 2♣ so the standard bid is now to bid 2♠ . Partner is ♠xx ♥xx ♦AQxxx ♣AKxx so now what ? You force her into a corner so she bids 3♦ giving the impression that she is 6-4 . Over 3♦ you have a decision to make. Do you support diamonds or bid 3NT ? If partner was 6-4 you have made a terrible mistake by bidding 3NT. If she has the hand above , you have made a terrible mistake bypassing 3NT . Many 6-4 hands could result in a baby diamond slam or even a grand slam ♠Kxx ♥void ♦A10xxxx ♣AK10x There are many many awkward 4 th suit auctions from my experience. Some players just leap to 3NT with the hand above & give up exploring for slam or the best game contract.

There are two ways to combat bad 4^th suit forcing auctions along with the leaping to 3NT that pre-empts partner disease. The best way to reduce artificial 4^th suit forcing is have 2NT by responder as a “new suit” & a one round force. Partner opens 1♥ , you respond 1♠. Partner rebids 2♦ , you hold ♠Axxx ♥Kx ♦Qxxx ♣KJx so you bid 2NT forcing . Partner bids 3♣ which “patterns out” her hand while showing extra. ♠x ♥Axxxx ♦AKxx ♣Axx so you get to +1370 in diamonds . Try getting there after a leap to 3NT or a silly 4^th suit forcing auction. Opener can escape from 2NT to a partial by rebidding her suit. Otherwise , we can get to some Meckwell 3NT contracts. Rather simple.

The 2nd way to combat bad 4^th suit auctions is to play 2 way NMF at the one level ( XYZ ) . This parallels the exact NMF treatment that we play after a 1NT rebid. You can not make 3 bids at the one level without opening a minor first. Therefore playing 2 way NMF after all one level auctions makes a lot of sense. It rids the system entirely of artificial 4^th suit forcing bids other than the 2♦ bid. This structure is triggered by 3 bids at the one level ( XYZ ) .

Playing the above two understandings , leaves the best of both worlds. You still have the invitational sequences but now 4^th suit forcing to game is a natural bid. Patterning out becomes very common so your bidding accuracy improves. Removing or reducing artificial 4^th suit forcing auctions from your system is a nice enhancement to an established partnership.