Monday, January 02, 2006 1:05 PM

Hand Evaluation – Systemic ( Suit length )

PITBULLS:

Strong jump shifts by opener have been around since Bridge was invented. Unfortunately this bid was ambiguous as to distribution. You could jump shift into a 4 card suit or a 5 card suit. This ambiguity caused problems . Also jump shifts caused problems in a natural system though as there is no way to describe invitational two suiters or any hand in the invitational range for that matter , as opposed to just normal openers. Also strong one suiters above the invitational range are impossible to describe with standard methods . Borrowing a page from the forcing club people , we have a partial solution. The 3♣ jump shift can be artificial showing many strong jump shift hand types. To accommodate the many hands opener could hold , the bid demands partner relay to 3♦ unless responder has an over whelming reason to “break the relay” .

To differentiate a 4 card jump shift as opposed to a 5 card suit , we sacrifice the 2NT rebid after a forcing 1NT response . A raise of a forcing NT to 2NT is forcing so you can describe a strong jump shift with a 4 card diamond with that bid. A relay of 3♣ will sort out the ambiguity.

This 3♣ SJS bid surfaces after a spade , heart or a diamond opener with any response. How important is it to have a strong jump shift into clubs as natural with a 4 card suit ? With 5-2-2-4 hands a jump to 2NT to show clubs rather than a 3♣ strong jump shift is practical after a 1♥ opener & a 1♠ response. These hands are bid when you want to right side the NT with stoppers in the 4^th suit. 5-5 or 6-5’s with clubs are hands that a strong jump shift in clubs should still exist.

Strong jump shift hands with a 4 card club suit can & should be described by breaking the relay to 3NT . The goal with a forcing NT opposite a SJS in clubs is 3NT anyway. ♠AKQxx ♥xx ♦Kx ♣AQJ10

1♠-P-1NT-P

3♣-P-3♦-P

3NT

so your balanced club strong jump shift is described. If you bid anything else, you are showing a fragment with a 5-4-3-1 distribution with 4 clubs.

The new concept is that a 4 card strong jump shift with diamonds may be described with a raise to 2NT or a jump to 2NT. ♠xx ♥AKxxx ♦AKQx ♣Kx . This hand is optional as a standard SJS in ♦’s .

. The negative inference now is that a simple 2♦ rebid should never be strong & a 3♦ SJS shows 5 cards & could be in the invitational HCP range or better. We do not need to blow partials by bidding 3♦ by responder in case opener had an invitational distributional hand. Strong hands are a weakness with a natural system. Forcing club ideas assist in making the system more palatable.