Friday, July 21, 2006 1:53 AM

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Avoiding 4^th Suit forcing )

PITBULLS:

One of the strengths of a natural bidding system , as opposed to an artificial system , is you can bid your distribution or your stoppers naturally. 4^th suit forcing is an artificial kludge invented so that jump bids & jump preferences can be invitational. 4^th suit forcing really complicates natural bidding. One cure written up by Granovettor is a partial cure. He makes 2NT ( Godfather ) as a one round force by responder instead of invitational. This helps to eradicate some bad 4^th suit forcing sequences which quite often wrong sides 3NT contracts & fowls up natural auctions.

Playing a natural bidding system where all balanced hands are bid with some number of NT , you are painted into a corner quite often with 4^th suit forcing when NT is not bid. Take this hand ♠KQ10x ♥K ♦xxx ♣AQxxx , you open 1♣ & partner responds 1♥. You bid 1♠ which shows minimum 5-4 in the blacks . Partner bids 2♦ so now what ? Some experts will bid 3♦ to pattern out & telling partner she does not have a diamond stopper for NT purposes. Some other experts expect a 4^th diamond for this sequence so they are forced to bid 3♣ without the 6^th club. Still others bid 2♠ as a waiting bid & jump if they are 6-5 or 5-5. Just terrible bidding.

Same bad bidding with the 5-4-2-2 hands in the blacks , without a diamond stopper. Your horrible options are a false preference to 2♥ , a 2NT without a diamond stopper or distorting your distribution with a 2♠ bid or a 3♣ bid. Nothing is satisfactory as you picking the best lie because partner painted you into a corner with the 4^th suit forcing. The solution to this problem is to avoid 4^th suit forcing whenever you can.

My partners do this in 3 ways. We play the (1) godfather 2NT as a “new suit” , 2) a jump rebid by responder as forcing with a good suit & we incorporate 3) 2-way NMF theory when the auction stays at the one level for 3 rounds. This understanding is called XYZ which stands for 3 bids at the one level. In these auctions , it is the same as if partner rebid 1NT , 2♣ shows all invitational auctions & 2♦ all game forcing auctions. A controlled 4^th suit forcing to game auction , as opposed to the normal artificial chaos which 4^th suit forcing brings.

Keep your natural bidding system natural , by avoiding 4^th suit forcing auctions. You will be rewarded by less bidding misunderstandings and many IMPS saved. 4 th suit forcing makes opener a mere puppet to responder in most auctions. 4^th suit forcing is not a natural system where both partners co-operate & bid their own hand as in true partnership Bridge.