Fourth Suit Forcing – Routefinding To The Best Game – 11 August 2010

There are a lot of different ways to bid game when you know unequivocally what the denomination will be. It’s less easy (and illegal) to scratch your head and say to partner – “Hey! I want to be in game but frankly I really don't know which one. Sorry!” Luckily there is a legal way of doing this. Really! And it’s Fourth Suit Forcing (FSF).

You hold:

Qxx
AKxxx
Kxx
Kxx

The auction begins with partner opening 1C. You know straightaway game is on but is it 3NT, 4H or 4S or 5C? Which is the safest? Which the most high scoring? Is 3N +1 (+430) going to be better than 4H/S (+420) or will a major suit game produce an overtrick for +450? Will 3N get you +2 for +460? At some stage you will have to take control of the auction and push partner to game.

The auction proceeds:

1C - 1H
1S - ???

Does partner have five clubs and four spades? Or six clubs and five spades? Or just four of each? Or even three hearts? Maybe a diamond stopper? At this point in this auction game might be on in three of the 4 suits plus the NT game and slam can’t be too far off either. So which one will you guess to bid? And why should you stab at a silly guess when the solution is to simply bid 2D! FSF!

How FSF Works

Once three suits have been bid between you and partner it is extremely unlikely that the bid of the 4th suit can possibly be natural. Therefore it is used as a conventional (ie unnatural) bid to demand of partner that they continue to define the parameters of the hand they hold. The other
great thing about it is that it is unconditionally forcing to game, so you and partner can swap useful bits of information between you safe in the knowledge that a game – somewhere – must be reached!

So the auction goes on:

1C - 1H
1S - 2D (FSF)

Now opener’s 3rd bid should be the one that finally unlocks the clues to the Sherlock Holmes-like mystery of which game to play in:

2H = 3 card heart suit
2S = 5 card spade suit (5+ Clubs as well; i.e. you have a fit in two suits)
2NT = A diamond stopper, no 3 H’s, no 5 S’s
3C = 5+ Clubs
3D = asking for a diamond stop for 3NT

When partner makes one of these bids you will – finally – know exactly which denomination to play in. What you may not know yet is exactly at which level. OK, so game’s on but what about slam? You’d like those extra 500 or 1000 points on the score card wouldn’t you? It’d take care of any of those silly minuses that creep in. As I said earlier, FSF is “forcing to game”. This means that both of you can bid away as much as you like showing a feature here, a void there, cue-bidding merrily away because you both KNOW that whatever else happens you MUST end up in game.

See you next week!

Kit

Hunting Big Game – Bidding With Powerful Hands – 5 August 2010

Sometimes you start a climb from the very bottom of the mountain, not knowing how far up the slippery slope you will be able to climb. Occasionally you can take advantage of technology and make your journey more certain by starting higher up – thereby ensuring you get where you want to be. In Bridge the two bids that get you started higher up the slippery slope and force the journey to the top are 2NT and 2C.

1) 2NT = balanced 20 - 22 HCP

It’s not FORCING (!) but is highly invitational and partner should consider game with as few as 3 HCP in their own hand (22 + 3 = 25!) . Stayman and Transfers can be used as over a 1 NT opening.

2) 2C = balanced 23 + OR!!! An unbalanced hand with about 20+ HCP (4 losers)

The point is these are hands that want to be in Game opposite hardly any points from partner and maybe even slam opposite a few decent key cards.

The reason you want to force to the game so much is because of the Game Bonus. At teams, duplicate and chicago bridge these are worth 300 not vulnerable and 500 vulnerable and at Rubber, if you win 2-0, you get a whopping 700!

Don’t be shy. If you’ve got something worth showing – get it out in the open light of day fast!

Responding With Big Hands

I know I know, mostly when partner opens you hold some dross and queasily end up in a ratty part-score. Just occasionally it is you as responder who holds the power house and not the opener. But what do you do then? Make some kind of jump forcing bid straight away? Bid game immediately? Hmm. Mostly not is the answer.

Usually there’s no need to get over-excited too quickly (as the actress…) The trouble is you don’t know what partner has for their opening. They may have no more than 10 HCP and a scrappy 6-card suit. That’s not their fault - it's what they were dealt and you shouldn’t berate
partner for occasionally being a tad aggressive in the auction. That’s why – even with fairly big hands – you should just make some simple natural bid. Not to deceive partner but to give them the option of making their most natural re-bid. In that way you find out what their hand is worth.

Later in the auction – after partner has made their simple natural re-bid, and given you some idea of what they actually hold – you can always keep the bidding open with a jump rebid, a reverse or by using the common Fourth Suit Forcingconvention. The only kind of hand that should make a direct jump response is a hand almost too good for game and very very interested in slam possibilities. It should contain a long strong suit of its own and a good point count, usually 16-19hcp:

AKQxxx
AQ
Kxx
xx

Partner opens 1H and you would be perfectly within your rights to bid 2S and slam would be on opposite some opening even as awful as this:

xxx
Kxxxxx
Ax
KQ

You’ve told partner with your jump that game is certain and slam is probable which would certainly not be the case if you had some ordinary 12-hcp hand. If slam is on in those circumstances it is because partner has a good hand and it is partner who will take charge and drive forward. Save your biggest bids for truly big moments!

Forcing Bids – 29 July 2010

Occasionally I’ll mention that such and such is bid is FORCING. But what exactly am I talking about? (Do you ask yourself this too?) Well here’s a round-up of the kinds of things that I might be talking about.

With the opposition silent it goes like this:

1H - 1S
2H - ?

The first thing to notice is that the 2H bid is NOT forcing: partner CAN pass. So a quick resume is that a forcing bid is one that FORCES partner to bid again (assuming the opposition remain silent!)

Something like

1H - 1S
3C!

The 3C bid is unconditionally forcing. It cannot be passed. Even if you responded 1S on drivel, that’s your problem but you CANNOT pass.

1H - 2D
2NT!

The 2NT bid is FORCING. (2D = 10+, 2NT = 15 - 19 so game is on.) Again if you responded 2D with not quite 10 HCP that is not partner's problem, it’s your problem – you still have to bid over the FORCING 2NT.

Partner opens with a Game Force bid of 2C (23+ in a balanced hand but only 20+ with an unbalanced hand!) and you hold:

9432
106
578
J865

You get cold feet and pass. What will you say when partner turns up with 29 HCP and Four Spades is cold? The point is that partner made a Game FORCING bid. You cannot pass. You must bid – whatever you’ve got. It’s not just about your hand but how the hands fit together in partnership. You do not bid alone your 13 cards. You bid together your 26 cards.

Just so you know, there is one auction that starts 2C that can die below game and it is this and this alone:

2C - 2D
2NT - ?

Now, with something like the hand above, you may pass. Everything else goes to game –regardless of what you hold.

In the same way, responses to 1NT are all forcing too (Again I assume the opps are silent). 2C (Stayman) 2D, 2H, (transfers) and 2S (minor suit take-out) are all forcing. When partner makes a forcing bid the option of whether you bid or not ceases to exist. Partner has taken control of the auction, so obey. If partner has it wrong that’s just tough but partnership confidence and understanding can be fatally damaged by not listening to what partner is saying.

In most auctions at some point one of you has to take control – either by passing an unsuitable hand or by forcing the auction to the correct level.

1S - 3S (10 -12, 4 card support)
4C!

It doesn’t really matter what Four Clubs actually means - it’s FORCING! It might be a void, a singleton, a real suit, a partial suit – anything. But it doesn’t matter. Partner has taken control of the auction and has made a bid that is forcing to at least game and maybe more.

You don’t need to think about what it means – you have to think about the bid that will most help your partner understand how your hand fits with theirs. Have you got the Ace of Diamonds or Hearts? (Cue bids!) Are you bare minimum (in which case sign off in 4 S)?

Listen to your partner. Remember – just like you, partner does really really like to win!

Fourth Suit Forcing - 25 September 2009

As you're all getting more efficient at the basic system (Acol, Weak No Trump, Stayman, Transfers, Blackwood, three Weak Two's, Weak Jump Overcalls) we could add in a few more wrinkles - or conventions as they're known.

FOURTH SUIT FORCING (FSF)

There comes a time in an auction when you are lucky enough to know that game is definitely on but you're just not sure which one: 3NT, 4H or 4S, 5C or 5D. You can gamble and you might get it right if you're lucky, but on the other hand why not find out for certain? When 3 suits have been bid by you and your partner (no opposition bidding) and you judge game to be on then you can ask partner for further clarification of their hand by bidding the fourth suit.

This bid of the fourth suit says nothing about that suit and is used only as an enquiry for information. As it is game forcing you and your partner can now swap useful bits of information below game level secure in the knowledge that bidding cannot die below game level. As you can also see, this will be a useful tool when deciding whether slam might be on or not, as well as simply deciding which game to investigate.

you ..... partner
1H .......... 1S
2D .......... ??

Assuming partner knows game is likely, what information will he most need to know? Do you have a club stop for NT? Do you have 3 S? have you got 6 H? Luckily all these questions will be answered easily because now partner bids 3C! Initially this says nothing about the club suit and is a device (convention) designed to elicit further information in a relaxed and happy setting, secure in the knowledge the bidding won't unexpectedly stop.

you ..... partner
1H .......... 1S
2D .......... 3C! (FSF)

Now the bids below, by you, can carry these meanings:
- 3D = 5+ Hearts & 5 Diamonds
- 3H = 6 Hearts
- 3S = 3 Spades (partner may have 5 of them, after all)
- 3NT = Club stop

After any of the above bids partner should (!) now know what to do. If partner bids on past 3NT but below 4H - DON'T PASS! FSF is unconditionally forcing to game in any denomination and no-one can pass until then. I have it on very good authority that many unexplained ritual bronze age burials may have been the result of someone passing a forcing bid...


RESPONDING TO ONE OF A SUIT

As we all know now, in order to respond you need at least 6 HCP (High Card Points), maybe a tad less if you have unusual shape, or a 6 card suit. There is no upper limit for suit responses. A response of 1NT to partner's opening bid shows exactly 6 - 9 HCP. and is therefore limited, as are most 1NT bids, either as an opening, response or re-bid. Sometimes we have to use a response of 1NT when we just don't have any other bid, even though the hand is not flat or balanced.

Partner opens 1 Spade and you hold:

x
Kxx
Axxxxx
xxx

To respond 2D would show a hand worth about 10+ points. Even though you don't like it, you have to say something, so your only bid is 1NT. Whatever you do, don't pass just because the spade suit is rubbish and you can't see where the auction is going. You MUST respond - you have 6 - 9 points and it is your bounden duty to tell partner this, however much you don't like it. After all, partner is unlimited and could have 19 HCP: 3NT might be cold and partner won't thank you for passing on a whim, however polite they struggle to be.

On the other hand, don't bid 1NT just because you have 6-9 HCP and you want to limit your hand early on. If you have room for a natural suit response - make it. Always. Whatever the suit is like. Don't worry about what partner will think - that's partner's problem. Your duty is to tell partner what you've got so they can make informed decisions. Partner can't do that if you lie, however honourable your intentions.

What about this pile of garbage?

xxxx
xxxx
Ax
QJx

Partner opens 1D. Of course your partners do. It's like toast butter side down, partner always has the suit you don't. But now is not the time to mentally berate partner's contrariness. Now is the time to bid in an informative, helpful and above all constructive fashion. What would partner most like to know?

Constructive bidding is primarily an exercise in finding an 8 card or better suit fit and then deciding at what level to play that fit. If no apparent fit exists you can decide that a NT contract is better at a later stage of the auction.

If you respond 1NT because you don't fancy the two 4 card major suits much, partner may never, ever know about them. Partner MIGHT hold AKQJ in one of the majors and you've just made it impossible to discover this nugget of Anglo-Saxon gold in the muddy field of bidding. There are very very few absolute rules in bridge. There are various "guidelines" to help us make sense of what fate has dealt us, but possibly the most unbreakable guideline in the book is this:

If you can respond with a 4 card major at the one level - DO SO! ALWAYS!! IN YOUR SLEEP!!!

On the hand above you respond 1H (bidding 4 card suits up the line) even if the pips are 9752. Now partner can describe their hand with a variety of choices:- 1S, 1NT, 2C, 2D, or even 2H! All of which will, probably, turn out better than you playing in 1NT. After a response of 1NT partner has very few options, but by bidding a heart you let the auction take its natural course.

If partner can jump to 4H, you will certainly have found the garnet encrusted golden cross you so richly deserve.