by Chris Jagger
Fourth suit forcing is surely the most important part of
anybody's system, and fortunately you can sit down with anybody
and have a fair idea of how to play it, as most things are
completely standard. In this article we shall cover the basics
of the convention, as well as describing some of the
variations.
When the bidding starts (all sequences will be uncontested
ones here) 1
-1
-2
there are many hands with no
obvious bid available, for example a stronger hand with no
diamond stop. It is common to play 2
as fourth suit forcing here, saying nothing about the diamond
suit, but showing eleven (possibly ten) or more points, and
asking partner to describe his hand further, maybe by showing a
diamond stop. You might worry about what to do if you actually
have diamonds in this sequence, but usually you can bid no
trumps with a hand like that, as it is unlikely you'll want to
play in the fourth suit.
We shall not concern ourselves too much with when to use the
bid, but more with how to respond to it. The key thing is to
know which responses are forcing and which are not. This is
very simple when the fourth suit bid is at the three level-it
is game forcing (and thus to use fourth suit at the three level
you need enough values for game opposite partner's opening
bid). But what about the one and two level? We assume the
sequence is as above.
2 is non-forcing. This bid
essentially says nothing about your hand other than that you
have a minimum and no other sensible bid (and thus five
hearts). For example, x AQJxx xxx KQxx.
2 is non-forcing. Maybe Kx Axxxx xx
KQxx. (Since many people would raise spades at the first
opportunity with three spades and a weak hand, this should only
show two spades for many people.)
2NT is non-forcing, obviously showing a stopper. Maybe x
AQxxx KJx Qxxx.
3 is non-forcing, showing at least
five hearts and five clubs. Possibly xx AQJxx x KQxxx. It is
worth noting that here we start entering the realms of
controversy, as some people would play this as forcing to game.
However, if a new partner springs this on you it is probably
safe to assume it is weak as he wouldn't have the confidence to
spring it on you with a good hand. If you wish to play it as
game forcing, then on the hand given you would simply bid 2.
All other bids are game forcing. Thus opener can rebid one
of his suits, support partner's suit, or bid no trumps, but
otherwise has to have enough values to force to game. Thus
3, 3, 3NT,
and 4 are all natural, though note
that 3 shows six hearts and 3 shows three spades.
Raising the fourth suit (that is, bidding 3) is another controversial area. Most people play this
as showing a good hand with no suitable bid. Kx AKxxx xx AKxx
would be a good hand fot the bid. With a hand like this you
have absolutely no other sensible bid available, and if you
wish to play this bid to show anything else you should
seriously consider what you are going to do with this sort of
hand. However, some people like to play it as showing that suit
as well, just in case there is a fit in the fourth suit (and
for descriptive reasons), though these hands can usually
content themselves with bidding no trumps. (And often the
fourth suit fit can be discovered later if necessary.)
How does bidding proceed after the opener has responded to
the fourth suit bid? This is easy. Any bid is game-forcing.
Thus whenever you want to make a forcing bid in a suit, you can
always use the fourth suit first and then bid the suit, in the
safety that partner will not pass you. (It is possible to play
some sequences as non-forcing, but one should discuss this with
partner, and it is maybe better just to keep things
simple.)
There are two other related sequences that are interesting.
One is repeat fourth suit forcing. The thing I play with my
partners is that if you reuse fourth suit, then it is natural
if partner has bid no trumps, and otherwise artificial. Thus
1-1-2-2-2NT-3 is natural, whilst 1-1-2-2-2-3 is repeating the fourth suit,
still unclear where to play, and with no sensible descriptive
bid.
The other sequence of interest is the jump in the fourth
suit. For example, 1-1-2-3.
Some people like to play this as natural, showing at least 5-5
in the two suits, others as a splinter agreeing clubs. One of
my partners likes this as artificially agreeing clubs, as he
points out that you are not often going to have a splinter in
the fourth suit, but will often want some way of agreeing
partner's suit with a strong hand without bypassing 3NT. This
treatment certainly has a lot of merit. Some people play it as
a cue agreeing clubs-this has considerably less merit! So what
should one assume if you are playing with a partner for the
first time? Not clear, but if you play splinters with them then
it is probably reasonable to assume that it's a splinter,
otherwise some random cue agreeing clubs.