Dubious Logic

Fourth Suit Forcing (2)

Last week I started looking at Fourth Suit Forcing (FSF) as a 'next level' bidding treatment, one that has no single bid to mark its appearance and more than a few well defined replies. FSF occurs in an uncontested auctions where responder bids the further suit; it is a one round force. I ended the introduction saying that you should treat partner's fourth suit as showing the values for two no-trump but without a stopper in the fourth suit. That isn't what the bid will always be, but it is a possibility and a minimum, so if partner has more, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Let's say you open a diamond and the bidding goes:

And you hold one of these four minimum hands:

Remembering that partner has about eleven points without a heart stop, the first hand is dead centre for a rebid of two no-trump; you have hearts well and truly covered and more importantly, no other bid describes your hand. You should not let the presence of a stopper overwhelm your choice. On the second example, despite the ace of hearts you should rebid three clubs. You don't really want to play in no-trumps and completing the description of your 5-5 shape is more important – if partner bids again, you can admit to the heart ace later by bidding three no-trump.

What do you do without an extra distributional feature or a stopper? That brings us to example three: the best option here is to reluctantly support partner with two spades. Wait a moment – won't they expect at least three card support, something like the example four? No – at least they shouldn't – because with that hand you'd raise one spade to two immediately.

What would you do if you were a little stronger, holding one of this quartet?

The first is simple; you jump to three no-trump. Remember that partner has only promised the values for two no-trump opposite a minimum – if that is all you bid, he will pass and you'll miss game. The second hand is not so clear: you might get away with three clubs but there is a danger partner may pass. The quality of the hand – with its high cards in aces – is so good that I suspect most would bid three no-trump rather than risk playing in a partial.

On the third example you have two choices; either you bid three hearts (a 'raise' of the artificial fourth suit) or you again guess to bid three no-trump. It may be tempting to treat this the same as the third example and add a level but that brings us to the last hand. In situations where you were too strong for a three card raise and you temporise with another suit (e.g. hand four, had partner bid two diamonds over your two clubs you would have completed the description with two spades), you must now jump support partner's suit.

So have a word with your partner and discuss what raising the fourth suit should be. I do suggest it should be used to show a strong hand lacking a description as above. But if you'd rather it was natural (if it can be), then that is a viable option. Now we know how to respond to a bid of the fourth suit – at the two level at least – next I'll examine what hands we can use it on other than our template "two no-trump without a stop".

Published Saturday 26.Jul.2008