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Principle of Fast Arrival
Suppose that we are in a game-forcing auction, and we have a choice between, for the sake of example: (a) Jumping to game with a bid of 4♠, and, (b) Making a forcing 3♠ bid. In this situation, the slow route to game is generally stronger that the "Fast Arrival" route of jumping directly to game.
1st December, 2010 N-S Vul
After North transfers to Spades, her rebid of 3♦ is generally played as natural and game-forcing. So, what are South’s choices here? - 3N would be natural, denying a fit in Spades. South might have a fit in Diamonds but, if so, she will have a good reason for not showing it, and should have a good holding in the unbid suits and poor values for slam. - 3♥ would deny a Spade fit, and would imply a Diamond fit. As this is the only way of doing so below 3NT it does not have to guarantee a control in Hearts. - 3♠ and 4♠ would obviously show Spade support, and as the auction is game-forcing it follows that the Principal of Fast Arrival should apply, and that 3♠ should be more encouraging than 4♠. The question now is “Do you bid 3♠ or 4♠?” South is minimum in terms of HCP, but does have good controls and a couple of big cards in Partner’s suits. We think it’s pretty close between 3♠ and 4♠, and if South chooses 3♠ then she should bid 4♠ next time to indicate that she has already done enough.
7th September, 2011 None Vul
The auction so far is in the 2/1 style: - 2♣ was game-forcing - So, of course, 2♠ was forcing - 3♥ showed a 5th Heart
What next? South has no reason to support Hearts now, so his choices are 3♠ and 4♠. 4♠ would show a minimum hand (it’s the Principle of Fast Arrival at work), but we think that South is a bit too good for that. But, we hear you say “South has only 13 HCP’s, that’s pretty minimum, isn’t it?” Maybe, but all the points are working, what with those side-suit Aces and the Queens in Partner’s long suits.
So we’d suggest an encouraging 3♠ bid here, allowing Partner to initiate a cue-bidding sequence if she so wishes.
26th April, 2006 Board 4 Both Vul
Our 2♦ was Fourth Suit Forcing, in other words a purely artificial bid the purpose of which is to establish a forcing sequence … for the sake of simplicity, we suggest that you play it as game-forcing.
After West’s 2♠, he is likely to be 3-5-1-4, which is not particularly good news for us … our K♦ does not look especially useful, being opposite a likely singleton … so, we jump directly to 4♠ here. This is the so-called Principle of Fast Arrival … we are in a game-forcing auction, we have agreed the trump suit, we don’t like our hand much … so we leap directly to game. If we liked our hand more we would bid just 3♠ (stronger than 4♠), or make a cue-bid.
13th December, 2006 Board 11 None Vul
First, let’s look at this uncontested auction: East West 1♠ 2♥ 2♠ 4♠ If West’s 2♥ is game-forcing, then most partnerships play West’s 4♠ as discouraging (for slam), the so-called Principle of Fast Arrival … E-W have forced to game so leaping to game is weaker that bidding more slowly (3♠ here, for example). The same principle applies to the Problem auction.
Partner’s 3♣ bid shows game-invitational values with Spade support. What is the difference now between 3♠ and Pass? West’s 3♣ essentially committed us to 3♠, so using the same Fast Arrival principle our own preference is as follows: - 3♠ shows a bad hand and is South’s most discouraging action - Pass is encouraging, showing decent values. - Other bids show better hands
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