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Fourth Suit Forcing
Here we look at some examples of the Fourth Suit Forcing convention, a useful temporizing maneuver when we are in an uncontested auction and have the values for game. Fourth Suit Forcing is used by Responder, usually in one of these two situations: - Responder wants to agree the trump suit but has no way of doing that without making a non-forcing or sign-off bid. - Responder doesn't know what is the best strain, so uses Fourth Suit Forcing in order to establish the force and continue the investigation.
As well as the following Fourth Suit Forcing examples, please follow the link to the Convention Library.
1st June, 2011 N-S Vul
The choices are: - 3NT: This shows values for game, of course, and the bid has two other requirements … firstly, the holding in the unbid Spades suit should be appropriate (and we’d say that the ♠AJ is decent but not perfect, how much better ♠AQx or ♠AJx would be) … secondly, the hand should not have too much in the way of extras and/or a fit with Partner (here, that ♦AKJ in Partner’s suit suggests that a Diamond contract should not be ruled out). - 2♠: This would be Fourth Suit Forcing. Bidding 2♠ doesn’t rule out a 3NT contract, it merely keeps more irons in the fire, and we think that it is a better choice.
5th October, 2011 None Vul
What does South’s sequence show? South has numerous ways to get to 4♠, such as: - 4♠ directly, but that would show a much weaker hand, only with lots of Spades and little else. - Bidding 1♠ and then bidding 4♠ at her second turn, would show a better hand, let’s say game-going values and a self-sustaining suit. - Bidding 1♠, then Fourth Suit Forcing, then 4♠ would show an even better hand. - Bidding 1♠, then Fourth Suit Forcing, then 3♠, then 4♠ is a slower route still, and shows a really good hand.
Should North bid on over 4♠? It’s a debatable point. North should not be deterred by her singleton Spade as South has made it quite that she does not need any Spade help. So, we’d say that North has a close choice between passing and taking another call, that Ace-King-Ace is good for slam purposes, but that’s all there is. Well done, North, if you bid again, perhaps with a 5♦ bid, that should get you to the good slam.
P.S. Actually, it’s only a good slam because of two very valuable cards in the North hand, namely the Diamond Jack and the lovely Spade Nine! One way or another those two cards will conspire to make 6♥ a decent contract.
4th July, 2007 Board 2 None Vul
How do you play Fourth Suit Forcing? Forcing to game, or merely forcing for one round? If it’s the latter, then you are in luck on this hand, you have an easy 2♦ bid. However, most players use the game-forcing treatment, and they will be presented with an awkward problem here. North wants to make to make an invitational bid with her 11-count, but nothing is suitable. Here are the invitational bids that are available: - 3♠, but this shows 4-card support - 3♥, but this shows a 6-card suit - 2NT, but this shows a Diamond stopper
None of these bids fits our hand, we’d say that 2NT is the least of evils … maybe Partner has a stop or a half-stop, or maybe neither opponent has five cards in the suit. We don’t like 3♠ because, if Diamonds is our weakness and we end up in a Spade contract, we’ll be ruffing in the long hand. And, as for 3♥, it’s a gross overstatement of the suit.
24th May, 2006 Board 1 None Vul
South has the values for game, and there is a known 8-card Heart fit, so why not simply bid 4♥? Two reasons … firstly, South is not sure that 4♥ is the best game contract, 3NT is still a possibility … secondly, South has a pretty good hand, and does not want to crowd the auction if it turns out that North has some extras.
A better bid here is 2♦, the Fourth Suit Forcing convention … it’s artificial and allows the partnership to explore the best game or slam. How forcing is it? The simple way is to play it as forcing to game, so much easier (and safer!) than having to memorize the non-game-forcing exceptions.
After bidding 2♦ to establish the force, South will support Hearts at his next turn, and can then pretty much leave it up to Partner to decide where the hand is going.
23rd August, 2006 Board 10 Both Vul
That 2♠ bid was Fourth Suit Forcing … usually, this convention does not require a jump in the 4th suit, but this particular sequence is the exception. As played by most partnerships, over 1♥, a bid of 1♠ would be natural (and, as it’s a new suit by Responder, it’s forcing, though not necessarily to game) … and the featured 2♠ bid is artificial and forcing, typically to game.
Some partnerships further agree that the 2♠ bid categorically denies a 4-card Spade suit, but, either way, we see no purpose in bidding 3♠ over 2♠, such a bid runs the risk of sabotaging the auction (for example, Partner might have used Fourth Suit Forcing as her way of showing a slammish hand with Heart support).
Yes, we’d bid 2NT here, it’s both descriptive and economical.
15th November, 2006 Dealer West N-S Vul
East’s
2♣ was
Fourth
Suit Forcing, an artificial bid, played
by this partnership as game-forcing. After 2♣, West has a
difficult choice between raising Hearts and bidding No Trump.
Neither is ideal, we’d prefer a Heart honor to bid 2♥,
and a third Club to bid 2NT.
Notwithstanding our feeble Hearts, we’d bid 2♥.
Why? Well, if we raise Hearts we should get a chance, later in the
auction, to bid 3NT,
offering a choice of contracts. But, if we bid 2NT instead, and
Partner raises to 3NT
we won’t be able to show our Heart support. 3rd January, 2007 Board 3 E-W Vul
Our 2♥ was Fourth Suit Forcing to game. Then Partner’s 3♣ showed at least 5-5 in the minors. What next? We’re certainly in a somewhat awkward spot here: - We have extra values here, which we have yet to show - Partner may be minimum or may have substantial extras, we have no idea which - We don’t know whether we belong in Clubs, Spades or No Trump - We don’t know whether we belong in game or slam - We are already at the 3-level - But, other than that, we are in excellent shape!
But enough of the hand-wringing, how do we move forward? - 3NT? This is unilateral in two different ways … it gives up on slam, and it insists on No Trump when we have a marginal holding in the unbid suit … surely we can do better than that! - 3♠? We don’t think that the Spades are good enough … after that bid we’d expect Partner to raise with a small doubleton or singleton Queen, for example … if that’s the case we won’t enjoy losing those trump trick in 4♠ when we could be rattling off umpteen minor suit tricks in No Trump. - 4♣? Heading off to a Club slam might well be the way to go, but we cannot be sure of that. We have an 8-card Club fit and extras but not enough to insist on slam. And if there is no Club slam we will probably have gone past our best spot of 3NT.
If none of the above, then what? Our suggestion would be 3♥, which we would hope that Partner takes as a temporizing move rather than as an attempt to show a major two-suiter (have you discussed this sequence with your Partner?). Now, if Partner bids 3NT we’ll pass, if she bids 3♠ we’ll play in 4♠, and if she bids 4 of a minor we’ll take our chances in 6♣. Suppose that Partner misreads our 3♥ and raises to 4♥ … in that case we’ll just have to take a shot at 6♣ (no point in playing in 5♣ when the rest of the field is making 10 or 11 tricks in 3NT).
A very difficult hand, and we would be the first to admit that the above strategy could well lead to a missed Club slam. So, let us suggest an alternative … bid 4♣ (forcing), but only if 4NT by Partner is now natural! Yes, it’s nice to be able to use Redwood in these situations, and to keep 4NT as a potential place to play if the slam try fails.
13th June, 2007 Board 12 N-S Vul
2♣ was Fourth Suit Forcing (to game). What would your bid be here with the West hand? Nothing is quite perfect, here are the options: - 3NT: This usually shows 15-17, and should be reserved for ideal hands. “Ideal” here means poor slam values, presumably shortness in Hearts (no 1NT opening bid), and two stoppers in the 4th suit. But, this hand has good slam values (especially if Partner has Spade or Diamond support), and the Club holding is not the best for No Trump. - 2NT: Generally shows 12-14 and a Club stopper. Not a bad choice. True we have a bit extra, but at least we keep the auction low and give Partner the chance to make a descriptive bid at the 3-level. - 3♣: Natural, showing 4-1-4-4 or 4-0-5-4 shape, perhaps even 4-1-5-3. The downside here is that the strength of the hand remains a complete mystery, Partner might be in an awkward position if he too has extras.
To be honest, we are not crazy about any of the above, we’ll leave it to you to make your own choice. Having done that, let’s look at things from the East perspective:
♠ A74 ♥ AKJT ♦ Q54 ♣ KT8
West East 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ 2♣ 2NT ?? Opposite a 12-14 hand, with no apparent fit, our square 17 does not look like enough for slam, so we simply sign off in 3NT.
West East 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ 2♣ 3NT ?? Opposite a 15-17 hand, it’s a close call between 4NT and 6NT, we suppose we’d try the latter.
West East 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ 2♣ 3♣ ?? This is the really difficult case, at least it is without good partnership agreements. The problems here are that Partner’s strength is completely unknown and that we have substantial extras. We would like to bid 4NT, but only if Partner can be relied upon to treat this as natural. If not, then we confess that we have no satisfactory suggestion, we’d probably try 3♦, hoping that this does not further add to the confusion.
5th March, 2008 Board 7 Both Vul
Which of these two North sequences is the stronger? North East South West North East South West 1♣ Pass 1♣ Pass 1♥ Pass 1♠ Pass 1♥ Pass 1♠ Pass 3NT 2♦ Pass 3♣ Pass 3NT We’d say that the answer is “Neither”, North’s bidding is more about hand-type than anything else: - Left-Hand Auction: Jumping to 3NT here certainly denies much in the way of extra values, as with extra values a slower Fourth Suit Forcing auction would be appropriate, keeping slam in the picture. But, more to the point, 3NT shows a hand that is serious about playing in No Trump. Surely the bid shows at least two stops in the unbid suit, and additionally a hand that sees no reason to pursue alternative game contracts. - Right-Hand Auction: The Fourth Suit Forcing auction is ambiguous, North might have been seeking a Heart fit, or might have been keeping other options open, or might have been less certain that her hand should be Declarer in 3NT. So, which do you choose here? Our own choice would be 3NT. We have a highly suitable Diamond holding, and it’s unlikely that we’ll want to play this in Hearts. And there’s the possibility that the hand needs to be played from the North side, namely to protect that Spade holding. Just because Partner bid Spades does not mean that she has the K♠, and a lead through the AQ♠ could be awkward. We see no reason to mess around with a 4th suit bid, we’d just go straight to 3NT. On the actual hand, 3NT from the North side makes 11 tricks (an endplay against East is needed to get the 11th), but from the South side, if West can find the inspired Spade lead, it will be only 9 tricks.
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