Post by ***@verizon.netPost by a***@yahoo.co.ukNorth South
AKQ764 9
7 A86532
Q6 K7
J764 KQT2
N S
1S 2H
2S 3C
4C P
I thought we were in a game forcing auction, so raised clubs giving
partner a chance to support spades with a doubleton, or look for slam
with a good hand. She thought I was straining a raise possibly holding
only three clubs, so bailed out. I guess I could have just bid one of
the black suit games straight away, 4S and 5C make thanks to the 3-3
spade break. What do you think?
In what system is responder's new suit at 3 not game forcing? But it cannot be relied on to promise 4+.
Surely 4C promised 4+ in blood. Rebidding spades would surely deny 4+ clubs in blood.
Jumpraising clubs surely requires 5+.
The 3C bid here is named in many sources as "third suit forcing", and is
described as forcing, and artificial in the sense that it might not be a
genuine suit (doing it on a three-card suit is common as there
frequently isn't a four-card suit to use for the purpose); some systems
go so far as to always use the cheapest suit available to save bidding
space, but that's nonstandard. Unfortunately, none of those sources seem
to go into just how forcing it is! However, I'd personally play it (in
the general sense) as a one-round force, not a game force.
This implies that North's 4C is showing a suit and a minimum (which is
pretty much what North has). North's shown six clubs, though, so a 6331
or 6322 hand is fairly likely; as such, South can't assume that North's
best side suit has as many as three cards in it. If South has to bid 3NT
on any hand with no side suit, that's going to lead to a lot of 3NTs
going down.
I think South should have made sure that the auction didn't stop short
of game, though, given that both players have an opening bid. The
problem is figuring out which suit it should be in, as there isn't
enough information. That argues that maybe North should just bid 3S
despite the possible club fit; AKQxxx is a suit holding that means the
suit will probably work as trumps even if you don't have a fit, so
because there's a reasonable chance you won't find the right suit before
you get too high, you may as well pick one you at least know will work.
For what it's worth, I have a suspect that the main culprit in this
situation is the 2H bid: it's very common for systems to play it as
natural, but it uses up too much bidding space, and now neither South
nor North have enough room to learn what the other holds. (This is the
main observation that lead to the creation of the 2/1 bidding system, in
which the 2H bid is game-forcing in its own right in order to try to
reclaim some of the bidding space it takes up, and in which an
artificial 1NT would be used on less powerful hands as a method of
learning the opener's side suit.) In this particular sequence, South
showing hearts has prevented North showing clubs, which is what lead
to the problem (normally with a 6:4 you bid the 6, then the 4, then
the 6 again, but bidding space has gotten in the way).
--
ais523