FSF; then what? Continue reading
In the course of five days I twice encountered difficulty in responding to a fourth-suit forcing (FSF) bid by my partner. This bid, at least in the way that we play it, says nothing about the suit being bid, but it forces the partnership to the game level.
Here was the first situation. I held:
1♦ 1♥
2♣ 2♠ (FSF)
?
The second hand was also a 4-4-3-2 hand. This time my suits were diamonds and spades:
1♦ 1♥
1♠ 2♣ (FSF)
?
The priorities in responding to an FSF bid are well-established:
- With a stopper in the fourth suit, bid no-trump.
- With three-card support for partner’s suit, bid it.
- Bid a suit in which you have extra length.
So, on the first hand, with no stopper in spades, my bid is obviously 3♥. My partner bid 4♦, which left me in a quandary. However, in this case, his FSF bid was a mistake. Here was his hand:
In the second case I made the wrong bid, and we ended up in a mess. My problem was that my hand did not fit any of the three priorities. I have subsequently learned that in that case the right bid is to repeat the fourth suit. This is a denial bid. It denies a stopper, three-card support for partner’s suit, and extra length. If I had known this, our auction would have been:
1♦ 1♥
1♠ 2♣ (FSF)
3♣ 3♥ (Partner had six)
4♥ ?
We still might have ended up in an unmakeable slam, but at least I would have enjoyed being the dummy a lot more than I enjoyed playing 6♦.