Fourth suit forcing (also referred to as fourth suit artificial) is a contract bridge convention that allows responder to create, at his second turn to bid, a forcing auction. A bid by responder in the fourth suit, the only remaining unbid suit, is artificial indicating that responder has no appropriate alternate bid, remains interested in the potential for a game contract and asks opener to bid again to show additional features.
Opener responds to the fourth suit forcing by (in prioritised order):
- Raising of responder's first bid suit with 3-card support,
- Bidding notrump with values in the fourth suit,
- Raising the fourth suit with four cards in that suit,
- Making the most natural rebid possible, lacking any of the above.
Fourth suit forcing is minimally forcing for one round and usually forcing to game - partnership agreement is required. Whether or not the convention is applicable if the fourth-suit bidder is a passed hand is also a matter of partnership agreement; there is no consensus amongst experts on the options as to its use being non-forcing, forcing, or forcing only after a reverse.
The convention was introduced by the British bridge author Norman Squire and is adopted by the majority of partnerships playing at competitive levels. Useful with strong game-going hands where responder has no natural forcing rebid, it is a type of game trial bid.
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