Fourth suit forcing

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This article concerns Contract Bridge and uses terminology associated with the game. See Contract bridge glossary for an explanation of unfamiliar words or phrases.

In the game of bridge, fourth suit forcing (also referred to as fourth suit artificial) denotes a partnership agreement that allows responder to create a forcing auction, at the 2nd turn to bid. Under the fourth suit forcing convention, a bid by either player in the fourth (unbid) suit is conventional (i.e. does not promise any particular holding in the suit bid) and asks partner to further describe his/her hand. This convention was introduced by the British bridge author Norman Squire, and is adopted by the vast majority of partnerships that play bridge at competitive levels. The fourth suit forcing convention is particularly useful on strong (game-going hands) on which no natural forcing bid is available, hence it is a type of game trial bid.

A typical 4th suit forcing bid is the 2♦ bid in:

1♣ – 1♥; 1♠ – 2♦

Depending on partnership agreement, this 2♦ bid is forcing for one round, or forcing to game level.

Opener responds to the fourth suit forcing by (in prioritised order):

1) raising of responder's 1st bid suit with 3-card support,

2) bidding notrump with values in the fourth suit,

3) raising the 4th suit with 4-card in that suit,

4) making the most natural rebid possible, lacking any of the above.

The fourth suit forcing approach in conjunction with the principle of fast arrival allows the partnership to create a game-forcing auction at low level that leaves ample room to explore for slam:

1♣ – 1♥; 1♠ – 2♦; 2♥ – 2♠

Here, the 2♠ bid denotes a four card spade support, and a hand too strong for a fast-arrival bid of 4♠.