A J 3
3 2
Q 8 7 6
A 6 3 2 What is the value of a fourth trump? #3
By Mike Lawrence
SOME TIMES YOU PROMISE FOUR
Here is a question mentioned previously.
| West 1C |
North 1H |
East 2C |
South 3H |
The jump raise above can be compared to other jump raises. The one underlining requirement is that it shows four card support. Your values may vary according to system, but the number of trumps must be consistent.
Why?
In another article I showed a hand where N-S got to four spades with Qxxxx opposite AKx. The values were there, but it didn't make. By changing the hand slightly, giving dummy the AKxx of spades instead, game was cold. The message? The more trumps, the better.
When you make a jump raise, you must promise four trumps so that your partner can judge the hand. If he knows you have four trumps, he can estimate the worth of the combined hands better than if he does not know how many trumps you have. Your partner is entitled to know what he has to work with so that he can bid wisely instead of having to guess.
A J 3
3 2
Q 8 7 6
A 6 3 2
Your partner opens one spade. Eyeing your doubleton heart and otherwise nice points, you feel good about this hand and ultimately push to game. You find partner with this hand:
K Q 10 9 2
Q 8 4
K 3
K Q 4
The contract looks good except for the fact that the opening lead happens to be a trump. When you lead a heart, the defenders take it and continue trumps. You lead more hearts and they lead more spades. No heart ruff for you today. Down one when the clubs don't split.
RULE. When your hand has three trumps, your distribution will be less valuable than when you have four or more trumps. This rule is so important that you should never make a jump raise with just three trumps. It may feel natural to make a compromise. Is it not OK to make a limit raise with three trumps if you have an extra point or two to make up the difference? No. That is compounding the error. If you do that, your partner will not realize that the correct final contract is three notrump. He will be evaluating his hand on the basis that you have jump raise points (however you play the bid) plus four trumps. He will evaluate his hand for play in your suit. I promise that even if you are just getting around to this aspect of bridge, you will be doing yourself and your partner a big favor by having four trumps.
One short question for you to answer.
A K 9 7 6
8 7 3
A Q 10 2
5
No one vulnerable. You open one spade and LHO bids two hearts. Your partner makes a limit raise of three spades and RHO goes to four hearts. What do you do? What would you do if you somehow knew your partner had three spades to the queen? I think you might double four hearts. If you knew he had four trumps, though, you might decide to bid four spades. Remember these two factors. If North has three trumps, the defenders can lead them and stop you from ruffing all of your heart losers. And, if your partner has three trumps, you have a fair chance of taking two spade tricks on defense. If North is known to have four or more spades, you can't be stopped from ruffing hearts AND you have fewer spade tricks on defense.