'The most interesting questions from visitors to the Dutch sister site (Bridgevaria.nl)'. 

Dear Ed & Peter,

My partner opens 1♣, showing three or more clubs. This is my hand:

Should I always bid the five-card spades first, or should I start by bidding my four-card hearts, in order not to miss a possible heart fit?

My partner, North, had:

		♠	6
		♥	A Q 7
		♦	K 10 5 4
		♣	A K J 8 5
		♠	A K 5 3 2
		♥	9 7 4 2
		♦	Q 7
		♣	9 6

¹ Reverse
² Fourth suit forcing

We failed to bid 3NT because of my stupidity.
After partner correctly bid 3♥, I failed to bid 3NT myself.

Thanks and kind regards,
Jelle de Gruyter, Wageningen

 Answer Ed Hoogenkamp (South)

Dear Jelle,

You mention yourself (more or less) that with this (!) hand it doesn't really matter whether you begin with 1♠ or 1♥. You cannot but end up in 3NT.

Usually however, bidding the correct suit first is important. And the correct suit here is spades. Always bid your major five-card suit first. Why? Because if you don't, you run a severe risk of missing a 5-3 spade fit. Once you have started off with 1♥, you will find it virtually impossible to convince partner that you have five spades. So, begin with your five-card major.
You will not miss the 4-4 heart fit, since you can bid that suit in the next round, after for instance a 1NT, 2♣ or 2NT rebid from partner, showing 12-14, 12-15 or 18-19 HCP respectively. (These are the only three non-hearts bids he can make if he has four hearts: after all, a 2♥ rebid — reverse — shows 16⁺ HCP and 5-4 in clubs and hearts).

In your case partner will rebid 2♦, reversing, so he denies a four-card heart suit. (With a 0-4-4-5 distribution he would have rebid 2♥, not 2♦. Here too the principle applies that the major suits have priority. After all, they are potential trump suits, the minors are not — preferably.)

You will then rebid 2♥ as fourth suit forcing, since four small hearts isn't much of a guard and besides, partner must be given the chance to show three spades. With his actual hand partner will jump to 3NT, showing a double guard (your fourth suit was game forcing; partner would have bid 2NT with a single heart guard).

Peter will probably bid differently. In Norway they respond 1♦ with a hand like yours, in an effort to miss any fit... At least, I think they do so.

Regards from Barcelona

Answer Peter van der Linden (North)

Dear Jelle,

As usual, first I have to rebuke Ed: in Norway we do respond 1♠.

My reply then: I would like to stress three points. Ed briefly mentions one of them (my second), but subsequently ignores it in grand Mediterranean style.

My first point (Ed had planned to deal with this mañana, but something came up: a terrace and a bottle of sangria): suppose that you, in your actual auction, had bid 3NT over partner's 3♥, as Ed suggests (by the way, what did you bid?). I'm not sure what would have happened. Ed claims: 'You cannot but end up in 3NT.' Cannot but?
Far from it: the fact that you bid 3NT now, doesn't mean that you end up playing it!
I'll explain. After your faulty 1♥ bid, you continued with 2♠, the fourth suit. That is not logical, I think. Look at your bidding from partner's side of the table. First hearts, then the fourth suit. That requests partner first and foremost to show three-card heart support. If he hasn't got it, he is supposed to bid no trumps if he has a guard in the fourth suit (in your auction: spades!). If he hasn't got that either, he will bid a minor suit.

So, he was correct in showing his three card-heart suit. Next, you bid 3NT. What is he supposed to think of that? If you hadn't been interested in that three-card heart support but only wanted to find out whether partner had a spade guard, you would have repeated the fourth suit (so you would have bid 3♠ instead of 3NT). I repeat: what is he to think of 3NT?
The only explanation I can think of (apart from artificial meanings, the most logical of which is: serious NT, a strong slam try in hearts; but this is for experts), is that your message is: 'I have five hearts but a spade guard as well: please choose between bidding 4♥ or passing 3NT (despite the 5-3 heart fit). In other words: 3NT offers a choice of games.
With his actual hand partner will certainly opt for 4♥...

The conclusion is, that, after your faulty 1♥ bid, you must abandon the hope of finding a 5-3 spade fit, since it is impossible to find (see point 2). Over partner's 2♦ bid, you had better made the best of a bad bargain by bidding 3NT. This way you can at least avoid having to play 4♥ in a bad 4-3 fit...

My second point (the one that Ed mentions briefly, but subsequently ignores in grand Mediterranean style): if you don't bid a major five-card suit while you have the opportunity, you run a severe risk of missing a 5-3 fit.
Example 1:

♠	K J 2			♠	Q 10 5 4 3
♥	3			♥	9 7 4 2
♦	K Q 10 8			♦	A 7
♣	A Q J 10 3			♣	K 2

¹ Fourth suit forcing

East is stuck. True, he can bid 3♠, repeating the fourth suit, but this bid doesn't show a spade suit (let alone a five-card spade suit). What it does mean? Well, West is wondering (and so am I)... Probably he will bid 3NT; after all he has a spade guard and a half. 3♠ is therefore called a Hoogenkamp bid (or hospital bid): it leads to disaster, whatever happens next.
Can't East try 4♠ over 3NT then? After all, West has shown a spade guard (twice), so he may very well have three spades. But again: what is West to think? Maybe he takes the bid as a slam try for 6♥...
Let's say, for argument's sake, that West would pass 4♠. That bid would work well in example 1: 4♠ is a fine contract, 3NT will usually be defeated (even without a heart lead, West is not home and dry).
In example 2 (below) 4♠ wouldn't be a success:

♠	A 2			♠	Q 10 5 4 3
♥	K 3			♥	9 7 4 2
♦	K Q 10 8			♦	A 7
♣	A Q J 10 3			♣	K 2

This time it really should be 3NT, since West has at least one heart and possibly as much as three spades to lose (PS: though West has 19 HCP, and only 16 in example 1, he does not jump to 3NT over 2♠. After all, the bidding has been made game forcing — by the fourth suit after a reverse — in which case a jump to 3NT shows a double spade guard. With his actual hand, West does not yet want to exclude 4♥; after all, East could still have six hearts).

And then my third point (Ed had made a note of it at the back of a cantina bill, but when later at home he opened the French doors, the wind took it and... oh, forget it).

Suppose that in your deal you had bid 3NT over partner's 3♥ and partner would have passed (which I don't expect). The contract would have been in the wrong hand then: whatever West's lead, it doesn't cost a trick!
If you correctly respond 1♠, partner will end up as declarer. East is to lead and will give away a trick in three out of four suits (only a spade doesn't cost, but he will not be inclined to lead it, since you are known to have five). This is not a coincidence: usually it's best that the strongest hand is declarer in 3NT (or else the hand with the guard in the fourth suit — hearts in this case).
Have another look at example 2: there too it is best if West declares 3NT.

Regards from Orkanger

PS: let's not blame Ed for anything, because he is in a bad state: FC Barcelona is trailing Real Madrid...