In the game of
contract bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ...
a three suiter (or three-suited hand) denotes a hand containing at least four cards in three of the four suits. As a bridge hand contains thirteen cards, only two hand patterns can be classified as three suiters: 4-4-4-1 and 5-4-4-0.
In natural
bidding system
A bidding system in contract bridge is the set of agreements and understandings assigned to calls and sequences of calls used by a partnership, and includes a full description of the meaning of each treatment and convention. The purpose of bidd ...
s, strong three suiters are often difficult to describe, as — following the likely response of partner in the short suit — they do not allow for a high-level notrump rebid, nor for a
reverse bid. Some systems therefore use dedicated opening bids to describe strong three-suited hands (e.g. the 2 opening in the
Roman system).
The standard treatment to describe a three-suited hand after an opposing opening in a suit is the
takeout double
In the card game contract bridge, a takeout double is a low-level conventional call of "Double" over an opponent's bid as a request for partner to bid his best of the unbid suits. The most common takeout double is after an opponent's opening bid ...
. Conventions like the
Kantar cuebid and
Cansino[Manley (2011), page 272.] can be used to introduce a three-suited hand after an opposing 1NT opening.
See also
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Single suiter
In contract bridge, a single suiter (or single-suited hand) is a hand containing at least six cards in one suit and with all other suits being at least two cards shorter than this longest suit. Many hand patterns can be classified as single suit ...
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Two suiter
In contract bridge, a two suiter is a hand containing cards mostly from two of the four suits. Traditionally a hand is considered a two suiter if it contains at least ten cards in two suits, with the two suits not differing in length by more than ...
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Balanced hand
A balanced hand or balanced distribution in card games is a hand with an even distribution of suits. In the game of contract bridge, it denotes a hand of thirteen cards which contains no singleton or void and at most one . Three hand patterns are ...
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Bridge probabilities
In the game of bridge mathematical probabilities play a significant role. Different declarer play strategies lead to success depending on the distribution of opponent's cards. To decide which strategy has highest likelihood of success, the declarer ...
External links
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Notes
References
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Contract bridge bidding
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