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 Glossary of contract bridge terms#agreement, agreements and understandings assigned to Glossary of contract bridge terms#call, calls and sequences of calls used by a Glossary of contract bridge te ...
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. 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 sui ...
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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
External links
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Notes
References
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Contract bridge bidding
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