These distributions are the bane of
ACOL & SAYC because they do not sit easily
into the regular provided bidding methods. They cause 'lies' to be made
(or distortions in the projected distribution if you prefer). Some ACOL
tournament players do utilise the third arm of 2
Multi: to show a 3-suited hands BUT BETA uses 2D 3rd 'leg' to show some 5-5 hands: H&C & S&D.
3-suited hands do not fit comfortably as in reality, they are truly in a class of
their own, neither balanced or unbalanced: as BETA
Indeed they can equally well end up playing in NT's or suit contracts and so this duality is not so easily explored.
These exceptional hands with double fits and the shortage is useful can
even produce slams - so again good explorative sequences are required.
Beta's Openings with 3-suited hands:
With a 5 card Major or Diamonds bid it!
With 4-4 in the majors bid 1
- rebid in your minor with a 44{41} hand
With a 4 card Major and a Major doubleton shortage prefer a 1N opening when the rules are satisfied - elso open 1C
On your 1N rebid 12-16 partner inquires
with 2
if 9+ HCP: one has an undisclosed heart or spade suit you can now bid
it safely. E.g. 1
-1S-1N-2
-2Ma or 1
-1
(spades)-1N-2
-2
BUT in
the former case partner may he may again rebid his 6 card Major and
have to play with a 6-1 fit ...
Or finally partner leaves you in a 1NT aware that your hand has no 'S' or 'V'.
Many argue its not worth the bother as their overall frequency of
occurrence is just 2.993% & 1.243% respectively - a total of only
4.24% rounded - we beg to differ!
Partner may have 4
's and you end up in a 2
possibly even in a fit!
Despite
all the foregoing gloom 3 suiters have a spectacular probability
of producing a 4-4 fit or even a double fit! Probabilities:
4441:
Single fit: 80.3%
Double fit: 18.5%
5440:
Single fit: 88.3%
Double fit: 18%
If opponents open in our shortage our Multi 1NT o'call can be used
to
show the remaining 3 suits but only if 16+HCP - shown with a 2N rebid -
then partner can choose any of the 3 suits to play in or even in
NT's. However we have no special sequences set aside for opening on a 4441 hands due to their low frequency of occurence.
Saying
that BETA's style of Protection bidding provides choices
with 1N, *, 2suit to give an excellent description.
Happily we can say that 3-suited hands cause BETA less problems than confusion found in ACOL or 5 card Major systems.
