Hand containing at least four cards in three of the four suits
In the game of contract bridge 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 systems, 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[1] and Cansino[2] can be used to introduce a three-suited hand after an opposing 1NT opening.
See also
Single suiter
Two suiter
Balanced hand
Bridge probabilities
External links
Ryall, Chris. "Bridge: Two level openings, 2 clubs as "strong unbalanced", Handling 4441 types". Chris Ryall - Bridge. Retrieved 31 July 2013.