Source: www.edmontonbridge.ca
4 card fits with partner are not made for defending low level partials. The 4th card in partners trump suit is too valuable for offensive purposes. Bid one for the gipper with that 4thtrump!
A Tormentee tonight had 
A10xx and an outside King and the auction went 1
-1-1NT-? .
Bid 2 or 3 spades with the hand! The 1NT bidder has announced that the spade is now onside as you have the unexpected Ace. A double of 1NT should show the limit raise in spades or better. Selling out with a 4 card fit for partner is just not done. The other tables result was +140 in spades and the tormentee got +50 in 1NT but my partner could have made the hand. +90 +140 is a 6 IMP loss and the tormentee lost 3 IMPS anyway. In matchpoints , +50 would be a horrible score.
In fact the 4th trump is so important that my partnerships have a bid to show that 4th card.
One of a major , 3 of a major shows the 4th trump with simple raise values! We shoved the limit raise into our Jacoby 2NT structure to free up the former limit raise bid . Same with our minor structure as the 5th card is very important to announce immediately. The limit raise in a minor is included in the inverted minor structure. This frees a jump raise in a minor to show simple raise values with 5 trump. Bid your 4th major suit card and your 5th minor suit card immediately.
The “law of total tricks” is based on that 4th trump & the 5th trump in a minor. Having a 9 card major fit , plays better than a 8 card fit , yet there is no HCP value given to the 4thtrump. Therefore you need another way to announce the 4th trump to partner. Making a simple raise with 4 trump in the day and age of 5 card majors is lame bidding. This is a hang over from 4 card major days. I cringe when partner makes a simple raise to my overcall or opener with 4 trump . Can not partner find a better bid with that 4th trump ?
Back to [ilink url=”http://csbnews.org/new/thinking-in-patterns/?lang=en”]patterns[/ilink] again. There are offensive hand patterns and defensive hand patterns. Bid the heck out of your offensive distributions. Do not sell out with 5-5’s or 6-5’s or 7 card suits. These distributions are custom built for offense & not defense. Do not sell out when you have a 4 card fit for partner. The 4-4-3-2 , 5-3-3-2 , 4-3-3-3 , 5-4-2-2 hands are made for defending, These hand types do not play well offensively. Do not be a slave to the HCP system . Hand patterns should dominate your Bridge bidding decisions. Your competitive bidding will improve and selling out when you should not will occur less and less frequently.