Five-card majors for offensive purposes. However, if the trump cards break 4-1 or 1-4, then drawing trump will result in no trumps left for offensive purposes. The value of five-card majors can be understood then on two levels: But five-card majors have several drawbacks: Both partners must agree to follow the five-card major bidding treatment on their opening bid. Opener must have at least five cards in hearts or spades to start the bidding with that suit. Responder is expected to show support with three-card support, indicating an eight-card fit. With only four cards in a major suit, the opening bidder is
Bid whist e.g., an ace, king, queen. When that player runs out of hearts, the next time hearts are played, he will throw off a low diamond. This typically tells his partner he has some help for him in diamonds. Skilled players typically "pull trumps". This means they start off playing the trump suit and "pulls" all the trumps from the opponents. Once trumps are pulled from the opponents, the bidding player will begin playing his "offsuit". A player will not continue to play trumps when the opponents are out of trumps, saving his trumps to cut another suit that is played.