Jennbridge: LTC and Bergen Raises

Question from a reader:  My partner and I have been using Bergen bids to respond to 1 Spade or 1 Heart by opener with no interference.  I read your articles in the Bridge Bulletin on Losing Trick Count and that seems to be a better approach (although I'm a big Marty Bergen fan).

Answer:  I, too, am a big fan of Bergen raises and believe they work splendidly with LTC.  In fact, a portion of my Losing Trick Count booklet is devoted to this topic.  Entitled "Presenting a System of Major Suit Raises Based on Losing Trick Count"  here is the first paragraph:

While LTC works with any bidding system, for the greatest bidding accuracy it is advantageous to combine it with Bergen and constructive raises in a 2/1 game forcing system.  The system works extremely well, although it is perhaps best left to experienced players.

My expert partner, a convert to LTC in the last few years, especially appreciates the benefits of combining it with Bergen raises and is a big fan of the system.

Question:  In all of your examples in the above articles, responder had four trump support.  What if, as responder, you only have three?  Does LTC work in that case?  Thanks for your help.

Answer:  LTC works fine with 3-card trump support and I believe that most of my examples show 5-3 fits.  After you become experienced in using LTC, you can learn some refinements dealing with number of trumps.

See you at the table!