July 2007 - 44

PLAY BRIDGE

The 24-part Bidding Toolkit series is available online at
www.acbl.org/play/commonlyusedconventions.html.

Roman Key Card
Blackwood

B

lackwood, the ace-asking
convention, was developed
early in the history of
contract bridge as an aid to slam
bidding. Despite its frequent misuse,
it became a popular treatment
because of its inherent simplicity.
A bid of 4NT (in most constructive
auctions) asks partner to reveal
how many aces he holds using
the following set of responses:
5 shows zero or four aces, 5
shows one, 5 shows two and 5
promises three. Easy.
Even when used properly,
however, there's a problem that
Blackwood fails to address, namely,
the strength of the combined trump
holding. Consider this situation:
Partner
You
A74
KQ
J863
A742
 10
AK85
AKJ62
Q98
Partner opens 1. You have an
18-count, but you decide to take it
slowly by responding with a calm
1. Partner rebids 1.
Your hand is improving in value
as the auction proceeds. If you
are a Blackwood enthusiast, it
wouldn't be unreasonable to bid
4NT at this point. After partner's
5 response (two aces), it would
likewise be reasonable to bid 6.
Your trump holding, however, will
be a disappointment to partner.
Barring the unlikely occurrence of
the doubleton K Q in a defender's
hand, declarer will lose two trump
tricks.
44

This example is just one of many
cases where not only is the number
of aces held by the partnership a
key to making a slam, but also the
quality of the trumps.
Enter Roman Key Card
Blackwood (RKCB). This approach
is "Roman" because it's a variation
of an ace-asking scheme developed
by the Italian Blue Team. The
phrase "Key Card" refers to the
way in which this method improves
on traditional Blackwood by
counting the four aces and the
king of the agreed trump suit as
"key" cards - a total of five.
Additionally, this method allows the
partnership to check on the queen
of the agreed suit.
Playing RKCB, the responses to
the key-card asking bid of 4NT are:
5 zero or three key cards
5 one or four key cards
5 two key cards without the
queen
5 two key cards with the
queen
If the partnership is missing two
(or more!) key cards, slam should
be avoided. If the partnership is
missing a key card and the queen
of the agreed suit, slam is iffy
unless the combined trump holding
is 10 cards or longer.
On the example hand, therefore,
partner would respond to your 4NT
call with 5, showing two key
cards, but without the Q. You
would then know that your side is
missing either (1) a black ace and
the Q or (2) the K and the
Q. Either way, slam would be a

bad idea. You should pass 5.
What about situations where
partner's response is 5 or
5, but you still want to know
about the queen of the agreed
suit? In RKCB, the "asker" bids
the cheapest suit after partner's
response to ask if he holds the
queen. Responder says "no" by
bidding five of the agreed suit.
Opener
Responder
1
3 (1)
(2)
4NT
5 (3)
(4)
5
5 (5)
Pass
(1) Limit raise.
(2) RKCB.
(3) One or four key cards.
Responder made only a limit raise,
so it must be one.
(4) "Do you have the Q?"
(5) "No."
Responder says "yes" by bidding
six of the agreed suit. In the above
auction, therefore, responder could
reply to the queen-asking bid of 5
with 6 if he held the Q.
If responder has the trump queen
and a side king, however, he can
show both. (This can sometimes
help the partnership bid a grand
slam.)
Opener
Responder
1
3
5 (2)
4NT (1)
5 (3)
6 (4)
(5)
7
Pass
(1) RKCB.
(2) One key card.
(3) "Do you have the Q?"
(4) "Yes, and I have the K, too."
(5) "Just what I needed!"
r
Bridge Bulletin
http://www.acbl.org/play/commonlyusedconventions.html
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2007
