December 2010 - 59

The Coolest Gizmos
and Gadgets
Modified Baze
Many years ago, I played a regional
pairs game with Grant Baze during
his first run for the McKenney Trophy,
now the Barry Crane Top 500. When
we filled out the convention card, we
agreed to play "Baze" after Stayman
auctions where opener shows a four‑
card major. During that discussion, he
adamantly denied inventing this gad‑
get and was not sure how his name
got attached to it. I have played it as
long as I can remember and always
recall it being called "Baze," at least
on the West Coast.
When the 1NT opener responds
with a four‑card major after Stay‑
man, it is critical to be able to do
several things, such as set trump for
the purpose of bidding Roman Key
Card Blackwood, or invite slam quan‑
titatively with or without a fit. "Baze"
allows you to do it all. The follow‑up
bids truly specify which type of hand
you hold and allows both players to
intelligently proceed. Let's use the
following auction as an example and
define what the Baze responses mean:
Opener
1NT
2

Responder
2
?

4 = a balanced slam try with
a fit in hearts. This allows opener
maximum room to cuebid or use 4
as "last train" to show slam inter‑
est without taking control. With a
minimum hand and nothing special,
opener should sign off in 4.
4 = Roman Key Card Blackwood.
Sometimes, finding the fit you were

looking for is all you need to use
RKCB. Use the next four steps as
your key card responses.
You may have asked yourself by
now, why is this article called "modi‑
fied" Baze. It is because in the old
days, this gadget used 4 as RKCB
and 4 as the balanced slam try. Be‑
cause bidding theory always evolves,
it was decided that it would be very
helpful, especially when your suit is
hearts, to have at least one step for
opener to use as "last train" to sug‑
gest they were not a minimum and
had slam interest, but not enough to
take control. Thus, the meaning of the
4 and 4 bids were swapped. Poof!
We now have "modified" Baze!
3 (This is the "sizzle" bid.) = arti‑
ficial, fit‑showing, slam interest and
a singleton somewhere. The next
step asks where the singleton is, with
low‑middle‑high (LMH) responses.
LMH means that the next three steps,
including 3NT, show where the single‑
ton is. The lowest suit (clubs) is the
first step, diamonds is the middle step
and the other major is the third step.
Opener can usually judge accurately
if his hand is working or not. The two
best holdings for opener to have in
the short suit is either three or four
low cards in the suit or A-x-x-(x).
Opener should use RKCB with the
best holdings, but sign off with bad
holdings such as K-J-x, Q-J-x-x, etc.
(If opener had responded 2 and the
fit is in spades, then 3 would be the
modified Baze bid to show an unspec‑
ified singleton.)

Billy Miller
dearbilly@aol.com

Those are the three main modified
Baze responses after 1NT-2; 2
(or 2). Please note that the bid of
three of the other major makes no
sense for follow‑up bidding as a natu‑
ral bid. It is another example of an
"impossible" bid. Baze puts this idle
bid to work.
Another benefit to this approach
is that other continuations become
crystal clear. 4NT over a major‑suit
response to Stayman is absolutely
quantitative without a fit. With a fit,
you would use one of the three modi‑
fied Baze bids to invite slam. Another
great inference occurs for those that
play four‑suit transfers. If responder
should bid three of a minor after
a major‑suit response to Stayman,
opener can infer that responder not
only has that minor, but also the other
major. With a fit in opener's major
he would have used Baze immedi‑
ately. With a one‑suited minor hand,
responder would have started with a
transfer to a minor, not with Stayman.
Even though the late Grant Baze did
not take credit for this gadget's inven‑
tion, his name will be evoked when
this fine expert bidding tool is used.
I don't think he would mind.
r
December 2010 Bridge Bulletin

59
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2010
