February 2020 - 51

Intermediate Players

Mike's Bridge Lesson
BY MIKE LAWRENCE

michaelslawrence.com

What did 4NT mean?
Both sides vulnerable. West deals.
West
Pass

North
1♠

East
Pass

South
?

♠2 ♥2 ♦A K Q J 10 8 7 6 4 ♣K 10
Do you play Roman key card Blackwood (RKCB)? It's a nice convention.
If you and partner have decided on a
trump suit, you can ask for key cards
with 4NT. The answer to 4NT shows
how many key cards partner has (the
aces and the king of trumps), and
sometimes the answer shows or denies
the queen of trumps, too.
Take the hand above. Your partner
opens 1♠. What do you bid? Well, on
this hand all you want to do is get partner to show aces. Nothing else.
Say you bid 2♦. Your partner rebids,
say, 2♠. You would like to ask for aces,
but if you bid 4NT, your partner may
think that you are using key card for
spades. If he shows two key cards, you
don't know if he has two aces or one
ace and the ♠K. If he shows one key
card you don't know if it is the ♠K or
an ace. Awkward.
What you want to avoid is a situation
where your 4NT bid will be interpreted
as key card for a suit that you aren't
interested in.
The solution? Bid 4NT right away.
This requires a simple agreement. If
your partner opens a suit at the one
level and you jump to 4NT, you aren't
asking for key cards for partner's suit.
You are asking for aces only.
You can use the step responses that

you normally use, either 0314 or 1430,
but let's say you're using 0314. If your
partner bids 5♣, showing zero or three
aces, you will bid 5♦. If your partner
has no aces, he passes and you probably go down.
If your partner has three aces, he will
raise to 6♦ and you will bid 7♦.
If your partner bids 5♦, you know
he has one ace. He can't have four. Not
possible. You will pass that, and your
partner will get to play the hand.
If your partner bids 5♥, showing
two aces, you will bid 6♦ and probably
make it.
This brings up a useful rule: If partner opens and you want to bid 4NT
(key card) for his suit, make a forcing
raise in the suit first and then bid 4NT.
♠Q J 8 7 ♥4 ♦A K 8 7 6 4 ♣A 3
Say your partner opens 1♠. Don't bid
4NT. Not just yet. You want partner to
tell you about the ♠A and ♠K (if he
has them). 4NT now would just ask for
aces. The way to start with this hand
is to arrange to raise spades. This can
happen in a number of ways. Here's
one possible auction. Assume you are
playing 2/1:
Partner
1♠
2♠
4♠

You
2♦
3♠
4NT

If partner has five or six spades to the
ace-king, you will have an excellent
play for slam.
Partner will know to respond with
key card answers because you have
established the trump suit.
Auctions like these are all key card
auctions:
Partner
1♠
4♠

You
2NT(1)
4NT

(1) Jacoby 2NT
You have established spades as
trumps, so your 4NT bid is RKCB for
spades.
Partner
2♥
4NT

You
1♠
3♥

Asking for keycards. You opened and
showed heart support, so partner is using RKCB for hearts.
Partner
1♣
2♣
2♠

You
1♠
2♥
4NT

Even though partner's 2♠ bid is simply a preference, your 4NT is RKCB for
spades.
◾

Your 3♠ bid was forcing. Partner
raised to 4♠, showing no slam interest. But you have slam interest anyway.

February 2020 Bridge Bulletin

51
http://www.michaelslawrence.com
February 2020

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