East opens 1♠ and rebids 2♣.  Now, there are two very good reasons why West should give a so-called “false preference” to 2♠:

Reason 1  West has some values and game is still not out of the question if East has some extras.  That  false preference to 2♠ (instead of passing 2♣) gives East a chance to bid again.

Reason 2   Even if Clubs are a better fit, there’s a good chance that Spades will score better.  So it is on the actual hand, where the 5-2 Spade fit is good for 9 tricks and +140, whereas the 5-3 Clubs are worth 10 tricks but only +130.

The modern game emphasizes the majors, and there’s a common bridge saying that “the minors are for children”.  Well, considering the nature of this event, let’s rephrase that and say that minors are now for infants.

This is an “Oops!” problem.  You opened 1♣ and then realized that you had no satisfactory rebid after Partner’s 1♠ response.  It’s time to declare “Oops!”  What would be your choice now?  Nothing really appeals.  Not 1NT, that shows 12-14, nor 2NT which is 18-19.  Of the other possibilities, 2♣ seems wrong with 16 HCP’s, 3♣ would show the extra strength but is usually made with a 6-card suit, and 2♥ would be a reverse and an overbid.   We suppose that most Wests would make the 2♥ overbid, and now on the actual hand an easily excitable Partner might get carried away and take the bidding all the way to slam in Clubs.  That will be down one.

When West opened 1♣ he was guilty of not planning his rebid, he did not stop to think what he would do if Partner responded 1♠.  If he had anticipated that he might well have opened 1NT instead of 1♣.  Sure, 1NT is a tad off-shape with that 4-5 distribution, but even so it looks like the practical bid to us.  Now E-W will have a smooth and effortless auction to 3NT:

              1NT 2♣, 2♥ 3NT

The simple route to the best spot!

Opposite a No Trump opening or No Trump rebid, a jump to 4NT is generally not played as Blackwood.  The more common treatment is for this to be slam-invitational, or, as some would term it, “quantitative”.  That being the case, South has a perfect 4NT bid, with 19 HCP’s taking the partnership to a collective 31-33 HCP’s.  South wants to play in 6NT if Partner has the high end of her 12-14 range, otherwise he expects Partner to pass.

South’s 3♦ was preemptive, with a stronger Diamond raise (game-invitational or better) she would have cue-bid 3♣.

As North, what’s your choice?  E-W surely have game somewhere, after all where are the N-S defensive tricks coming from?  The A♥ is one, probably no Diamond tricks (it looks like N-S have a 12-card fit), and South is presumed to have little or no defense for her preempt.  Looking just at the North hand, we’d say that slam for E-W is quite likely.  If North believes that, then what should she bid?  4♦ would give the opponents too much space, 5♦ would be the least that North should do, and there’s a lot to be said for leaping directly to 6♦ putting the opponents to the guess.  Perhaps the winning bid here depends on the opponents.  The less experienced they are the more likely North is to get away with bidding just 5♦.  Against really tough opponents it would be more appropriate to go straight to 6♦.

Despite that lovely Club holding, West is advised to double here rather than to overcall 2♣.  He has decent support for all of the unbid suits and the main risk of overcalling with this hand is that a Heart fit may be lost.  It’s usually better to offer Partner a choice, and it’s also a good idea to keep the majors in the picture.

Now, here’s an interesting hand!  After Partner’s 1♥ opening and South’s 1♠ overcall, what’s your choice as West?  The hand is very weak, the shape is blah, but there is that 5-card support, so passing is out of the question.  A preempt is called for, and we suggest that 3♥ and 4♥ both be used preemptively in this situation.  With support and a better hand (game-invitational or better) West would cue-bid the opponent’s Spade suit.  So, the question is whether West should preempt with 3♥ or 4♥.  With a known 10-card fit (at least) some would leap to 4♥, applying maximum pressure to North.  But the hand is shapeless and our own preference is for a mere 3♥.

At his second turn, East’s hand, with its strong holding in the unbid suit, cries out for a No Trump bid.  Here are the ranges in this situation:

        1NT         6-10

        2NT         11-12

        3NT         13-15

So, it’s an obvious 2NT bid, showing game-invitational values.

As we saw on the previous board, Responder’s range for a 3NT bid here is 13-15, which is exactly what South has.  That 3NT bid also denies a 4-card major, the general rule being to explore a major suit fit before settling upon No Trump.

Only 10 HCP’s and a square hand to boot, but, in third seat opposite a passed hand, the standards can be dropped a little.  But that’s not to say that we open light in third seat just for the sake of opening light.  Opening bids should have a purpose whichever seat we are in, and here the purpose is to steer Partner to the right opening lead if E-W end up on defense.  Wouldn’t you just love a Club lead?

Would you open the West hand 1♣?  Sure you would!  Only 10 HCP’s but it passes the Rule of Twenty and the hand has no wasted values, everything is working.  And we always love those 6-4 hands, somehow they just seem to play rather well.

On the Convention Card, in the “Simple Overcall” section, there is a spot for the HCP range, for which we suggest “9-18”.  There is also the text “(usually)” next to this range, and we would say that the South hand comes into the “usually” category.  It’s only 7 HCP’s (and vulnerable, too) but who would not want to throw in a Diamond bid here in order to get Partner off to the right lead?

Partner has balanced with 2♠, and East has a pretty good hand.  Should he try for game?  Absolutely not!  When Partner balances like that, having passed originally, he is merely trying to push the opponents up one level, to where E-W have a better chance of setting the contract.  He knows that East has some values because the opponents have not tried for game.  So he is not only bidding his values, he is also bidding ours.  When Partner balances we must not punish him.

After South’s raise to 2♠ North can take this one to game.  Should she bid Hearts along the way?  Perhaps there is a slam?  Slam is a long shot, and there’s such a thing as TMI.  Once North knows where the hand belongs (which 99% of the time will be 4♠) she goes there without delay.

Once East has opened, West visualizes slam and it’s merely a question of which one.  When East bids Spades three times it seems likely that that will be the best suit.

We managed to get three-quarters of the way through the second session of the Youth Pairs without needing to touch upon the subject of Blackwood.  We knew it was too good to last, and now we find ourselves plunging head-first into the world of Roman Key Card.

A Brief History of Blackwood

Back in the mists of time Easley Blackwood created his famous convention, using a bid of 4NT to ask for Aces.  The responses were intuitive enough, 5♣ for none, 5♦ for one, all the way up to 5NT to show four.

Then, in the name of efficiency, someone said “Let’s give the 5♣ response a double meaning, it can show 0 or 4, surely it’s not possible that there would ever be any ambiguity”  A French pair, playing in the World Championships, later demolished this theory by getting into a grand slam missing all four Aces.

Nonetheless, in the name of further efficiency, it occurred to a clever Italian that there would probably be no ambiguity if the responses were tightened up further and if 5♣ showed “0 or 3” and 5♦ showed “1 or 4”.  He also had the bright idea of including the King of trumps into the responses, a 5^th Ace if you will.  That left Benito with:

        5♣              0 or 3 Key Cards

        5♦               1 or 4 Key Cards

        5♥              2 or 5 Key Cards

Yes, the “five Aces” were dubbed Key Cards, and the next challenge was how to use the idle 5♠ response.  As the Queen of trumps is also a useful card, Benito further tinkered with the responses and came up with what is now known as Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB):

        5♣             0 or 3

        5♦              1 or 4

        5♥              2 or 5 without trump Queen

        5♠              2 or 5 with trump Queen

This was a huge improvement over plain vanilla Ace-asking Blackwood, and it’s no coincidence that virtually all tournament players now use RKCB.  But the tinkering with the responses was not quite over, alas.  An American, who clearly had far too much time on his hands, came up with some mind-numbing logic which suggested that it would be beneficial to switch the 5♣ and 5♦ responses.  We’ll spare you the gory details, but the version of RKCB that is most commonly played nowadays uses these so-called “1430” responses:

        5♣             1 or 4

        5♦              0 or 3

        5♥              2 or 5 without trump Queen

        5♠              2 or 5 with trump Queen

We became acquainted with Roman Key Card Blackwood on Board 26, is this another opportunity to give it a test drive?

South knows that her side has an 8-card Heart fit and with Partner showing 18+ HCP’s it’s highly likely that slam can be made, maybe even 7♥.  Does this mean that she should use her new RKCB toy?  No!  A cornerstone of RKCB is that both partners need to know what is the agreed trump suit (remember that the trump King and Queen feature in the responses).  Before launching into RKCB, South must tell North that Hearts are trumps, so the correct bid here is 3♥.  Having set the trump suit, South can wheel out the Key Card machinery next time around.

If N-S are playing a 5-card major style, then once in a while they must open a 3-card minor suit, as did South on this hand.  Then, when North responds 1♥, South, with her 4-card support, is duty bound to raise.  To review South’s Heart raises after 1♣ 1♥:

        2♥                 12-14 HCP’s, could be 3-card support

        3♥                 15-17, 4-card support

        4♥                 18-19, 4-card support

So, yes, South has a 4♥ bid.