Roman Key Card - Asking Bids

 

After the initial response to Roman Key Card Blackwood, one of these three follow-ups may be used:

 - The Queen Ask (usually the cheapest non-sign-off is used for this)

 - The King Ask (usually 5NT)

 - The Specific Suit Ask (this is an obscure and rarely used feature of RKCB)

 

 

5th July, 2006                   Board 6     Dealer East    E-W Vul

 

 

Let's take stock here, for a moment.   Our 2NT was the Jacoby 2NT, showing a game-forcing Spade raise, Partner's 3♥ showed shortness in that suit, and 4♣ and 4♦ were cue-bids.  Our 4NT was Roman Key Card Blackwood, and 5♦ showed 0 or 3. 

 

At this point we should be thinking about bidding 7.  Partner can hopefully ruff out our Heart losers, and we have no losers in the minors.  The only possible snag is the trump suit, or, more specifically, the Queen.  Can we find out about that card?  Yes, one commonly used device in the follow-up to Roman Key Card is for the cheapest non-sign-off to ask for that trump Queen.  So, in the auction above, 5♥ is the Queen Ask.  Suffice it to say here, if East shows trump Queen, West can take a shot at 7 ... and, if he denies that card, West will settle for the small slam.

 

 

16th May, 2007                 Board 13     Dealer North    Both Vul

 

 

A difficult grand slam to bid with any certainty using standard methods.  West tried the Jacoby 2NT, showing game-going values and a Spade fit, and asking Partner to describe his hand further.  East declined to do so, preferring to take control himself.  His 4NT was Roman Key Card, and the response was “Two with the Queen of Trumps”.  At this point, East had decided to take his chances with the Club suit and bid the grand anyway, but first he checked for Kings, as possession of two by Partner would allow him to bid 7NT.  E-W were obviously playing “Specific King” and 6♠ showed no side-suit King.

 

Looking just at the East hand, what are the chances of making 7♠ opposite a hand with opening values, a fit, and two Aces and no Kings?  Pretty good, we’d say, any one of these good things might happen:

-         Partner might have the Q♣, and we’d say the chances of that became substantially improved when Partner denied any Kings (of course, in this case, we’ll be wishing we had bid 7NT!)

-         Partner might have two (or fewer) Clubs

-         The Club finesse might work

 

Obscure Roman Key Card Device

There is a device which allows the Club situation to be resolved in the auction.  It’s an extension to Roman Key Card, and it’s called the “Specific Suit Ask”, hereinafter referred to as SSA.  It can be used in this situation:

            West    East

                        1♠

            2NT     4NT

            5♠        ??

 

Using the SSA, instead of bidding 5NT (the King Ask), East can bid a side-suit asking about Partner’s holding in that suit.  Of course, the Ace is already accounted for, and, according to the definitive Kantar work on the subject (“Roman Keycard Blackwood, 4^th edition”, published by Masterpoint Press) the responses are:

            Return to trump suit       Third round loser, such as Axx, xxx(x)

            1^st step                         Third round control, such as AQx, Qxx, Ax, xx

            2nd step                        Kxx(x)

            3^rd step                         Kx

            Raise of ask-suit            KQ(x)

            Jump in trump suit          Singleton

Quick test:  After an SSA of 6♣, what is the “3^rd step”?  6♦ is one, 6♥ is two, and 6NT is three.  That’s right, the 6♠ bid (“return to trump suit”) is reserved for the third round loser situation.

 

So there we have it, an obscure bidding agreement which works quite well on the actual hand.  But not perfectly!

-         SSA responses do not distinguish between doubletons and Queens, so the better-scoring 7NT would not be reached when Partner has the Queen

-         You cannot use SSA in the same auction as the King Ask (at least not according to Kantar's rules), so on the actual deal using SSA would give up on the alternative possibility that West has both red Kings.

We only mention this device in the interests of full disclosure.  It’s not for the casual partnership, and an opportunity to use it comes up very rarely.  Handle with care, or not at all.

 

 

12th September, 2007     Board 7

Here we give both E-W hands and analyze their auction.

 

            West                East

            ♠ AKJT63       ♠ Q7

            ♥ A54              ♥ QJ3

            ♦ 94                 ♦ A76

            ♣ K4               ♣ AQJ62

 

            West                East 

            1♠                    2♣

            2♠                    3NT

            4♥                    4NT

            5♦                    5NT

            6♣                   7NT

            Pass

 

A very nice auction gets E-W to the perfect spot.  What does it all mean?

 

2♠:       2♣ was game-forcing in this partnership’s methods, so there was no need to jump to 3♠ to show extra values.  3♠ here is normally used to show a really good suit rather than an especially good hand.  The definition of a “really good suit” is a matter for partnership agreement, we like it to be a suit with no slow losers, so not AKQxxx, nor the actual holding.  But KQJTxx or AQJTxx would be OK.  Another matter for partnership agreement is whether that 2♠ shows a 6^th Spade, some (probably most) 2/1 players use it as a “neutral” bid whenever they don’t have a more descriptive rebid available.  Others use 2NT as the “neutral” bid.

 

3NT:   Showed 15-17 HCP’s and presumably stops in the unbid suits.

 

4♥:      Now here’s an interesting bid!  Can it be a natural Heart bid?  No, surely not!  If West had 5 Hearts he would have bid the suit earlier, and with less than that there would be no point in introducing the suit naturally at the 4-level.  No, West is making a slam try, but in what suit?  Surely Spades, if he wanted to agree Clubs he could have bid 4♣ (please don’t say this is Gerber!).

 

4NT:   Could this be an attempt to play it in 4NT?  No, we’ve already expressed our affinity for No Trump, but Partner is insisting on Spades anyway.  East has a pleasant surprise for Partner with that Qx of Spades and feels justified in trying Roman Key Card Blackwod.

 

5♦:       Playing 1430 responses, this shows “zero or three”.

 

5NT:   The King Ask.

 

6♣:      This partnership was playing “Specific Kings” (highly recommended) so this shows the K♣.  Note that if this partnership were playing “Number of Kings”, East would show one King, which is useless information, East will have no idea whether Partner has the highly prized K♣, or a far less useful red King.

 

7NT:   East can count 13 tricks, barring awful splits.

 

 

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