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Roman Key Card - Exclusion
In a recent poll of leading experts, this convention was voted Number 1! Yes, really, it was top of a list entitled "Least Favorite Convention", and it achieved that dubious honor by virtue of the fact that (a) it's obscure, (b) it comes up rarely, (c) it's downright dangerous, fraught with opportunities for misunderstanding. So, if you like danger, read on!
The basic premise of Exclusion is that a surprising jump to the 5-level in a constructive auction is Roman Key Card with a twist. The twist is that the Ace of the jump-bid suit is excluded from the responses, presumably because the Exclusion bidder is void in that suit and has no use for the Ace.
4th November, 2009
One possibility is to trot out Exclusion Key Card Blackwood here, bidding 5♣ and asking the question “What are your Key Cards, excluding the ♣A?” The trouble is that, even if Partner shows the two required Key Cards (♥K and ♦A) there is the distinct possibility that there will be a Spade loser (there may not be enough pitches on the Diamonds as North might be 4=4=3=2, for example). So, in the circumstances we’d simply take a shot at slam with a direct 6♥.
2nd September, 2009
What is your plan as South? With 9 Spade winners (well, almost) opposite an opening bid, and with RHO bidding our void, it’s reasonable to assume that slam is worth a shot, and there is something to be said for just booting out 6♠ immediately. The trouble is that 7♠ (or 7NT) might be cold. What we really want to do is tell Partner that Spades are trumps and then launch into Exclusion Key Card Blackwood, meaning that Partner will exclude the ♦A from her responses. Unfortunately there is no way to do that using standard methods. And it won’t help to respond 1♠ hoping for Spade support, the chances of getting that are negligible.
If you don’t have Exclusion Key Card in your arsenal, then our suggestion is simply to trot out 6♠, taking the direct route to the most likely contract. If you do have Exclusion Key Card available, you might try the bizarre-looking 5♦ over 1♦. This supposedly agrees Clubs and on the actual hand Partner will show 0 or 3 Key Cards (namely the ♣A, ♣K and ♥A). That’s 12 top tricks (barring a Spade disaster), and where there’s 12 there’s usually a 13th somewhere. So you now electrify the assembled throng with a bid of 7♠! Should you bid 7NT and go for all the marbles? Probably not, it would be embarrassing if Partner was void in Spades and your hand turned out to be completely useless! In our experience it is bad for partnership morale to go down 8 or 9 in a freely bid grand slam, although down one is usually tolerated.
3rd May, 2006 Board 23 Dealer South Both Vul
Do you open South’s hand 1♣ or 2♣? Many players would cite the fact that South has a two-loser hand and so should open 2♣. We prefer 1♣, most of the time it’ll make the subsequent auction easier (if, indeed, there actually is a subsequent auction!). When you open a super-strong hand with a non-forcing bid, as South did here, there is always the risk that it will get passed out … but, on those minor-oriented hands, 2♣ auctions are so awkward that it’s usually worth taking that chance.
South’s 2♦ was a reverse, of course, forcing for one round. 2♠ is obviously encouraging, and should probably show a good hand with Diamonds, though we’ll bet that few pairs have firm agreements in this particular auction.
What next? If we really can trust North to have a good Diamond raise, then 6♦ seems likely, maybe even 7♦. If Partner has the A♥ and K♦ (not out of the question), then we’d like to be in the grand … how do we find out about Partner’s Key Cards without him including the useless A♠ in his response? Yes, indeed, we can bid 4♠ … Exclusion Key Card Blackwood! If Partner has that A♠, he’ll exclude it from his response, and we’ll be able to get to the grand if Partner has those two red Key Cards.
28th June, 2006 Board 12 Dealer West N-S Vul
North’s hand is solid (well, almost) except for the small matter of those 3 missing Aces. There’s no point in using regular Key Card because an answer of “two” will leave us none the wiser, we’ll not know whether the Aces include the useless A♣ or not. This is a hand for Exclusion Key Card Blackwood … a leap to 5♣ here can be used as Roman Key Card Blackwood, but excluding the (useless) A♣. Partner will respond as if the A♣ does not exist, and we’ll get to 6♥ if Partner has two of the “right” Aces, and 7♥ if she has 3 of them.
By the way, South is right to bid 5♣ immediately … if she prevaricates by bidding 3♣ (shortness) first her Partner might inadvertently preempt her with a 4♠ bid, taking away the Exclusion option. In general, Exclusion is at the 5-level (or 4♠), and must be a jump.
From 19th December, 2007 Board 9 Dealer North E-W Vul
Partner’s 2NT shows Heart support and game-going values. At this point all that North cares about is the A♦ and the A♠. But regular Roman Key Card won’t be helpful, because if Partner shows 2 Key Cards that might include the useless A♣. So, if N-S are playing that exotic variation of Roman Key Card known as Exclusion Key Card, a majestic leap to 5♣ says “Tell me about your Key Cards, but exclude the A♣”.
Back to the opening bid. Do you agree with it? It would be hard to argue if North started out that 2-loser hand with a 2♣ opening bid, and this will work out better on the actual hand as Partner, with 3 Aces and a King, will no doubt charge into the better-scoring 7NT.
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