Suave, Sophisticated, Dashing and Brave . . .

THE NAME'S BLACKWOOD, ROMAN KEY-CARD BLACKWOOD

Paul Mendelson

James Bond was a bridge player =D1 and a card sharp. In the novel Moonraker, Bond helps M to expose the villain of the piece, Sir Hugo Drax, as a cheat. Bond muses on luck and skill at card games frequently and, in Casino Royale, reflects that luck is as a woman, to be softly wooed or brutally ravaged, never pandered to or pursued.

Despite these dated and politically incorrect sentiments, I can't help feeling that Bond would have embraced at least one of the modern gadgets, Roman Key-Card Blackwood. It's the sort of convention that is dashing and glamorous, sometimes gets one into a tight scrape but, more often, turns you into a hero.

The beauty of RKCB is that slams can appear almost from nowhere. You get a whiff of the six or seven level and you can succumb to temptation safely, able to stop at a conservative level if your hunch doesn't pay off.

In the first of my examples, all taken from recent pairs events, North-South didn't even play Splinters, yet South was able to steer his side into a wonderful grand slam, despite holding a completely flat hand:

Dealer: North. Love All.

North South
1 2
4 4NT
5 5
5 5NT
6 7
End

Without Splinters available, North described his hand as best he could, showing the extra values and at least a 5-4 distribution. With so many losers, South must have been slightly nervous about launching into Blackwood but short of signing off in 5, there was little else for him to bid. North's 5 response showed 0 or 3 controls and, suitably encouraged, South decided to check for the trump Queen. To do this, you bid the next suit up after the initial 5 or 5 response, unless that suit is trumps. Here 5 would have been a sign off, so South bid 5. Without the trump Queen, North should return to the agreed suit at the lowest available level, and with it, he can cue-bid any King not yet shown. So, here, North bid 5. From worrying about the six level, South has suddenly becomes interested in the seven level - even to the extent of choosing between denominations - and there is still time to investigate. His 5NT enquiry asked North to name any other King not yet shown. Had North held one, South could have tried 7NT but, when North denied a further King by returning to the agreed suit, South passed and the grand slam was an easy top.

Some players still insist on the 5NT enquiry asking for the number of Kings held. This is a bad idea because, when searching for that elusive grand, often one King is vital, the other almost worthless. Specific values must be located to bid at the seven level with accuracy, and that is one of RKCB's great strengths. 

The first and last examples in this article feature tight grand slams, but RKCB is excellent at keeping you out of poor slams, too. Knowing that you hold only eight trumps and that you are missing an Ace and the Queen of trumps can help you to avoid the 25% and 33% slams, and still let you punt the 50% ones when you'e feeling lucky. Above all, you are provided with enough information with which to make informed decisions. Consider the bidding on the hands below:

Dealer: West. Love All.

(a) Splinter; (b) Cue-bid

Armfuls of match-points to the pair who produced this simple auction and stayed out of the unmakeable slam. You would think it easy, but those pairs playing ordinary Blackwood could never find out whether or not they held the Queen of trumps between them.

In the final example, North-South also play transfers over a 2NT opener, allowing the excellent fit to be discovered and then the key cards shown:

Dealer: West. E/W Vul.

East's 3 response was a transfer, promising at least five spades. West's 4 rebid was a transfer break, promising four-card spade support, good Ace- and King-based values and, in this instance, that diamonds was the strongest source of tricks outside of spades. East could now bid 4NT with spades agreed as trumps and West's 5 (one or four key cards) was clearly four. If West held two Kings on top of this, 7NT would be a reasonable bet. However, when West showed just K, East still felt that a grand slam was a good proposition and went for 7. Again, nailing the grand successfully led to all of the match-points.

And therein lies a good tip for duplicate pairs players. If you are bidding small slams, denomination is likely to be vital but, at the seven level, you are likely to be one of only a select few who have reached such exalted heights, and you should concentrate on the safety of the contract.

RKCB is no longer a convention of the experts; it is so good that everyone should know it and play it - palookas, experts and secret agents alike.