Roman Keycard Blackwood
by Eddie Kantar

Master Point Press, £13.99, ISBN 1 894154 88 6

Rarely does one have the privilege to review a book that one knows is bound to be designated in the next issue of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge as making a major contribution to the technical development of the game, but such is the case here.

Using RCKB instead of simple Blackwood has already become the norm amongst tournament players in the UK and I see no reason why its popularity should not spread to club and social players. Almost everyone is used to assigning values to aces, kings, queens and jacks in calculating the point count of a hand, so assigning a value to the king and queen of trumps in response to a slam inquiry seems but a short step away.

Whilst someone with no knowledge of RKCB could benefit from reading this book, it will deliver most value to someone who already knows the basics and wants to use the convention more efficiently. The author starts with convincing arguments as to why the first step response should show 1 or 4 key cards if the strong hand asks, and 0 or 3 key cards if the weak hand asks. He gives very clear definitions of what would make the asking player the strong hand and what would make it the weak.

A large chunk of the book deals with RKCB in minor-suit auctions for the simple reason that one generally wants to use something other than 4NT to ask when you intend to play in a minor. In many auctions the author suggests that either four of the agreed minor, or four of the suit above it, could serve as the ask. Of course, he does not stop there. He covers inquiries for the queen of trumps, a bid to ask for specific kings, bids to ask about a specific holding in a suit, asking with a void (Exclusion RKCB), responding with a void, counting key cards in two suits (when a balanced hand faces a two-suiter) and interference both above and below six of the agreed suit. As you will gather from this list, the book is little short of encyclopaedic and it will take you a while for everything to sink in. One of the chapters gives 52 (!) quick tips and one of these is handy: 'Just play the stuff that you feel comfortable with, perhaps adding a bit here and there once you are satisfied with your comfort level. Don't overtax your partner!'

The author's humour helps you to get through all the material, but what helps even more is the abundant and well chosen examples he has included illustrating each new idea. Realistically, he includes plenty of deals on which a RKCB sequence reveals that partner does not have the cards you are looking for, though that is not the case below:

A Q 5 2   A 7   A 9 7 3 2   K 4   K J 8 6 3   K 5 4   5   A Q 5 2

West	East
1	1
4	4NT (1)
5 (2)	5 (3)
6 (4)	7 (5)
End

1 RKCB 30/41 - opener has jumped
2 3 key cards (in this case all aces)
3 Trump queen ask
4 Yes, with the K but not the K (5 would show the K)
5 Just what the doctor ordered

Julian Pottage

© Bridge Plus 1999-2006