6-6-1

BLACKWOOD

When no suit has been shown by either partner, (as with an opening bid of 4NT), standard Blackwood is
used (5Ê no aces, 5Ë one, etc.), and a "new suit" bid by the Blackwood bidder is a signoff:

Opener Responder
4NT 5Ê
5Ì - signoff

A 5NT continuation by the Blackwood bidder asks for kings (6Ê none, 6Ë two, etc.).

Note that an opening bid of 4NT is Blackwood, not a natural bid. To bid 4NT naturally, open 2Ê and then
bid 4NT. See section 6-1, The Two Club Opening. Also see section 6-8, DOPI and DEPO, for appropriate
action when LHO overcalls a Blackwood bid.

Roman Key Card Blackwood

Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB) is an improvement on plain Blackwood. When a suit is agreed, either
directly or by implication, the king of trumps is counted as an ace when responding to 4NT--it is a "key
card." The responses to 4NT are:

5Ê - 1 or 4 key cards

5Ë - 0 or 3 key cards (note reversal of usual practice)

5Ì - 2 or 5 key cards, no queen of trumps

5Í - 2 or 5 key cards, with trump queen

5NT - 2 key cards plus an important king

(i.e., king of partnership's second suit)
but lacking the trump queen

6 of agreed suit - useful void above key suit

(and normal response is five of agreed suit)

6 of lower suit - useful void in suit named

(and normal response is five of agreed suit)

Holding more cards in trump length than partner could assume, you can usually bid as if you have the queen.
Whether you need one extra card or two depends upon the auction. If you know partner has at least five
cards in the suit, for instance, then Jxxxx is just about as good as Qxxx if you have promised only four cards
in the suit. Partner, going for seven with AKxxx or for six with Kxxxx, won't be too disappointed in either
case.
 6-6-2

With a useful void and a normal response that is not five of the agreed suit, make the normal response and
then cue bid the void later or keep on bidding when partner shows signs of stopping. If the normal response
would cause you to bid five of the agreed suit, and the useful void is lower in rank, bid six of the void suit.
If it is higher in rank, jump to six of the agreed suit. Partner will understand how many key cards you have,
knowing that your normal response would have been in the agreed suit.

If in doubt as to what the "agreed" suit is, the rule is that the last suit raised is the agreed suit, otherwise the
last suit bid.

Opener Responder
1Ë 2Ì
3Ë 3Ì
4NT - RKCB, hearts "agreed"

Looking only at the suits bid by opener and responder on the first and second round, hearts is the last suit
bid, so the agreed suit is hearts for purposes of (RKCB).

However, a secondary suit bid (usually a cue bid) on the third round doesn't count, even if it has been raised:

Opener Responder
1Ì 1Í
3Ì 3Í
4Ê 4NT - RKCB, spades "agreed"

Opener Responder
1Ê 2Ë
3Ê 3Ë
3Í 4Í
4NT - RKCB, diamonds "agreed"

With RKCB, a 5NT bid following 4NT does not ask for kings. It asks partner if he has any important feature
to show--usually a king lower in rank than the agreed suit, but perhaps a singleton with lots of trumps. With
more than one such feature to show, choose the one that is most likely to help partner evaluate grand slam
chances. If in doubt, bid the lower ranking feature:

Opener Responder
1Í 3Í
4Ë 4Í
4NT 5Ê - 1 or 4 key cards
5NT ?

Responder bids 6Ê with the club king (denying the diamond king), 6Ë with the diamond king. With both,
she bids 6Ë, the suit opener has cue bid. Opener can now bid 7Í with ÍK87432 ÌA ËAQ932 ÊA.
 6-6-3

When holding an “inconvenient” king in a suit higher than the agreed suit, it is sometimes possible to show
it by bidding six of a suit that was used for a splinter bid. That is more useful than showing a king in the
splinter suit. Similarly, Asker can bid a splinter suit at the six level to ask if responder has such a king.

When the bidding shows that it is impossible for responder to have a king not shown by RKCB, the 5NT
requests asks for a significant queen. E.g., responder showed zero or one control in response to a 2Ê
opening, then showed a key card (a trump king, necessarily) in response to RKCB, Then 5NT asks for the
lowest-ranking queen (or a very significant queen).

The 5NT bid guarantees that all the aces and the king of trumps are held by the partnership. If the partner
of the 5NT bidder can see that a grand slam is okay on the basis of this knowledge, he can just bid the grand
slam instead of showing some feature. A player should bid 5NT to tell partner that all key cards are held,
even with no intention of bidding seven himself. Then partner may have the stuff to bid seven.

When an opponent overcalls the 4NT bid, use DOPI or DEPO to show key cards (see section 6-8). If 4NT
gets doubled, a pass shows no key cards and a redouble is to play. Otherwise the double is ignored.

If the RKCB bidder bids a new suit at the five level after partner shows key cards, and the bid could not
possibly be meant as a final contract:

-- If the new suit is lower in rank than the agreed suit, he is asking about the queen of trumps:

Opener Responder
1Í 3Í
4NT 5Ë - 0 or 3 key cards
5Ì

The 5Ì bid asks, "Do you have the queen of trumps?" Without the queen, responder signs off in 5Í. With
it, she bids the next higher ranking bid other than a signoff, in this case 5NT. Extra length can count as a
queen, as said before.

When there is enough bidding space below six of the agreed suit, it is possible to show one extra card when
lacking the queen or "queen equivalent" by bidding one rank higher than the queen-showing bid:

Opener Responder
1Ê 3Ê
4NT 5Ê - 1 or 4 key cards
5Ë? 5Ì - queen or six clubs
5Í - five clubs, no queen
6Ê - four clubs, no queen

The 3Ê bid does not guarantee five cards, which therefore represent "an extra card."

-- If the new suit is higher in rank than the agreed suit, he is demanding that you bid 5NT. Probably the
partnership lacks two key cards and he sees that 5NT is the safest contract.
 6-6-4

It sometimes happens that the 4NT bidder cannot ask about the queen of trumps without going to the six
level. If he needs that information for a grand slam bid, he can bid six of a suit that could not possibly
become the trump suit:

Opener Responder
1Í 3Ì
3Í 4NT
5Ì 6Ê - asks for the queen of spades
6Ë - spade queen or extra length (seven spades in this case)
6Ì - no spade queen, six spades
6Í - no spade queen, five spades

Exclusion Blackwood

To use this simple version of Exclusion Blackwood, a player first makes a splinter bid in a void suit,
then immediately bids 4NT:

Opener Responder
1Í 4Ê - splinter bid
4Í 4NT - Exclusion Blackwood

The responses are the same as for regular RKCB, except that the ace of the void suit is not counted as a key
card. This means you cannot use regular RKCB on the next round after splintering with a singleton, but you
can do so if you have made an intervening bid:

Opener Responder
1Í 4Ê - splinter bid
4Ë 4Ì - cue bid
4Í 4NT - regular RKCB

Another case of Exclusion Blackwood is an immediate 4NT bid after cue bidding an opposing suit:

South West North East

2Í 3Ê 4Ê Pass
4Í Pass 4NT - Exclusion Blackwood

South ignores the ace of clubs when responding. A 4NT bid made by a cue bidder's partner is regular RKCB,
not Exclusion Blackwood.