Slam Bidding

 

To succeed in making a slam you need a source of ____________ and adequate ___________ in all suits.

 

First round control is either an ________ or a ____________ .

Second round control is either a ____________ or a ____________________ .

 

Sources of tricks can be:

________ _________ strength.

A running __________ .

Lots of ________ and side suit shortness in both hands.

 

Typical slam bidding process:

Discovering combined _____________ of the two hands.

Checking for ______________.

 

Example: Jacoby 2NT

• Opener bids 1H
• Responder bids 2NT. This tells opener:

o   We are in a game forcing auction

o   We have at least a 9 card trump fit, so we might have a source of tricks in trumps.

• If not signing off, opener shows either:

o   Side suit singleton or void, i.e. control in that suit, at the 3 level; or

o   A second good 5+ card suit, i.e. a source of additional tricks.

• Responder then bids cheapest first round control and then the partners show controls up the line, discovering if there’s an uncontrolled suit.

 

Blackwood and Gerber

 

The purpose of Blackwood (and Gerber) is not to drag your partner to slam, it’s to ________ bidding a slam missing ________ _____________ .

 

Avoid using Blackwood when:

You have a ________ .

There is an _________ suit where you don’t have ________ or ___________ round control.

 

Roman Key Card Blackwood

If the partnership is contemplating slam in a suit then the ________ and the __________ of the trump suit are also important cards.

 

RKC provides tools for confirming that the partnership has at least 5 of these 6 cards:

• The four _________ .
• The King of _________ .
• The Queen of ________.

 

Collectively, the four Aces and the King of trumps are referred to as ______ _______.

 

Original RKC “0314”. After the 4NT inquiry:

• 5C: 0 or 3 keycards.
• 5D: 1 or 4 keycards.
• 5H: 2 keycards without the Queen of trumps.
• 5S: 2 keycards with the Queen of trumps.

 

1430 RKC switches the 5C and 5D responses and is marginally more efficient in some sequences.

• 5C: 1 or 4 keycards
• 5D: 3 or 0 keycards

 

Asking for the Queen of Trumps

• If there’s room for another suit between the RKC response and the trump suit, then the cheapest bid asks if the answerer has the trump Q.

o   5 of trump suit denies the trump Q

o   Anything else shows the trump Q

• New suit: shows that king
• 6 of trump suit denies a side king but shows trump Q

• Example (suit is H, using 1430):

o   Inquirer: 4NT “Hey partner, we might have a slam, tell me your keycards.”

o   Answerer: 5C “I have 1 or 4 keycards”

o   Inquirer: 5D “That’s good, but do you have the trump Q?”

o   Answerer (Worst Case): 5H “Sorry, I don’t have it.”; or

o   Answerer (Good Case): 5S “Yes, partner, and I have the SK too!”; or

o   Answerer (Good Case): 6H “I have the HQ but no side King”

• You can pretend you have the Queen if you know you have a 10 card fit.
• The higher ranking the suit, the more room for exploration with RKC or Blackwood.
• Conversely, if your suit is a minor, the RKC answer can force you to slam even if you don’t have enough key cards.
• Don’t bid slam if you’re missing a keycard and the trump Queen.

Caveats

• The higher ranking the suit, the more room for exploration with RKC or Blackwood.
• Conversely, if your suit is a minor, the RKC answer can force you to slam even if you don’t have enough key cards.
• Don’t bid slam if you’re missing a keycard and the trump Queen.

Copyright 2014 Peter Haglich