Blackwood

Blackwood is a system used to help bid slams and is a mechanism for finding out how many aces and or kings are held between a partnership

Blackwood

4NT asks for the presence of Aces. The replies are:

5C - 0 or 4 Aces
5D - 1 Ace
5H - 2 Aces
5S - 3 Aces

To find out about Kings bid 5NT. The replies are:

6C - 0 or 4 Kings
6D - 1 King
6H - 2 Kings
6S - 3 Kings

Asking for Kings automatically commits a partnership to a slam and many players operate a variation on standard Blackwood where bidding the next suit up other than the trump suit asks for Kings.

1430 Roman Keycard Blackwood (RKCB)

This system for finding out the presence of Aces and Kings is a more modern variation and used by many of the better players.

4NT asks for the presence of the 4 Aces and King of Trumps (Keycards). If trumps have not explicitly been agreed then use the last bid suit as trumps. The replies are:

5C - 1 or 4 keycards
5D - 0 or 3 keycards
5H - 2 or 5 keycards without the queen of trumps
5S - 2 or 5 keycards with the queen of trumps

To find out about the queen after a 5C or 5D response: bid the next suit up (other than the trump suit). The replies are:

If you don�t have the Queen bid the lowest level in the trump suit.
If you have a side suit King and the Queen bid that suit.
If you only have the Queen bid the slam or 5NT if bidding the slam would deny the Queen.

Example: Assuming hearts as trumps.

5C - 1 or 4 of AC, AD, AH, KH, AS

5D � �do you have the QH?�

5H � no
5S - QH + KS
6C - QH + KC
6D - QH + KD
6H - QH only

5H - signoff
6H : signoff

5D - 0 or 3 keycards

5H - signoff
5S � �do you have the QH?"

5NT - QH only
6C - QH + KC
6D - QH + KD
6H � no
6S - QH + KS

6H - signoff

5H - 2 keycards without the queen of trumps
5S - 2 keycards with the queen of trumps