Blue Team Roman Responses To Blackwood

Even the Roman Blackwood Convention, a variation of the original Blackwood Convention, has a variation. This variation was devised by the Blue Team Club and was applied with some success. The Blue Team was the popular name given to the Italian International Bridge Team which had a series of huge successes starting in 1956 and ending in 1969. The members of this team and their sponsors/managers, Federico Rosa, then the Secretary of the Italian Bridge Federation, and Carl Alberto Perroux, then the Technical Commisioner of the Italian Bridge Federation, dedicated themselves to a study of the game, the conventions, and the mathematics. This is one of their results.

The main concept of the Blue Team Roman Responses is the same as with the Roman Blackwood Convention, but the responses have been given different meanings. Once the Blue Team Club variation has been initiated, then the Responder has the following options:

As the bridge player can compare, the responses of 5 Clubs and 5 Diamonds are reversed to that of Roman Blackwood. The alledged advantage to this reversal is to facilitate further exploration of a possible slam without the use of any and all Blackwood variations. After a positive response, the Roman Blackwood bidder continues exploring for slam by cuebids, instead of continuing with this variation of the Roman Blackwood Convention. Any cuebid then shows a Key Card Feature, placing the Key Card through the auction itself. However, if the Roman Blackwood bidder continues with a bid of 5 No Trump, this bid is asking for Kings. It is important for both partners to distinguish between these two bidding Auctions.

In this variation of the Blue Team Club, the Roman Blackwood bidder, after receiving a response of 5 Hearts, knows that he can not accurately predict the location of the Aces, which leads to a certain ambiguity. The Roman Blackwood bidder only knows the location of one Ace and not the other Ace. This is where the English come into the picture.

However, the ambiguity of the 5 Hearts response seemed to plague the Blue Team members, and they decided that since the bid of 5 No Trump had become at the most superfluous in the bidding process, then this bid could have another meaning. The Blue Team then adopted the following to incorporate the bid of 5 No Trump as a response. This revised version had also proponents in England and was almost devised by the English bridge players at the same time.

As a side note and in connection with the comment above about the bridge players in England, it should be mentioned that in order to avoid the ambiguity noted above with the Roman Blackwood variation used by the Blue Team Club, the bridge players in England devised not another variation of the Roman Blackwood Convention, but rather a reversal of the responses in the major suits and the use of the 5 No Trump responses. After one partner initiates the Roman Blackwood Convention, the Responder has the following options:

In addition to avoiding the ambiguity of the Roman Blackwood Convention used by the Blue Team Club, this variation brings with it the advantage of being effective when the partner, who intitiates the Roman Blackwood Convention, has a void. With the correct responses from his partner, the initiator can infer an Ace opposite his void. However, the response of 5 No Trump will rule out the possibility of asking for Kings, and this could also be a small disadvantage.

It must also be mentioned that some partnerships have the following Partnership Agreement, that the response of 5 Hearts show 2 Aces and no extra values, while the response of 5 Spades shows 2 Aces with extra values.

If you wish to include this feature, or any other feature, of the game of bridge in your partnership agreement, then please make certain that the concept is understood by both partners. Be aware whether or not the feature is alertable or not and whether an announcement should or must be made. Check with the governing body and/or the bridge district and/or the bridge unit prior to the game to establish the guidelines applied. Please include the particular feature on your convention card in order that your opponents are also aware of this feature during the bidding process, since this information must be made known to them according to the Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge. We do not always include the procedure regarding Alerts and/or Announcements, since these regulations are changed and revised during time by the governing body. It is our intention only to present the information as concisely and as accurately as possible.

Partner	Responder
4 NT	5	shows 1 or 4 Aces
	5	shows 0 or 3 Aces
	5	shows 2 Aces of the same color or rank
	5	shows 2 Aces of different color or rank

Partner	Responder
4 NT	5	shows 1 or 4 Aces
	5	shows 0 or 3 Aces
	5	shows 2 Aces of the same rank
	5	shows 2 Aces of different color and rank
	5 NT	shows 2 Aces of the same color

Partner	Responder
4 NT	5	shows 2 Aces of the same color
	5	shows 2 Aces of the same rank
	5 NT	shows 2 Aces of different color and rank