ROMAN
KEYCARD
BLACKWOOD
Mr. Easley Blackwood devised the Blackwood Convention as a means of bidding slam with the built-in feature of not bidding slam when it proved not to be feasible. His convention has undergone many modifications and many variations have resulted from this one concept. One of these variations is called Roman Key Card Blackwood.
This variation differs from the original concept of Mr. Easley Blackwood in that there are not only four Aces counted in the different responses, but five Key Cards which are the four Aces and the King of the agreed trump suit. The King of the trump suit is counted as the fifth Ace, or the fifth Key Card. By adding this King of the trump suit to the number of Key Cards, the No Trump bidder can more precisely determine the location of the missing Key Cards needed to bid the slam. This feature adds a certain sense of security to the bidding process, and therefore has become popular among many bridge players.
An additional element of using Roman Key Card Blackwood is that slams can be bid without the traditional 32 or 33 high card points deemed necessary to bid a slam. If both partners can share the descriptive information necessary about the location of certain Key Cards, then a slam can be bid without just counting and adding the high card points.
The advantage of using Roman Key Card Blackwood for bidding slams in the two Major suits is obvious opposite a slam attempt in the two Minor suits. Although this element is known, there is no reason to discard Roman Key Card Blackwood when deciding to bid slam in any suit. However, it is of the utmost importance to have agreed first in the bidding process upon the trump suit before initiating Roman Key Card Blackwood. If the trump suit has not been established, then Roman Key Card Blackwood should not be initiated.
In establishing the trump suit, certain elements of the partnership agreement must be agreed upon by the partnership. In the following example, the trump suit is obvious to both partners. However, partnership agreements can contain the understanding that the agreed trump suit can be ascertained, although not specifically named in the auction, as:
| 1. the suit of the opener if he opened with a strong forcing action |
| 2. the suit of the responder if he jump shifts and then initiates Roman Key Card Blackwood |
| 3. the last bid suit by any partner |
| North | East | South | West |
1  |
pass | 3 |
pass |
| 4 NT | pass |
North has decided that there are sufficient values, after the positive response of South, to explore the possibility of slam, and bids 4 No Trump, asking for the number of the five Key Cards held by South. South can show his partner the number of Key Cards he holds by bidding according to the following chart.
|
5 |
shows 0 or 3 Key Cards | |
|
5 |
shows 1 or 4 Key Cards | |
|
5 |
shows 2 or 5 Key Cards without the Queen of Trump | |
|
5 |
shows 2 or 5 Key Cards with the Queen of Trump |
:
:
:
Assuming the following bidding process:
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
6 |
South has decided to attempt slam. North informs his partner that he has 2 or 5 Key Cards without the Queen of Trump. South reevaluates his hand, and evidently realizes that the Queen of trump is missing, and bids the small slam as opposed to bidding the grand slam. A bid split in the trump suit will defeat a grand slam contract, although the partnership may hold all 4 Aces and the King of trump.
Assuming the following bidding process:
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
7 |
South has decided again that slam is a possibility and initiates Roman Key Card Blackwood after establishing the trump suit. North informs his partner that he has 2 to 5 Key Cards, and also the Queen of the trump suit. South realizes that all the Key Cards are in their proper place and the knows the location of the Queen of trump, and bids the grand slam with the secure knowledge that the contract will be fulfilled. The holding of both North and South could be similar to the following:
| North | South | ||||||||||||||||
|
|
In most situations, it will not be necessary to determine the number of outside Kings to set the contract. However, in some situations, it will be prove essential to know the number of outside Kings. When it proves prudent to ask for outside Kings, there are two schools of thought governing this additional feature of Roman Key Card Blackwood.
SCHOOL OF THOUGHT ONE
The first school of thought uses the bid of 5 No Trump to ask for the number of outside Kings. The most important element of this bid is that it must first of all be determined that all five Key Cards are in the possession of the partnership. The bid of 5 No Trump by the partner initiating Roman Key Card Blackwood is promising his partner that all five Key Cards are held by the partnership, otherwise the bid can not be made. The second intention of the use of the 5 No Trump bid is to ascertain the possibility of a grand slam, since a small slam has already been guaranteed. The lacking element in this first school of thought is the fact that the Queen of trump has been relegated no importance.
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
5 NT |
North has first of all informed his partner that he has three Key Cards. South has determined by this response that all five Key Cards are held by the partnership, which means that South holds the Ace and Queen of Spades, and the Ace of Diamonds. South informs his partner of this fact by bidding 5 No Trump, which is also asking North for an unknown outside King. South is also informing North with his 5 No Trump bid that a grand slam is a very good possibility. If North does not have any outside Kings, such as in the following example:
| North | ||||||||
|
then North simply bids 6 Spades.
However, if North does have an outside King, such as in the following example:
| North | ||||||||
|
then North will cuebid his outside King with a bid of 6 Hearts.
And if North had two or three outside Kings, such as in the following example:
| North | ||||||||
|
then North would not cuebid any outside King, but rather just bid 7 Spades, the grand slam, having the values and the location of the honors in addition to all of the other Key Cards promised by South with his bid of 5 No Trump, as in the following bidding sequence.
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
5 NT |
|
7 |
Important Side Note
There are, however, several partnership understandings, which treat the bid of 5
No Trump differently. The understanding of the partnership is, that if the initiator
of the Roman Key Card Blackwood bids 5 No Trump, then all five Key Cards are accounted
for, and the 5 No Trump bid requests partner to show his number of outside Kings,
not including the King of trump, by responding according to the original version
of the Blackwood convention.
|
6 |
shows no outside King | |
|
6 |
shows one outside King | |
|
6 |
shows two outside Kings | |
|
6 |
shows three outside Kings |
The danger of exceeding the possible final contract is highly possible, and the partnership must use this partnership agreement cautiously.
SECOND SCHOOL OF THOUGHT
The second school of thought is similar to the first school of thought. The first difference is that the bid of 5 No Trump by the initiator of the Roman Key Card Blackwood guarantees the possession of the Queen of trump, the possession of all five Key Cards by the partnership, and is an attempt at a grand slam. The second difference is that a method of bidding has been developed in the case that the initiator of the Roman Key Card Blackwood does not have the Queen of trump, which is considered essential in fulfilling either a small or grand slam.
The idea is to treat the next higher-ranking suit, even if this suit has been bid by the partnership previously in the auction, after the response by the partner as the request for outside Kings and the Queen of trump. This method keeps the partnership at a safer level of bidding, even though that bid may be a bid of 5 No Trump. This second school of thought was devised in order to establish the location of the Queen of trumps after a response of 5 Clubs or 5 Diamonds, which only informs the partner about the number of Key Cards, whereas the responses of 5 Hearts or 5 Spades informs the partner about the possession or non-possession of the Queen of trump. The location of the Queen of trump is deemed absolutely necessary to the success of the slam try.
This method has the greater advantage than using the possible bid of 5 No Trump simply as conventional Blackwood or as Roman Key Card Blackwood and the feature of cuebidding, as in the first school of thought.
In the following example,
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
5 |
North has informed his partner that he holds three Key Cards. However, since North can not show with his bid whether he has the Queen of trump or not, this remains an unknown factor. When South bids 5 Diamonds, the next higher-ranking suit, South is informing his partner that the partnership holds all five Key Cards, but does not possess the Queen of trump. South's bid of 5 Diamonds is asking North to bid the number of Kings he holds, and is asking North at the same time whether or not he holds the Queen of trump. In the case that the next higher-ranking suit is the trump suit, the initiator of the Roman Key Card Blackwood may not bid the trump suit as the next higher-ranking suit to ask for Kings and the possession of the Queen of trump. The reasoning behind this is that if the initiator of the Roman Key Card Blackwood bids the trump suit, then that is the final contract, because the small slam can not be made. It becomes the escape bid. The following example should make this clear.
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
5 |
The bid by South of 5 Spades becomes the escape bid, since South now knows that not all of the 5 Key Cards are in the possession of the partnership. Asking for the Queen of trump then becomes irrelevant.
The following examples should make the bidding process clear in those circumstances when the initiator of Roman Key Card Blackwood does not have the Queen of trump, but where the partner can impart information about the number of outside Kings he holds and whether of not he holds the Queen of trump.
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
North's bid informs South that he does not have the Queen of trump, and no outside King.
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
5 |
|
6 |
North's bid informs South that he does have the Queen of trump, and no outside King.
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
|
|
6 |
|
|
6 |
|
North's possible bids informs South that he does have the Queen of trump, and one outside King. A response of 5 Hearts informs South that North holds the Queen of trump and the King of Hearts. A response of 6 Clubs informs South that North holds the Queen of trump and the King of Clubs. A response of 6 Diamonds informs South that North holds the Queen of trump and the King of Diamonds.
|
North |
South |
|
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
4 NT |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
In the case that North holds the Queen of trump and two outside Kings, then North should bid the cheapest King from the last bid suit. Although this bid may show only the possession of the Queen of trump and only one outside King, the small slam is guaranteed, even though this second King has been kept secret. South is forced to bid the small slam, and North will then have the opportunity to show his second King by bidding the grand slam.
We hope that we have covered the basics of Roman Key Card Blackwood and most of its finer points. Depending on the school of thought you adopt, Roman Key Card Blackwood is an important tool to have in your partnership agreement. If you choose to include Roman Key Card Blackwood in your Partnership Agreement, then it must be included on your Convention Card and your opponents must be made aware of this fact. This variation of the Blackwood convention does not need to be alerted, but after the auction has been completed, the declarer will inform the opponents that there was a Key Card auction, and if the declarer is asked, the declarer will explain the responses before the first lead is made.
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.