Roman Key Card
Presented by Luke Gillespie at the Watertown
Sectional on December 8th, 2007
Roman Keycard Blackwood
Roman Keycard Blackwood (RKB), which started to become popular about twenty years ago, is a modern version of the venerable Blackwood Ace-asking convention. RKB has three major differences compared to the original:
You can find out if partner has the King of the agreed trump suit. The four Aces and the King of trumps are the five “key cards”.
You can find out if partner has the Queen of the agreed trump suit.
You can find out which specific Kings partner has in the other three suits.
Recipe for Successful Slams
When we bid a small slam, we want at least a 50% chance of success. We want either all five key cards or four key cards plus a strong trump holding.
When we bid a grand slam, we want at least a 70% chance of success. We want all five key cards plus a very strong trump holding – no settling.
What is a strong trump holding?
| How many trumps? | What we really want | Willing to settle for |
| 8 | Queen Jack and Ten | |
| 9 | Queen Jack | |
| 10+ | already good enough for slam |
First Response
When the agreed trump suit is a major, 4NT asks for key cards. The responses are:
5C = one or four key cards
5D = zero or three key cards
5H = two key cards without the Queen of trumps (or ten trumps)
5S = two key cards plus the Queen of trumps (or ten trumps)
The 4NT bidder will now do one of four things:
If two key cards are missing, sign off at five of the agreed suit.
If one key card is missing and you have strong trumps, bid six of the agreed suit.
If the response was 5C or 5D and you need to find out if partner has the Queen of trumps, bid the next step to ask for the Queen.
If all five key cards are present and you have very strong trumps, bid 5NT to ask for specific Kings. This tells partner that you are interested in a grand slam and he is allowed to bid the grand himself if he has an undisclosed source of tricks.
Warning when Hearts is the Agreed Suit
When hearts is the agreed suit, the 4NT bidder should always have either two key cards or one key card plus the Queen because the 5S response (2 plus the Queen) forces you to the six level willy-nilly.
Asking for the Queen of Trumps
When the first response is 5C (1 or 4), 5D asks for Queen. When the first response is 5D (0 or 3), 5H asks for the Queen if spades is the agreed suit or if responder has three key cards; if hearts is the agreed suit and responder has no key cards then 5H is a signoff.
In response to the Queen ask, responder signs off at five of the agreed suit if he does not have the Queen of trumps (or ten trumps)*. If responder does have the Queen then he shows specific Kings as follows:
With no other Kings, bid six of the agreed suit*.
With one or two other Kings, bid the cheapest suit with a King.
With all three other Kings, bid 6NT.
* If hearts is the agreed suit and 5H is the Queen ask, 6H denies the Queen and 5NT shows the Queen and denies any side Kings.
Asking for Specific Kings
When the first response tells the 4NT bidder that all five key cards plus the Queen are held, 5NT asks for specific Kings. Responder shows his King(s), if any, using the same scheme as above. However, the 5NT bid itself promises grand slam interest so responder is also allowed to bid the grand with an undisclosed source of tricks (i.e., a solid suit).
Specific King Follow-Up
We show specific Kings up the line, so when responder shows a King, he denies the King in any lower-ranking suit(s). However, he may still have the King in a higher-ranking suit. If the asker needs the King of a higher ranking suit for a grand slam, he bids the suit where he needs the King and responder then bids the grand slam if he has that King.
When the Opponents Interfere
If an opponent interferes directly over our 4NT ask, we still show key cards using one of two possible schemes If their bid is lower than five of our agreed suit then we use DOPI: double = zero, pass = one, 1st step = two, 2nd step = 3. If their bid is above five or our agreed suit then we use DEPO: double = even, pass = odd.
After the DOPI or DEPO response, the 4NT bidder can ask for the Queen by bidding the next step.