IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

There are so many conventions available that some convention cards are heavy with the amount of ink they contain.  One popular convention is Roman Keycard used by many players as an enhancement to Blackwood.  This convention includes the king of the agreed trump suit when showing the number of aces held by the partnership.  It also allows you to ask about the queen of the trump suit.  Here is the convention in action.

Scoring:  Matchpoints (Pairs)
 
Hand #4
Dlr   E
Vul N/S
S K72
H K103
D KQ72
C AQ5
S QJ10954
H 74
D 9
C 9873
    
S 863
H 986
D J106
C J1064

S A
H AQJ52
D A8543
C K2
West North
 East
 South


 Pass
 1H
   2S    3S     Pass  4NT*   
  Pass
    5H**     Pass
    5NT
  Pass
   7NT
 All Pass
*Roman Keycard
**Two keycards w/o the heart queen

BIDDING:  After West made a weak jump overcall, North's cue bid showed game going values and heart support.  South used 4NT to ask about keycards (4 aces + heart king) and North's response of 5H showed two without the heart queen.  Next South bid 5NT to ask about kings and, most importantly, promised the partnership held all five keycards along with the trump queen.  North could now count thirteen tricks: 2 spades, 5 hearts, 3 diamonds, and 3 clubs so he promptly bid the grand slam.

PLAY:  With fifteen top tricks available, declarer quickly claimed his contract.  Note without the agreement that 5NT promised all of the keycards, North would show two kings (heart king is not shown again) and South could not for certain count thirteen tricks.  There are a lot of features to this convention so I urge all partnerships to study it carefully before adding it to their convention card.

Copyright ©2007 Larry Matheny.