IMPROVE YOUR PLAY #25 with Larry Matheny

One of the most popular conventions in use today is Roman Key Card Blackwood.  This convention treats the king of the agreed trump suit as another ace.  This lets you avoid slams when you are missing an ace and the trump king.  Another feature is it enables you to ask about the trump queen and that is particularly useful when probing for a grand slam.  However, this very valuable tool can sometimes put you in a difficult position.  Take a look at this hand.


SCORING: Matchpoints

Hand #25
Dlr   W
Vul E-W
S 872
H KQ109
D AKQJ2
C J
S A1096
H 8
D 98765
C 983
    
S 543
H 64
D 43
C A76542

S KQJ
H AJ7532
D 10
C KQ10
West North
 East
 South
Pass
 1D  Pass
 1H
 Pass 3H  Pass 4NT*
  Pass
    5S     Pass
     6H
All Pass 
    


*Roman Key Card Blackwood

BIDDING:  There was nothing wrong with the bidding until South used 4NT to ask about keycards.  The response of 5S showed two keycards plus the queen of spades.  Now the partnership was too high and South had no choice but to continue to the small slam.  His only hope was that he was off one ace and the king of hearts rather than two aces.

PLAY:  The defense quickly cashed their two aces and the slam was defeated.

One solution to this problem is to use 4S as the keycard ask when hearts is the agreed suit.  Another approach is to use 4S as a relay to 4NT allowing you to respond with the number of keycards.  If you use this convention, make sure you discuss this problem with your partners.

Copyright ©2007 Larry Matheny.