Blackwood
It used to be that Blackwood was simple. Someone bid 4NT and you responded with aces going up the line. The only hard part was remembering the rare occasions when 4NT meant something else. In fact, one of our friends dispensed with this problem entirely by stating that 4NT was always Blackwood. You also had to cope with 4C as Gerber but only directly over notrump (fondly called Gerber ON Toast) so it almost never came up. Over time we have added grand slam force, roman keycard blackwood with several variations and a lot of extensions, redwood, exclusion and more. Not to mention various conventions to cope with interference such as dopi and REPO. Life has got complicated and in the end one wonders if it is all worth it.
Watching the US women’s trials last week I noticed several cases of convention confusion over doubles of 4NT so I told my partner… forget it… we play system on and redouble is for business. It may not be best but who cares. Going through the hands in the CNTC I noticed some other problems with the control checking family.
In the first board of the final of the Canadian Open Team Trials we had this auction
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♣ | 1♦ | ||
| 1NT | 2♥* | ||
| 2♠ | 3♦ | ||
| 3NT | 5NT |
I am not sure but I believe two hearts sets a game force and responder showed good diamonds. 3NT suggests a spot to play. What is 5NT? Is it a grand slam try in diamonds? It could be. If so is it Grand Slam Force or something else? Perhaps it asks partner to pick the best slam. Your hand is
| West |  |
East | |||
| ♠ | AK102 | ♠ | |||
| ♥ | K106 | ♥ | |||
| ♦ | Q6 | ♦ | |||
| ♣ | 10843 | ♣ | |||
Being confused and with a minimum I would probably be torn between six diamonds and six notrump. Do I need to protect the heart king? Maybe, so I would probably opt for 6NT. Is there some reason partner didn’t check for keycards. Maybe we don’t have a way to do it in this auction? West at the table bid seven diamonds and was off the heart ace. Trust me in the old days nobody would have got there.
| West | |
East | |||
| ♠ | AK102 | ♠ | Q64 | ||
| ♥ | K106 | ♥ | 2 | ||
| ♦ | Q6 | ♦ | AKJ874 | ||
| ♣ | 10843 | ♣ | AKQ | ||
Now you may not think this is really an ace asking problem. I have more in a future article
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Bridge-related
She understood 🙂
You think you’re confused? In Volume IV (The Expert American Bidding System) which is now completed except for the final chapter with 64 example hands we have to create via BBO, Jerry has introduced 3NT Baby Blackwood. I’m swimming trying to get when it’s to play or when it’s Blackwood. Thank goodness he banned Gerber from the system.
Linda: I believe in the actual auction that Jurek and Darren had, that the 2H bid (game forcing relay) was DOUBLED. Opener should have realized that once responder didn’t bid 5H (first round control) that the 5NT bid was just offering a slam choice… 6D, 6NT or possibly 6C (if opener had a reasonable suit).
You are right Ron. I double checked and I missed the double of 2H. Since the 2H bidder was the one that bid 5NT I suppose it is possible they had a heart void. At the table I would treat 5NT as pick a slam on this auction with or without the double