Bridge Lessons - Intermediate

NYU Bridge and Spades Club

Lesson 9Searching for Slams

Point System for Slams/Grand Slams

500/750 (NV/vul) points for slam (6-level contract bid and made)

1000/1500 (NV/vul) points for grand slam (7-level contract bid and made)

For both kinds of contracts, add the 300/500 point game bonus as well

The point bonus for slams and grand slams is very huge. Thus, knowing how to search for them is very helpful.

Cue Bids

After a suit has been agreed upon, one may initiate a slam try using cue bids

Cue bids show 1st or 2nd round control in the suit bid i.e. A, K, void or singleton

E.g. 1H – 3H – 4C is a cue bid showing 1st or 2nd round control in clubs

Most of the time, whether a bid is a cue bid is based on common sense. Usually after a fit has been established, there’s not much of a point showing another suit. Shortness is generally more helpful

4NT Blackwood

Given that 3NT is a game level contract, the 4NT bid is otherwise quite useless. Hence, bridge players have come up with an alternative use for it – to ask for aces.

After a suit has been established, bidding 4NT can be treated as Blackwood. The replies are as such:› 5C = 0/4 aces› 5D = 1 ace› 5H = 2 aces› 5S = 3 aces

After the reply, Blackwood bidder can opt to bid 5NT to ask for kings as well

RKC 4NT

Modern bridge players feel that Blackwood asks for too little, and have thus come up with the Roman Key Card 4NT bid.

The key cards are the 4 aces and King of trump Replies:

› 5C = 0 or 3 of the key cards› 5D = 1 or 4 of the key cards› 5H = 2 or 5 of the key cards, denies Q of trump› 5S = 2 or 5 of the key cards, confirms Q of trump› This is known also known as the 0314 convention› Some (including myself) choose to invert the 5C and 5D

bids (this is known as 1430). See the next section for the reason

Rebids after RKC 4NT

School of thought 1: bid 5NT to ask directly for number of outside (non-trump) kings

School of thought 2: bid 5NT to ask for specific kings

School of thought 2: bidding 5NT confirms possession of the Q of trump and asks for specific kings. However, another bid can be made to ask for the Q after 4NT – 5C/D.

Rebids after RKC 4NT – School of Thought 1

5NT asks for Kings in a similar fashion to Blackwood› 6C = 0 kings› 6D = 1 king› 6H = 2 kings› 6S = 3 kings

This allows the RKC bidder to ask for the most information. Unfortunately, this also means singletons are diminished in importance, the Q trump is of no importance and may result in overbidding e.g. 6H reply when requiring all the kings to make 7D (D is agreed suit)

Rebids after RKC 4NT – School of Thought 2

To circumvent the problem in the first school of thought, some bridge players opt to ask for specific kings

5NT asks for partner to bid a specific outside king at the 6th level e.g. in hearts contract with diamond king, bid 6D

With 2 or more outside kings, partner will bid grandslam directly. With no outside kings, partner will bid slam directly

This may also lead to problems when partner is holding spade king in a hearts contract

Rebids after RKC 4NT – School of Thought 3

5NT rebid guarantees possession of the Q of trump

Without Q of trump, bid the next cheapest bid to ask for Q of trump and specific kings› E.g. 4NT – 5C – 5D is asking for Q of trump and for

specific kings.› You cannot bid the next cheapest bid if it is the agreed

suit e.g. 4NT – 5D – 5H with H as agreed suit is a stopping bid, not an asking bid

Without the Q, partner bids the contract at the 5 level. After this bid, you may still choose to use 5NT to ask for specific kings, though generally the right contract here is the slam, not the grand slam

Rebids after RKC 4NT – School of Thought 3

With the Q, partner will bid a specific king› E.g. with outside K club with hearts as agreed suit

4NT – 5D – 5S – 6C shows Q hearts and K club Notice H was skipped as it is the agreed suit

With >1 king, partner should bid the cheapest king› E.g. with outside K spades and clubs with hearts as agreed suit

4NT – 5C – 5D – 5S shows Q hearts and K spades

After partner’s specific king bid, you can bid another suit to ask for king in that suit. E.g. after 4NT – 5C – 5D – 5S, if you need K club to make grand slam, bid 6C. Partner can then bid the grand with the K club or slam without

Primary benefit of this school of thought: more discussion at a lower level. Also, when missing one key card, the partnership can decide if a slam is still makeable by asking for Q trump

Reason for using 1430 vs 0314

In general, you are more concerned about whether partner has the Q of trump when partner has only 1 key card, not when partner has 0 or 3 key cards. In general if partner has 3, you’re making grand; and if partner has 0, you’re not going to slam.

Thus, using 5C as 1 or 4 is more helpful as 5D can be used as the Q asking bid. In hearts contracts especially, you can see the difference. 4NT – 5D will lead to an inability to ask for Q hearts without going to slam level

Gerber (revision)

Works over NT openers and some NT rebids

4C bid› Partner bids 4D with 0/4 aces, 4H with 1

ace, 4S with 2 aces or 4NT with 3 aces