Slam Bidding[i]
By Larry Matheny
Decision #1: Do
you have enough overall strength?
When considering a slam, you
have to first decide if your two hands have the power to take 12 or 13 tricks
once you get the lead. You can often add
your points to the number partner has shown to determine your chances. For "normal", fairly balanced hands,
use these guidelines:
-To make a small slam (bid
of 6) -- you need 33 pts.
-To make a grand slam (bid
of 7) -- you need 37 pts.
You may make a slam with
fewer points if your hands have other features to make up for what you lack in
high-card strength. These include:
Extra trumps -- you need at least an 8-card fit to bid a suit slam,
but stronger fits produce more tricks.
You may score an extra trick for each trump you have over eight.
Long, strong side suits
-- if you can set up and run a long
side suit, the small cards can be as valuable as honors.
Short suits -- once you know you have a trump fit,
add in your distribution points to determine your hand's full value. Voids, singletons, and doubletons can provide
extra tricks by allowing you to score trumps separately.
Decision
#2: Do you have enough
controls?
Your second concern is
having enough "controls" -- aces, kings, singletons and voids -- to
prevent the opponents from cashing two quick tricks. To bid and make a slam, your two hands must
have:
A first-round control (Ace
or Void) in at least three of the four suits.
At least second-round
control (King, KQ, or singleton) in every suit.
Depending on the situation, you can use Blackwood (to ask for
aces after a suit bid), Gerber (to ask for aces after a notrump
bid), or Cuebids (to find aces when Blackwood or Gerber can't be
used).
The Blackwood Convention -- 4NT to
ask for aces
After you and partner have
agreed on a trump suit, a bid of 4NT is the Blackwood Convention, which asks
partner to tell you how many aces he holds.
Partner responds with a 5-level bid that shows the exact number of aces
in his hand. The meanings of his
responses are:
5
= Zero or all four aces
5
= One ace
5
= Two aces
5
= Three aces
If two aces are missing --"sign
off" in 5 of your suit (or pass, if that was partner's Blackwood
response). If the agreed trump suit is
clubs or diamonds and you want to sign off in 5NT, bid 5. This tells
partner to bid 5NT, and you will pass.
If only one ace
is missing -- you can bid six of your suit or notrump.
If
your side holds all four aces -- and if you think you may have the power to take
all the tricks -- you can try for a grand slam by bidding 5NT to ask for kings.
This guarantees that your side holds
all four aces and asks partner how many kings he holds. Partner will respond at the 6-level (using
the same steps as above) to show the number of kings he holds -- 6 to show none or four kings, 6 to show one, etc.).
Roman Keycard Blackwood -- 4NT for
aces + trump king
This
is a variation of standard Blackwood.
Using this convention, the trump king is considered an ace with the
following responses:
5 = Zero or three keycards
5 = One or four keycards
5 = Two or five keycards without the trump queen
5 = Two or five keycards with the trump queen
It is also possible to ask
about the queen in your agreed suit and discover which kings partner
holds. While this is a very useful
convention, it does have many pitfalls and should be reviewed thoroughly before
adding it to your card.
The Gerber Convention -- 4 to ask
for aces
The Gerber 4 Convention is used to ask for aces after partner
opens 1NT or 2NT, or after he opens one of a suit and shows a specific point
range by rebidding 1NT or 2NT. In these
specific situations, a jump to 4NT would not be Blackwood -- it's a natural
raise of notrump that invites partner to bid 6NT if he's at the top of his
point range. Partner can pass 4NT if he
has a minimum notrump opener or rebid.
A
bid of 4 directly over partner's notrump bid is Gerber and
asks for aces. Partner's response tells you how many aces he holds:
4 = Zero
or all four aces
4 = One
ace
4 = Two aces
4NT = Three aces
If your side holds all four
aces and you want to investigate a grand slam, a bid of 5 guarantees you have all four aces and asks for kings
(just like a rebid of 5NT after Blackwood 4NT).
Partner will respond at the 5-level (using the same steps as above) to
show the number of kings he holds.
General Guidelines for Using
Blackwood & Gerber
Don't stop if you find you
have only 3 aces. In most cases, if you
don't have enough strength to bid a slam missing only one ace, then you
shouldn't be asking for aces. A caveat: Ace-asking
conventions are primarily used to keep you out of slams, not get you to them.
Remember
that Blackwood and Gerber tell you only the number of aces
partner has. They don't tell you which
suits they're in or whether you're off a cashing Ace-King in a suit. You should
only use Blackwood or Gerber when:
-
You've already
found a good a trump suit (or agreed on notrump).
-
You know you
have the overall strength for a slam.
-
Your hand has
controls in all unbid suits
(aces, kings or singletons).
DON'T use Blackwood or Gerber if:
-
You have a void.
-
You have a
worthless doubleton (xx, Qx, Jx) in an unbid suit.
-
You need to know
if partner has control of a specific
suit. To get this information, use a
cuebidding sequence instead.
The Cuebid -- to find
specific aces
For hands where you can't
use Blackwood, you can investigate slam by "cuebidding"--bidding new
suits to show outside aces. Once you and
partner have agreed on a trump suit, a new-suit bid is not a search for a
different trump suit. It shows a
specific outside ace and is a move toward slam in the suit you've already
chosen.
Once
you and partner have agreed on a trump suit, a new-suit bid by you shows a suit
where you hold an ace. It asks partner to cooperate by bidding a suit
where he holds an ace. To save bidding
room when you're cuebidding, both partners should always bid the cheapest suit in which they have
a control (an ace or a void). You can
also continue the cuebidding sequence to find a second-round control (the king
or a singleton). Here's an example:
AKJ74 Void 943 AKQ103
You open 1 and partner bids 3 (a limit raise with 4 trumps). You want to bid 6 if partner has control of diamonds, but you can't
get this information with Blackwood (if you bid 4NT and partner answers one
ace, you won't know whether it's in hearts or diamonds). To locate the diamond ace, you must start a
cuebidding sequence with 4. If partner
cuebids 4, you'll know he has the diamond ace and you can bid
6. If partner
instead cuebids 4, it tells you he has the heart ace but not the
diamond ace (since he will cuebid his cheapest ace). Over partner's 4 cuebid, you can sign off in 4 if you are no longer interested in a slam, but this
hand is strong enough to continue the investigation.
A 5 cuebid by you shows a second-round control of clubs
and asks partner to tell you more. Since
partner's 4 cuebid already denied the diamond ace, he can now
cuebid 5 to show you a second-round control (the king or a
singleton). If he bids 5, you'll bid 6. If he bids 5 (showing second-round control of hearts but not
diamonds), you'll sign off in 5. If he bids 5 (showing neither control), you'll pass.
SLAM
BIDDING QUIZ
After
these auctions, how do you proceed?
YOU PARD
1 3 (limit raise)
??
1. AJ1097 AK AKJ102 8
2. KQJ93 AK3 AK10 65
3. QJ1093 KQ2 KJ3 A2
PARD YOU
1 3 (limit raise)
4 ??
4. K93 QJ103 QJ2 K32
5. K82 KJ93 A432 98
PARD YOU
1 1
3 ??
6. KQ1093 54 AKJ2 Q3
7. QJ98 QJ7 A765 Q10
8. AK973 A2 KQ43 Q8
PARD YOU
1NT
??
9. KQJ10652 KQ3 KJ 3
10. AJ10 A62 KQ1073 Q4
QUIZ ANSWERS
1. 6 - You should
have a good play for slam even if the club ace is missing. Using Blackwood would not help you find out
about the spade king or partner’s diamond holding. However, if you are using Roman Keycard, you
could find out about the club ace, the king of spades and the diamond
suit. That information would be nice.
2. 4 - Slam is
possible but you may be off two club tricks.
This is a hand for cue bidding, not Blackwood.
3. 4 - There
should be game, not slam.
4. 4 - Put the
brakes on, you have nothing to cue bid.
5. 4 - You don’t
mind cooperating with this nice hand.
Note the point count evaluation is the same as the previous hand but
this one is stronger.
6. 4 - Blackwood
may not help if you are off two cashing heart tricks.
7. 4 - You have
too many queens in your point count.
8. 4NT - You are in grand slam territory. Find out about partner’s aces and kings.
9. 4 - This is a
good hand for Gerber. You just need to
know how many aces partner holds.
10.
4NT - This invites partner to bid 6NT with a maximum but pass with a minimum.