Slam Bidding

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:

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:

 

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:

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:

If two aces are missing --"sign off" in 5 of your suit (or pass, if that was partner's Blackwood response).  If your agreed trump suit is clubs or diamonds and you want to sign off in 5NT, bid 5S.  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 -- 6C to show none or four kings, 6D 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:

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 -- 4C to ask for aces

The Gerber 4C 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 4C directly over partner's notrump bid is Gerber and asks for aces. Partner's response tells you how many aces he holds:

If your side holds all four aces and you want to investigate a grand slam, a bid of 5C 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:

  1. You've already found a good a trump suit (or agreed on notrump).
  2. You know you have the overall strength for a slam.
  3. Your hand has controls in all unbid suits (aces, kings or singletons).

DON'T use Blackwood or Gerber if:

1.   You have a void.
2.   You have a worthless doubleton (xx, Qx, Jx) in an unbid suit.
3.   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:

      SAKJ74 H-Void D-943 C-AKQ103

You open 1S and partner bids 3S (a limit raise with 4 trumps).  You want to bid 6S 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 4C.  If partner cuebids 4D, you'll know he has the diamond ace and you can bid 6S.

If partner instead cuebids 4H, it tells you he has the heart ace but not the diamond ace (since he will cuebid his cheapest ace).  Over partner's 4H cuebid, you can sign off in 4S if you are no longer interested in a slam, but this hand is strong enough to continue the investigation. 

 

A 5C cuebid by you shows a second-round control of clubs and asks partner to tell you more.  Since partner's 4H cuebid already denied the diamond ace, he can now cuebid 5D to show you a second-round control (the king or a singleton).  If he bids 5D, you'll bid 6S. If he bids 5H (showing second-round control of hearts but not diamonds), you'll sign off in 5S.  If he bids 5S (showing neither control), you'll pass.



SLAM BIDDING QUIZ

 

 

After these auctions, how do you proceed?

 

YOU   PARD

  1S      3S (limit raise)

  ??

 

1.   SAJ1097  HAK  DAKJ102  C8

 

2.   SKQJ93   HAK3  DAK10  C65

 

3.   SQJ1093  HKQ2  DKJ3  CA2

 

 

PARD   YOU

  1H        3H  (limit raise)

  4C        ??

 

4.  SK93    HQJ103  DQJ2  CK32

 

5.  SK82   HKJ93   DA432  C98

 

 

PARD   YOU

  1C       1S

  3S       ??

 

6. SKQ1093   H54  DAKJ2  CQ3

 

7. SQJ98   HQJ7  DA765  CQ10

 

8. SAK973   HA2  DKQ43  CQ8

 

 

PARD   YOU

  1NT      ??

 

  9.  SKQJ10652   HKQ3  DKJ  C3

 

10.  SAJ10  HA62  DKQ1073  CQ4

 

 

 

 

 

QUIZ  ANSWERS

 

 

      

1.   6S  - 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.   4D  - Slam is possible but you may be off two club tricks.  This is a hand for cue bidding, not Blackwood.

 

3.   4S  - There should be game, not slam.

 

4.   4H  - Put the brakes on, you have nothing to cue bid.

 

5.   4D  - 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.   4D  - Blackwood may not help if you are off two cashing heart tricks. 

 

7.   4S  - 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.   4C  - 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.