Presented by Mike Savage
Roman Key-card Blackwood
treats the king of the agreed-on trump suit as a control, along with the four
aces, making a total of five controls. These responses to four notrump allow
you to show your number of controls and also to show if you have the queen of
trumps (very useful in slam
exploration) all at the five level. King showing responses are not a part of
this convention and can be shown with your regular methods, whatever they are.
Shown in black below are the standard Roman Key-card responses after 4 NT and shown
in blue are the 1430 Roman Key-card
responses after 4NT (a reverse version):
5C = 0
or 3 of the five controls (aces and
the king of trumps).
1 or 4 of the five controls
5D = 1 or 4 of the five controls
0 or 3 of the
five controls
Responses to 5C and 5D:
at
the 5-level when you lack enough controls), asks for the queen of trumps.
Cheapest response denies
the queen, the next possible response shows the
Queen (Example:
over a 5C response, 5D asks if you have the trump queen
& responding 5H (cheapest bid) denies
the queen and bidding 5S shows it.*
5H = Two controls without the queen of trumps
5S = Two controls with
the queen of trumps.
*There are more
thorough responses available to the queen-asking bid. The following is a good system.
Basically, with the trump queen, cue-bid your lowest-ranking king.
After partner has asked you for the
queen of trumps:
1. Bid five of the trump suit without the queen.
2. Bid six of the trump suit (some bid 5NT) with the trump queen & no side king
3.
Cue bid your lowest king at the 5 or 6 level, below
six of the trump suit when you have the trump queen and at least one king. Bid
5NT (if not used for #2) with the trump queen and a king if
showing it puts you above six of your suit.
4.
After showing the trump queen and a side king, if your
partner bids six of a suit lower than trumps, bid seven if you have that king
also.
As to king
showing, use your favorite method. Over 5NT you could respond your number of
kings (6C = 0, 6D = 1, etc), you could respond in Roman style (6C = 0 or 3, 6D
=1 or 4, 6H = 2) or, as many experienced partnerships choose, you could bid
your kings up-the-line (6C = shows
the club king, may have higher kings), 6D
= shows the diamond king, denies the club king, etc.). This last
method may be the best but you should use the method that you are most
comfortable with (the one that you will remember).