How beginner, intermediate, and expert players might bid this bridge hand differently

Weekly online bridge lessons with Jack Stocken: learnbridgeonl...
Angie, one of Jack's students, sent in this fascinating bidding hand. A beginner would bid 4♥, the improver would bid 6♥ and the expert would bid all the way to 7♥!
Three very different results based on your experience level.
In this video Jack guides us through the different scenarios and introduces the rarest of advanced conventions, Exclusion Roman Key Card Blackwood.
Thank you, Angie, for sending this in!
♠♥♦♣♠♥♦♣♠♥♦♣
#bridge #contractbridge #learnbridgeonline
Learn how to play bridge online at learnbridgeonl...

[@GoodChemistry]

Thanks Jack and Bajir, that is so interesting to see the variety in the hands with experience!

[@cellosean]

This was great! If I could remember exclusion RKCB, it may come in handy someday. Very nice presentation, thank you.

[@NickBedRock]

When I used to play bridge in 1970s/1980s, there was a bid called a Grand Slam Force in which a bid of 5NT (without the 4NT Blackwood bid) asked specifically about partners trump suit, asking parner to bid 6 if he/she has only one of the top two honours and 7 if he/she has both. Seems like the perfect convention for this hand.

[@DarthMohawk1]

I thought of the Grand Slam Force as well, but the version I'm familiar with asks "bid 7 with 2 of the top 3 trumps". Since this is implicitly promising one of the top 3 from your own hand, GSF doesn't work here.

[@markrishavy7013]

Yes, you might, embarrassingly, get to 7H opposite KQxxxx(x...). An insane partner of mine invented some variant he called Grand Slam non-force, where the responses better defined which of the top 3 were held, and it was mostly for this exact situation where you don't really care about the Q because you have a 10+ card fit. But I have forgotten how it worked.

[@diannelowe166]

Wow, a hand you dream of and then don't know what to do with. Thank you Angie, and Jack for showing us how

[@LearnBridgeOnline]

Excellently put, Dianne! You're very welcome.

[@elanorfairbairn]

@@LearnBridgeOnline can this convention work with Blackwood? And how?

[@aharrington1000]

Very good example of RKC exclusion BW

[@zelandakhniteblade5436]

I doubt you would find a single expert who would bid 2S on the East hand. The choice here is between 3S and 4S. A good bid for South after 2S is probably 4S, which should show a spade void and may or not be asking for key cards according to agreements. 3C looks ok but is asking for a 4S, perhaps even 5S, bid from West after which having a good auction becomes much more problematic. The intermediate level way of getting to the grand is the Grand Slam Force. With the right agreements, South can bid 5NT over 3H. Usually this asks partner to bid 7H with 2 of the top 3 trump honours but responses can be organised to distinguish AK from AQ and KQ. Finally, Exclusion RKCB (XRKCB) is more commonly called Voidwood, which is much less of a handful. It is a good convention but so rare that you should only add it to your CC if you have more or less everything else in your system settled.

[@kiwi1fruit]

Hmmm, interesting the exclusion bid. With the1430 you would get a 5 Spade bid showing 2 Key cards with the Q of hearts. That bid since Hearts was set as Trump wood mean either the A,K

[@jeffreyroughgarden6591]

Just fascinating! Thank you so much. I'm now a subscriber!

[@ianburgess1436]

Four spades is a cue bid showing control of the Spade suit. 5H would show control of hearts etc about 6 Clubs and 6 Diamonds or haul out the Blackwood after the 4 Spade bid.

[@willinnewhaven3285]

You don't need exclusion for this hand. 3S over the 3H bid or directly over the 2S bid works fine. .

[@sashanovakovic_fan7149]

Outstanding.

[@harrisbobroff9813]

Two simple bids gets to 7. Cue bid and using Losing trick count.

[@gracielajuda9659]

Brilliant !!

[@HelenA-fd8vl]

Great episode!

[@raymondeatcheson6070]

Roman key card Blackwood is very informative, if and when you’re dealt such a hand.

[@robynmcgain5443]

Excellent

[@andrewbuchanan5342]

Very interesting, thanks. One point is that 2S seems to be too low - as is proved by the fact that the opponents simply ignore it. How do NS behave if East bids 3S?

[@jenresnik5547]

very interesting,thanks

[@LearnBridgeOnline]

You are welcome. Not every day you get a hand like this!

[@musicloverchicago437]

I had written a few days ago to another video that the "clever" bidding schemes are probably what keep many people from being interested in learning or playing bridge. I have zero interest in learning a new language that applies only to bridge and I'm not going to make any money from it. :) I think bridge is a great game but at this point you might as well just lay down all of the hands as soon as they are dealt and then partners can see exactly what you have instead of requiring a decoder ring.

[@CountKoski]

Ace of spades is worth heaps more than 2 of spades - it guarantees discarding the small diamond, regardless of the lead.

[@natekolo6543]

But it’s worth heaps less than the A&K of H, because the way you expect this hand to go is that as long as clubs break reasonably you’re probably looking at about 3-4 discards from North’s hand on them, so you just need to find North with either less than 4 diamonds (hearts is an outrageous fit, if you know it’s at least 10 then even if it takes 3 rounds of trumps you’ll have at least enough leftover to ruff a club and a diamond) or the King of diamonds. Of course you could still lose to some wild first round ruff or a horrible club break, but it’s not too likely I think.

[@d95mback]

We don't play exclusion RKCB (but maybe we will soon). However, on this hand I would bid 5❤ which tells partner to bid grand slam if they think we have full control of the trump suit. In this case they certainly will. In this case full control means something like three top honors, or two if you know we have ten trumps.

[@robertrobertson8644]

when playing exclusion roman keycard blackwood does a player have to incorporate a jump to say he/she is playing the convention. what i would really like to ask is what meaning would jack put onto a bid of 3s. to be fair i am not an expert and i would originally bid 3cs and then 6hs, same as jack. my problem is i don't often play with players that even play rkcb let alone the exclusion version although i have 1 partner i might try it with. so please 3s over the wjo 2s, what does it mean?

[@lizsherlock7285]

Great! many thanks. Imagine using exclusion RKCB it would be a dream. Liz

[@VictorMollo]

Very interesting discussion, thank you. I hope you don't mind if I have a number of questions. Firstly, how would you proceed if East preempted with 3S (they do have favourable vulnerability) or West raised to 4S (with one and a half tricks more than East can expect, not unreasonable). Secondly, how would you bid without interference? Is it only exclusion RKCB because spades was the opposing suit? Finally, wouldn't cue bids be an alternative (and less forgettable) way of finding the grand slam?

[@richardcaplan9052]

Thank you jack, brilliant as always. if there had been no intervention of 2S how would the expert have bid the hand?

[@pushpapai7842]

Absolutely brilliant

[@LearnBridgeOnline]

Thanks Pushpa! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@VictorMollo]

I'm back after nearly a year, with some more questions. You suggest (at 4:46) a jump to 6H after the 3H reply. You could be missing the AK of trumps. Also, you suggest that 3H indicates a six card heart suit. What would opener bid with 4S, 5H and a minimum? Or 5H and 4C without a spade stopper?

[@mohammadmainuddin736]

If you have 11 card heart with A &K, why bother for Q?

[@robertrobertson8644]

i'd never heard of exclusion roman keycard blackwood before this video. however now that i understand it why can't south bid 4s over 2s. i fail to see the benefits of 3cs playing this convention.

[@naotabata9764]

I would have bid 3S in east, not that it makes it much harder for NS to reach 7H on this hand, but it could on other hands.

[@dianaveitch395]

Amazing. Wonderful

[@LearnBridgeOnline]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@kvom01]

I'd bid 3S over 2S to confirm hearts. Auction might then proceed 4H-5C-5D-5S... Holding AKQ of trumps opposite a partner forcing to slam bidding 7H is not too hard.

[@simeneiktolgensbakk5355]

Wht do you bid after ...3C - 3D - 3H - 5D ?

[@timm1328]

5 spades is “exclusion.” 4 spades is ‘kickback”

[@endthisnonsense7202]

If the opps are experts too too 1H-2S would definitely not always happen. I (decent player, no expert) would always bid at least 3S with the east hand, and consider 1h-4s. 2 Spades would be a weak hand (semi) balanced and could even hold just 5 spades at this vulnerability, not an offensive decent 6034. Apart from that it is worth mentioning explicitely (more than what was discussed at the beginning) that on this hand the heart Q is immaterial, so 7 H can be bid after a 5D response to exclusion. And also that on some hypothetical other sequence where N showed six hearts and S is responding to keycard blackwould S should show Q of heart for the same reason.

[@richardpage3477]

No idea why you wouldn’t bid 3 spades not 3 clubs to show a very strong response showing heart fit? How on earth does opener know 4 spades agrees hearts when you ve not shown it earlier? Appreciate any response but did enjoy the vid

[@thunder9539]

What is the problem with bidding the south hand? 1 heart, (2 spades or 3 or whatever), 4 spades (exclusion key card), 7 hearts final contract...

[@mymyscellany]

I mean this is hand for exclusion, but if you don't have that, probably 4S over 2S would do the job. That's definitely a spade void and awesome heart support. 4NT by opener would be exclusion even without special agreements so responder would bid 5H to show 2 without the queen. 5NT to ask for kings and promising all key cards and then blasting 7 is inevitable. 1H - (2S) - 4S; 4NT - 5H; 5NT - 7H 2S is some pretty weak stuff. That looks like at least a 3S bid to me.

[@jyutzler]

I don't think you need exclusion to find 7H here. How about this sequence: 1H(2S)3S;4H-4S;4NT-5NT;6C-7H? 1. Two cue bids should convince north to be the RKCB bidder. (While 3C is forcing, it isn't like you are playing in clubs so why not simply support with support?) 2. 5NT shows two key cards and a useful void. 3. 6C bid invites 7H, promising all of the first round controls and high heart honors and second round control in clubs. South's clubs will provide the necessary discards so 7H can be bid with confidence. As an aside, I hate the 2S bid by East. At this vulnerability, you are not going to get hurt with 3S. (I'd bid 4S before I bid 2S.) This may goad a 4S from west. An experienced partnership may find 7H anyway, but it is harder when so much bidding room is lost.

[@dimitriskontoleon6787]

I agree both bid is forcing. But maybe 3c shows more critical info

[@endthisnonsense7202]

I fully agree with all of that.

[@tylersmith3435]

Another thought could be 1h (2s) 3c 3h 5h - asks to bid slam with 2 of the top 3 hearts. Then the logic that if they think we can make 6h if opener only has the kq... can make 7 with all 3?

[@robertjohnson4401]

The real test is to play the hand out to see if he made the grand slam. What I learned here as a beginner is I was surprised that East bid 2 spades. East did not have enough points to open so I thought it should have passed. The way East bid was as if he was responding to his partner's bid yet his partner hadn't bid yet. I didn't know that was a valid strategy. The problem with this strategy is it doesn't tell West anything about the strength of East's hand. He is correct, as a beginner, I would have ended the bidding at 4 hearts, knowing that I could possibly make more than that.

[@taemyr]

It tells West alot about East's hand. West knows that East has 5-10 HKP and 6+ spades, and under most conventions it also guarantees a spade blocker. It's hard to see a more informative bid in this situation. Although that is actually secondary to the advantage of taking away bidding space for N/S.

[@robertjohnson4401]

@@taemyr East has 8 high card points. You need at least 12 points to open for your side. You said that West knows that East has 5-10 HKP. How can West possibly know anything about East's hand? Especially when East bids a 2 spade which is the wrong bid based on opening with 8 HCP. True that East had 5-10 HCP but that should not be assumed from an opening bid of 2 spades. I would open 2 spades with 16-19 points and at least 5 spades in my hand. Disclaimer. I am not an expert at Bridge. I know the basic rules and follow them. If there is something special about this situation, then I plead ignorance and stand corrected. If this is the case, nothing in your explanation would lead me to believe this is anything out of the ordinary. Enlighten us all if this is not the case. I hear British accents. Is this British rules and not American rules? I go by America rules.

[@monelleny]

It's not that tough to remember. 4S is 1 level lower than the normal 4NT rkc bid, and the responses are likewise one level lower. If the opponents' suit is not spades, I assume that the responses over the jump likewise begin at one level higher than the jump, right?

[@gf4ce]

After the 3C bid, say west plays 4S, being NS is vulnerable, wouldnt there be a very good chance N would pass? (Even though the 3c bid is forcing).

[@clydecoon3570]

The 4s bid gives partner another chance to bid so the force is off

[@ClarkPotter]

5:00 You say the remaining two hearts are probably divided 1-1. That seems obviously incorrect and I'm having a hard time understanding how a Bridge expert wouldn't understand this so I'm sure I'm missing something and it's encoded in the opponent's bid somehow. Clearly, with two cards and two possible locations for each you have four possible distributions. Two of those are 1-1 (reverse locations of each) but the other two are 2-0 (0-2). So there's only a 50% likelihood they're divided 1-1, the other 50% is 2-0 (0-2). Therefore it's straight up false that "the remaining two hearts are probably divided 1-1." What am I missing? Please put me in my place and explain how the opponent's bid encodes an opponent heart distribution such that the odds of a 1-1 distribution appreciably increase. I do admit that via Bayesian inference given an additional datum (opponent's bid) that the odds diverge from 50-50 slightly, but how do YOU know this?

[@Octopodes21]

It's actually not 50-50, because the probabilities of each card being in a given hand aren't independent. Think of it this way: We're missing two cards--card A and card B. Card A is in one hand or the other, doesn't matter which. What's the chance card B is in the SAME hand as card A? Well, there are 25 spots it could be in. 12 of them are in the same hand as card A, but 13 are in the other hand. So it's just slightly more likely that the cards are in separate hands. This is also the principle behind the rule that when you have an 11 card fit missing the king and a small card, you should play the ace hoping for the king to drop, not finesse.

[@apotropoxyz6685]

Exclusion, also called Voidwood, isn't that tough. When you realize you have a good chance for a slam but you have a void, jump ASAP to a 5 bid in your void suit. Your Key Card responses. If you jump to heart void, a bid of 5 spades would mean you have either 1 or 4 (1430) of the 'aces'. Just remember, if you have the ace of the void suit, it's virtually worthless, so don't include it when you respond. Use your google stick to get more insight. If your void is in spades you have to make your cue bid to the 4 level.

[@kiwi1fruit]

I don't think that's quite correct. the 5 H bid could have the ASpades as that's a key card, then the KH would be another and Q of H would be in the 5H bid.

[@TheSuzberry]

👍👍👍

[@priayief]

Sheesh! At that vulnerability, as West, I'd bid at least 3s.

[@ranjankaji5426]

Why not 3 spades?

[@ChrisHasney]

I wonder if any of the East-West pairs bid 7 spades over seven hearts

[@craneman6971]

Thank you for the fascinating hand. Could South bid 4 Spades as a splinter bid response on the first round or perhaps the second round and then Roman Key Card Blackwood? Given that North must have at most 7 losing tricks to open and South has 4 losing tricks using the Losing Trick Count - 7+4 =11: 18-11 =7, therefore 7 Hearts is possible/probable.

[@jackstockenbridge8841]

Hi Barrie You could splinter to show void or singleton spade but this won't help partner. All South wants to know about on this hand is whether North has the ace or king of hearts so Exclusion RKCB is the only way forward. Losing Trick Count is useful for bidding to game but only a guideline for bidding to slam. If you were to bid 7H using LTC you could well be missing the ace or king of trumps so the only way to get round this is to use Exclusion RKCB. Not using this convention you just blast 6H.

[@dimitriskontoleon6787]

But splinter was not above game level. 3s yes! 4s no

[@williamgrosbach4237]

Being unfamiliar with Exclusion Roman Key-card Blackwood, I'd bid 5NT. In fact, I'd probably bid 5NT anyway.

[@endthisnonsense7202]

Well it'd be sad to go down in 7 if partner has AQXXXX of hearts and responds 7 to Josephine. After all hearts 1-1 is only 52%...

[@williamgrosbach4237]

@@endthisnonsense7202 Still odds on. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[@endthisnonsense7202]

@@williamgrosbach4237 52% in matchpoints normally is NOT odds on. You need to be on or above 50% if every other pair is in your other option (6H here). If your other option beats some other pairs like 4/5 hearts, 6S or 7D for the opps on this hand, the odds you need to bid the grand and score in the log run on similar hands go up. So taking an extreme example, the entire field is missing 6H, and you are there, anything less then 100% for the grand loses in the long run. If it is imps off course you need considerably more the 50% too as you lose more imps going down than you score making. If this interests you to improve your scoring, read Kit Woolsey's "Matchpoints" it is execllent.

[@kiwi1fruit]

I hope you are going to say RKC Blackwood 1430 Now I'll look

[@dimitriskontoleon6787]

OK but on 2:42 I may bid 3s. Is still forcing, but maybe 3c (the natural bid) was much better

[@CommunistBearFighter]

I would honestly bid 3S as well.

[@KimiiiRaikkonen]

I'll write my comment first, then I'll hear the analysis :D In a normal system (Which is not what I consider I play with my partner) I think it should go 1h-2s-4s-x 5h-p-5s-p 6h-p-7h 4spades as exclusion Blackwood, otherwise pretty normal bids. In me and my partners system it would go like this 2h-3s-4s-x 5h-p-5s-p 6h-p-7h Since we play intermediate 2 of a Major. (10-14hp) and weak majors under Multi 2d (3-9hp) Now I'm going to watch how you would bid it!

[@paulsontag9233]

Are you going to be playing more bridge now that your F1 career is over?

[@KimiiiRaikkonen]

@@paulsontag9233 Sorry but I'm just a fan of Kimi and not the actually Kimi :D. Anyway yes I'll keep playing bridge even though Kimi's career is over!

[@paulsontag9233]

@@KimiiiRaikkonen 2007 forever!

[@trainjoanjle]

Might someone just bid to 7 ???? and hope!

[@gk-qf9hv]

Why not just use good old Cue Bid? 😉

[@akgarg-si5cd]

3spade cue bid should have been better call and may have reached 7hearts!

[@CommunistBearFighter]

I think so too.

[@iankeay2659]

Ian from Melb. Aus

[@NIKOLASINGLESSIS]

If partnet has 6 hearts and 6 club tricks is 12 and ace of diamonds 13 so only problem quality of hearts !! So Josephine could be used with 2 to honors will go to six with 3 to 7 hearts so the bid is 5nt ..

[@endthisnonsense7202]

Except for the fact Josephine asks to bid 7 with 2 out of the 3 top honors. So you might lose a trich to the K if he has AQXXXX.

[@NIKOLASINGLESSIS]

@@endthisnonsense7202 My bad !!Technically you are right !! if he has AK 7 hearts are ok if he has AQ either singleton onside or finesse and that is 75% pretty acceptable for a grand slam, plus the chance to have all three !!

[@endthisnonsense7202]

@@NIKOLASINGLESSIS Both parts of your comments are mistaken. If partner is supposed to bid 7 with a 7 card, he will do so with KQXXXXX and you miss the ace of trumps. "if he has AQ either singleton onside or finesse" You can't have it both ways. Either you finesss or you don't. If you are finessing once west shows up with the X, you will lose to the singleton K. And of course once W shows out first round you are down too. Or you don't finess once W plays an X, then you are down if the finess works so when either opp holds two hearts. So if you plan to finess you are down on half of the 2-0 splits and on half of the 1-1 splits. If you don't plan to finess, then you are down on all 2-0 splits but none of the 1-1 splits. This remains rougly even. (52% chance of making playing for the drop due to E having an extra vacant place for the remaining trump once W played low). You really need to know which honors he has both in case he has 7 (You need the A) and in case he has 6 (you need AK).

[@judiefennell6890]

Hello Jack, I have just watched the youtube, a hand making 7 hearts using "exclusion roman keycard blackwood". Is it possible to reach 7 hearts using the losing trick count? John and I enjoyed our bridge weekend at The Mill house Hotel where you were the host. Look forward to hearing from you, Judie Fennell.

[@jackstockenbridge8841]

Hi Judie Good to hear from you again. Losing Trick Count is useful for bidding to game but only a guideline for bidding to slam. If you were to bid 7H using LTC you could well be missing the ace or king of trumps so the only way to get round this is to use Exclusion RKCB. Not using this convention you just blast 6H.

[@judiefennell6890]

@@jackstockenbridge8841 Many thanks for your reply. Judie.

[@edclee1997]

5N Grand Slam Force with the variation that shows 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the top three trump honors will solve this problem nicely.

[@endthisnonsense7202]

No it doesn't AKXXXX against the 5 card is a lay down 7 where AQXXXX will lose a trick in the 48% of cases the heart are 2-0 in either hand (you don't finess due to the 6 card spades as the other hand will have the 6/7 cards diamonds). You need to know which 2 top honors partner has.

[@theobserver2309]

With four losers and a stunning side suit with an additional Ace I would bid 6 Hearts immediately with the South hand. I mean, come on! No science involved, the opponents won't give us the time or space to investigate. If they sacrifice in 6 Spades (for minus 1100) then I will bid 7 Hearts and to hell with them. The would have to be a really plucky pair to bid on to 7 Spaces, but they should. Six/four knock at the door, six/five come alive baby, and don't forget it...

[@rickymullins3844]

A

[@gerryarty8342]

Great, but not for us Mortals :).. well done LBO.. :)

[@LearnBridgeOnline]

It's just beautiful to show the depth of the game. Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@flyfin108]

5!h