Evening star., 1948-05-19
Goren on BRIDGE
tThis IL the second I'm . series Il

tThis II the second in . series q
articles ON tho Blackwood convention.)
When the preliminary rounds Of
bidding have indicated that . slam
is probable. and q suit has been
agreed upon (either expressly or by
implication) either player may in
stitute the convention by calling
four no trump. No special holding
is required, but the player making
the four no trump bid must be
quite convinced that the hand will
play safely for II tricks. The re-
sponses are as follows:
with no aces bid five clubs.
With one ace bid five diamonds.
with two aces bid five hearts.
with three aces bid five spades.
With four aces bid five no trump.
After aces have been shown the
four no trump bidder may ask for
kings by bidding five no trump.
However, there Is the very distinct
proviso that the five no trump bid
must never be made unless it has
been previously determined that
the partnership Is In possession Of
all four aces.
To illustrate, the opener late in
the bidding calls four no trump.
Responder bids five diamonds,
showing one ace. The opener now
bids five no trump. asking for
kings. Responder knows that the
opener has three aces, otherwise he
would not be In position to know
that the partnership has all four
aces and would not be privileged to
call for kings.
In other words, the five no trump
bid is used essentially for getting
to a grand slam. If it's only a small
slam you are after what purpose is
served by bidding five no trump.
which automatically places you in
a small slam? No purpose except
to give the opposition the advan-
tage of knowing how many kings
your partner has in case it should
prove helpful to them in the de-
1enSe OF Cne QauQ.
The responder to the five no
trump bid shows the number of
kings in the same manner as he
shows the number of aces in re-
sponse to the four no trump Did.
The player who makes the con-
ventional four no trump bid must.
be careful to plan so that any re-
sponse by partner will not en-
barrass him. Such might be the
case when the agreed suit, for ex-
ample, is clubs. The four no trump
bidder must in that case have at
least two aces because if he has
only one the partnership will be in
slam after a five diamond re-
sponse, two aces short OF their
destination.
The question is frequently asked
as to whether a void may be treated
as the equivalent of an ace in re-
spending to the Blackwood four no
trump bid. The answer is decisive
ly no. The four no trump bid does
not inquire as to controls but spe-
clficaly as to aces. If you treat a
void as an ace-partner may reach
an improper conclusion If he hap
pens to have the ace of the suit in
which you are void.
It. is provision of the Black
wood convention that the four no
trump bidder is the captain of the
team. When he ascertains the
aces and kings held by partner he,
and only he, has the prerogative of
deciding on the final contract. The
responder has no further voice in
the proceedings.
Occasionally the responder may
decide to ignore the question asked
by the four no trump bid and re-
spond by bidding a slam. This
takes place when the agreed trump
suit happens to be diamonds and
the responder has but one ace and
a void. Inasmuch as his response
to the Blackwood bid must be five
diamonds, he Is reluctant to make
this bid since his partner, hearing
that he has only one ace, may de-
eide to quit at five diamonds. He
therefore may take 1t upon himself
to bid slam, If he thinks it can
be made.
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