RKC 0314 / 1430
ROMAN KEY CARD BLACKWOOD (KEY
CARD, RKC, RKCB, 0314, 1430)
all variations of Blackwood, can be understood as an advance in the
KEY CARD BLACKWOOD (KCB)
that was already a improvement in the
BLACKWOOD convention with trump King's introducion as a 5th Ace.
But KCB is now overcome and the most used
conventions for asking
aces is now RKC0314 or
RKC1430 because they also
permit asking
for trump
Queen as we will explain in this text.
In complement to RKC there are three
more important ways to
help a partnership
decide if go to Slam or stop in only game:
Gerber
4
for aces when we will play in minors,
Josephine
when we need know the honors partner have in our suit,
Exclusion RKC when who ask for aces have a void
and excluse the
ace of his suit to be counted as Key Card.
Lets explain these principals conventions to aces/honors:
In RKC0314 after the classic bid of 4nt the answers are:
5
=> zero or 3 KEY CARDS;
5 => 1 or
4 KEY CARDS;
5
=> 2 or 5 KEY CARDS without the trump Queen in the agreed suit;
5
=> 2 or 5 KEY CARDS plus the trump Queen in the agreed suit.
In RKC143O the answer 5
and 5
are changed:
5
=> 1 or 4 KEY CARDS;
5
=> zero or 3 KEY CARDS;
5
=> 2 or 5 KEY CARDS without the trump Queen in the agreed suit;
5
=> 2 or 5 KEY CARDS plus the trump Queen in the agreed suit.
Agreed
suit is the first suit supported explicit or implicit during the
auctions by
Opener-Responder or when no suit was agreed is the
last suit bidded bedore 4nt
was bid.
Opener Responder
1
1
3
4
<= support cuebid
4nt <= RKC
for
Note1: support cuebid shows not 4 cards
support, but shows a top
honor (A/K/Q) second, third, fourth and is a
important information
during the auction to guarantee condition for bid a Slam
and also to
show Slam interesting - we should never cuebid with singleton or
void in partner suit.
Opener Responder
1 2
3
4
4nt
<= RKC for
because
in this biding could be just GF bid
playing 2/1 the contract will be played in Spades
Opener Responde
1
1
2
4nt <= RKC for
(last suit bided)
Openr Responder
1 4
<= splinter with implicit 4
cards support
4nt <= RKC for
not for Clubs
Opener Responder
1
2nt <= jacoby-2nt implicit support 4
cards
4nt <=
thus, RKC for
In RKC the response for aces in 5
shows 2 aces and trump Queen,
but when the
answer for aces are
5
or 5
the information the
information about trump Queen is missing.
So the convention for asking trump's
Queen is biding the next suit
when the next suit isn't the
agreed suit
There are
two most used schemes to asking for trump's Queen:
escheme-1) based in
the initial text published relative RKC
After asking for the trump Queen we
have the follow answer:
- the bid of the agreed suit at level 5 deny trump Queen;
- the bid of 5nt shows the possession of Queen of trump and deny king;
- the bid in a suit at level 6 shows Queen more the King bided and if
exist 2 kings (excluded trump King) the cheapest king should be
used in the answer,
but in a special case when the agreed suit is
Spades then
the answer 5
is bided to show trump's Queen and the
K
(here the cheapest king to be bided), so in this case where trump
is Spades and 5
already show
K
the 5nt ask for the another King
possible and the answer
in 6
deny other king and the answer 6
shows both minors kings, of course 6
shows only K
and 6
shows
only K.
example-1) using RKC1430
Opener Responder Opener Responder explanation:
1 2 AKJ954 Q83
(0) more strong than 4
3 3(0)
AQJ4 K3 (1)
1 key card or 4 key card
4nt 5(1) 4 AQJ84 (2) asking
for Queen
5(2)
5(3)
A
K82
(3) I have Queen with
K
here
7 .................................................... more cheapest to bid than
k
example-2) using RKC0314
Opener Responder Opener Responder explanation:
1 1 AQJ10
K983 (1)
1 or 4 key cards
3 4nt Q4
A43 (2) asking
for trump Queen
5(1) 5(2) 54
AK84 (3) I have
Queen
with
K
6(3) 7 KQJ108
A2
example-3) using RKC0314
Opener Responder Opener Responder
explanation
1 1 A8 K983
(1) zero or 3 key cards
4 4nt
KQ94
AJ43
(2) asking for the Queen
5(1)
5(2)
54 A84
(3) I have Queen with
K
6(3) 7
AKJ85 Q2
example-4) using RKC0314
Opener Responder Openr
Responder explanation
1 1
AJ9
KQ832
(1) cuebid
A and deny 
A
2nt 4
KJ10
A4
(2) RKC for
4(1) 4nt(2)
K764 AJ98
(3) zero or 3 key cards
5(3)
5(4)
AQJ K2
(4) asking for Queen
6(5)
...............................................
(5) I don't have Queen
example-5) using RKC0314
Opener Responder Opener Responder
explanation
1
2
AQJ53
97 (1)
1 or 4 key cards
3
4nt
J
AQ93 (2) asking
for Queen
5(1)
5(2) QJ9 A10
(3) I have but no King
5nt(3) 6 QJ102 AK843
example-6) using RKC0314
Opener Responder Opener Responder explanation
1
2 AQJ105
6 (1) 1
or 4 key cards
3
3
J7 AK10983 (2)
asking for trump Queen
4
4nt K9 A87 (3) I don't have trump's Queen
5(1)
5(2)
KQJ9 A32
6(3)
squeme-2)
In this squeme the Queen of trump and the number of Kings
are show
using steps. After the asking for trump Queen, if responder has
the trump Queen,
he bids the follow answers:
1o. step => dont have the trump Queen;
2o. step => I have trump Queen, but no King;
3o. step => I have trump Queen and + 1 King
4o. step => I have trump Queen and + 2 Kings
5o. step => I have trump Queen and + 3 Kings
Note2: this squeme-2 is
not popular - so better use squeme-1.
example-7) using 1430
Opener Responder Opener Responder
explanation
1
2 KQJ105
6 (1)
1 key card
3
4nt Q
AK10983 (2)
asking for trump Queen
5(1)
5(2)
KQ
A7
(3) I don't have trump Queen
5(3)
6(4) KJ1095 A843 (4) 9/10 cards let's try for Q drop
all pass
Note3:
when there are fit
with 10 cards
we should assume the drop of Queen;
Note4: Careful
- Some players may assume that after the asking for trump
Queen partner is
trying to bid Grand-Slam and having the Queen and a solid
additional suit
jump to seven, but his partner was trying only six if they have
the Queen!
Example-8 using RKC0314
Opener Responder Opener
Responder explanation
1
2 AKJ105
Q86 (1)
1 or 4 key cards
3
3 74 AKQJ109 (2)
asking for trump Queen
4nt 5(1)
Q
K
5(2)
7
AKJ98 Q2
all pass - lead
A -
wrong conception that asking Q imply all 5 key cards
After 4nt there more conventions for asking kings:
1- the traditional 5nt bid asking for the 3 kings missing have the answers:
6
= zero; 6 = 1
King; 6
= 2 Kings; 6 = 3
Kings.
2- the 5nt asking for specific king bidding the most cheapest king:
ex. trump Spades: 6 =
K; 6
=
K; 6
=
K; 6
= no king
ex. trump Hearts : 6
=
K; 6
=
K; 6
= no minor king
ex. trump Diamonds: 6
=
K; 6
= no Clubs king.
3-
Another way to asking kings, different of the traditional 5nt after 4nt
is
bidding the second suit in sequence after the asking for aces in 4nt.
In other
words, if the answer of 4nt was:
- 5
for trump in Spades, then 5
is
asking for Queen and
5
for Kings;
- 5
for trump in Hearts, then 5
is
asking for Queen and 5
for Kings;
- 5
for trump in Diamonds, then 5
is
asking for Queen and 5
for Kings;
- 5
for trump in Clubs, then 5
is
asking for Queen and 5
for Kings;
- 5
for trump in Spades, then 5
is
asking for Queen and 5nt for Kings;
- 5
for trump in Hearts, then 5
asking for Queen and 5nt for Kings;
- 5
for trump in Diamonds, then 5
is
asking for Queen and 5
for Kings;
- 5
for trump in Clubs, then 5
asking for Queen and 5
for Kings;
- 5
for trump in Spades, then 5nt is asking for Kings (5
deny Queen);
- 5
for trump in Hearts, then 5
is
asking for Kings (5
deny Queen)
- 5
for trump in Diamonds, then 5
is
asking for Kings (5
deny Queen);
- 5
for trump in Clubs, then 5
is
asking for Kings (5
deny Queen);
- 5,
then 5nt is asking for Kings (5
shows Queen);
Conclusion: also the asking for king need an agreement by partnership,
we recommend the use of specific king or the tradicional 5nt and the
answer
are 0, 1, 2 and 3.
When Responder has a useful void the answer after 4nt
could be:
- 5nt zero or 2 Key Cards and a void;
- 6
1 or 3 Key Cards and a void in Clubs;
- 6
1 or 3 Key Cards and a void in Diamonds;
- 6
1 or 3 Key Cards and a void in Hearts;
- 6 in the trump suit means 1 or 3 Key Cards and void in a
more hierarchical
suit than agreed suit for trump;
Note5: by the fact that showing void implies in lose search for Queen, the
possession of the Queen is assume with warranty of 9+ cards in trump.
Of course Responder must take into account the importance of his void
that
could not be partner's suit.
In case of interference the answers are made in 4 steps RKC:
double => zero or 3 Key Cards RKC0314 or 1 or 4 key cards RKC1430;
pass => 1 ou 4 Key Cards RKC0314 or zero or 3 key cards
RKC1430;
1o. step => 2 Key Cards without the trump Queen;
2o. step => 2 Key Cards with the trump Queen;
In case of interferance at level 6 or 7 the convention is DEPO (Double
Even Pass
Odd), double for even Key Cards and pass for odd
Key Cards.
Example-9) a interesting use of specific king to count 13
tricks.
North East South West
North South
1nt pass 2
2
xx Ax
3 pass
4nt pass
AQx
K109xxxx
5* pass 5nt** pass
AKxx
Q
6 pass 7nt all pass Axxx KJx
*RKC1430 => 3 key cards
**asking for specific king so 6
means
K
with Queen trump
5(1)
A1093 KQ32
(1) exclusion RKC in
A874
93 (2) 2 Key Cards and no Queen Q9
-
72 AKQJ843
5(1) ......
A1093 K3
(1)
exclusion RKC for
(2)
7
........... Q874
-
(2) 2 Key Cards with
Q A6
KQJ6
not easy obey
Responder Q82
AKJ10843
to bid 7 with that open!
5(1)
...
K9732
J865
(1) Josephine conventionAK4
-
(2) zero or 1 top
honor
75
AKQJ65
as we can see the 5Q82
AK
is really is correct bid
2
KJ932
-
(1) Fast Arrive weak hand(1) 5nt(2)
AK4
QJ976532
(2) Grand Slam Force
(3)
...............
75
AK4
(3) I have 2 top honors
Q82
AK
we only need top honors