Major Suit Keycard


Better than Standard Blackwood or Roman Keycard?
One size fits all, right?  Well, that's not really true in Blackwood or Roman Keycard when it comes to majors and minors.

Have you ever committed to a slam in hearts missing two keycards?  It can happen when you have two keycards and the queen of trump, right?  Also, high-level players know that RKC is sometimes awkward when used to explore a minor suit slam.  Roman Keycard works best with majors.  The problem is that RKC is a compromise to accomodate both major and minor suits.   Two different techniques would be best.

It's certainly more difficult to play different systems depending on whether or not you are asking for keycards in a major or a minor, but there is a big advantage if you decide to do so.

Take a look at this method which has been optimized just for major suits...

MSK - Major Suit Keycard

First, as in Roman Keycard Blackwood, let's agree that the king of trump is an important keycard as good as a fifth ace and that 4NT is an asking bid.   Further, the partner initiating the sequence should have at least one keycard.
These are the responses:
    4NT    How many keycards do you have?
    5    Two keycards without the queen of trump
    5    Two keycards with the queen of trump
    5    Zero or one keycard
    5    Three keycards
    5N    Four keycards

A jump response in a minor suit shows two or more keycards and a void specifically in that minor.
    6    Two keycards and a void in clubs
    6    Two keycards and a void in diamonds
But what about a void in the other major?
    6    If the trump suit is spades, then a jump to 6 indicates a heart void.  This is the same response as showing a void in a minor suit.

    However, if your trump suit is hearts you don't want to commit to a grand slam by jumping to 6 to show a void in that suit.   When hearts are trump, you tell partner you have a void in spades by also jumping to 6.

    5NT    Tell me about the kings.

    First, a question...  How many kings are there?  Remember, the king of trump is one of the keycards regarded as an ace and is included in the response to 4NT, so that leaves just three kings.  If you are using the standard response where you step up for each king you are forced to respond 5 to show them.



      6    Zero or three kings
      6    Two kings
      6    One king

    Note that when the response is 6 showing zero or three, the partnership can get clarification with a second asking bid of the next step --   6
           Partner, bid the grand slam if you have three kings, but just go to six if you have none.

    This is a further optimazation for majors, allowing you to show the number of kings without getting past the agreed on major.


After a bit of thought, you might realize that sometimes it's important to know if partner has either zero or one keycard or zero or one king. 

Suppose you discover that you and partner hold all five of the keycards and you also have two of the kings.  You want to ask about how many kings your partner holds.  Since there are only three, you already know your partner's response - it will be 6 and you won't get the information you need.  Don't ask a question when you already know the answer!  Instead of asking with 5NT, ask with a 6 bid instead.
             Wait.   What?    Yes, ask with a 6 bid.    "Partner, tell me if you have zero or one king."

    6    No king
    6    One king
You can use the same method when partner bids 5 in response to 4NT.  Your partner has zero or one keycard, and you can ask which it is by bidding 6

But go back...   If you respond 5NT to the 4NT asking bid, does that take away your partner's ability to ask for kings?  Nope.  Just treat it as though you are the one now asking for kings.  Partner can either bid specific kings or use this method to show the number of kings in her hand.



This link will show you some examples.

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