Two Slam Deals by David Bird

A: 2NT. Nowadays, players like to differentiate between a 3-card raise of a major and a 4-card raise. A popular method in the auction shown is to bid 2♠ with a sound raise to at least 3♥ based on 3-card support. With at least four trumps, you bid 2NT instead.

Your result so far:

A: 5♣. There is a chance of a slam. Bidding 4NT with top losers in spades is no good. You need to discover whether partner has a spade control.

Easily your best bid is 5♣. This is a control bid (formerly called a cue-bid). It shows the ace or king of clubs and denies a spade control. What a lot of information in just one bid!

Your result so far:

A: 6♥. Your partner has suggested a slam and told you that he has at least two top spade losers.

Since you have a singleton spade, you should now bid 6♥. You know that there will be one spade loser, so any other bid is rather a waste of time.

Your result so far:

A: 4♦. With all these good cards, you can visualize a diamond slam. You should agree diamonds by bidding 4♦.

Your result so far:

A: 4NT. Mike Bell decided to bid Roman Keycard Blackwood. He knew that his partner had a good hand because he had carried the bidding past 3NT.

Your result so far:

A: 6♣. Of course, you are going to bid on, with 3 keycards. In the expert partnership that held these cards, their method was to advance as if partner had asked about the queen of trumps. Ben Norton therefore bid 6♣ now, showing that he had (a) 3 controls rather than 0, (b) the ♦Q, and (c) the ♣K. This allowed his partner to close an excellent auction with a leap to 7NT. These were the two hands:

____________________♠ K 6
____________________♥ K
____________________♦ A K J 10 8 6 4
____________________♣ J 5 4

____________________♠ A 8 3
____________________♥ A 10 9 7 3
____________________♦ Q 3
____________________♣ A K 3

Yes, the bidding was a bit complicated, but it just shows what can be achieved with a combination of Roman Keycard Blackwood and control bids.

Your result so far: