Locating the Trump Queen by David Bird

A: 6♥. Your partner's 5♥ response has shown you two keycards, which have to be the black aces. You therefore have no likely losers in the side-suits. If the trump suit is solid, a grand slam beckons. How will you know if partner holds the ♥Q?

If you remember the responses to 4NT, you will know already! 5♥ shows two keycards without the trump queen. If partner held this card, they would have responded 5♠ instead. So, you should sign off in 6♥.

Partner's hand is:
♠ A Q 4 3
♥ 10 5 4 2
♦ 5 3
♣ A J 5

Your result so far:

A: 5♥. Your partner's 5♦ response to Roman Keycard Blackwood shows zero or three keycards. Since they made a jump raise in spades, it is obvious that it is three keycards.

You can visualize 13 tricks, so long as partner holds the ♠Q. The bid that will ask about this card is 5♥ (one level higher than the RKCB response). Partner will sign off in 5♠ without that card and you will raise to 6♠, ending the auction.

If partner does hold the ♠Q, they will either jump to 6♠, or cue-bid a king in a side-suit (not relevant here). In both cases, you would bid 7♠, happy that you had enough tricks for the contract, now that the trump suit is known to be solid.

The North hand is:
♠ K Q 4 3
♥ A Q 2
♦ 5
♣ A J 7 5 2

Your result so far:

A: 6♥. Partner is asking if you hold the ♥Q. Since you do not, you might think it was right to sign off in 5♥. Think again!

How many hearts does partner have? They wouldn't rebid 2♥ with just four hearts, so you are probably facing ♥A K x x x. Provided the suit breaks 2-1, there will be no trump loser. You should therefore pretend that you do have the ♥Q!

When partner holds ♥A K J x x, they will be able to pick up ♥Q x x onside as well.

Your result so far:

A: 7♥. Your bid of 5♦, the next level up from the RKCB response, asked partner whether they held the ♥Q. Without this card, they would have signed off in 5♥. When they do hold the trump queen, they may show a side-suit king as well, with a cue-bid (control-bid).

Here, 6♦ shows the ♥Q and the ♦K. That's as well as the ♠A, indicated by the first 5♣ response to RKCB. You can now bid a confident 7♥.

Partner's hand is:
♠ A J 4
♥ Q 10 8 5
♦ K 5 3
♣ 10 5 3

Your result so far:

A: 3♥. If you did not hold the ♠K, you might instead bid 4♥. The correct bid on your actual hand is 3♥. The bidding is, of course, forcing to game after partner's 2♥ rebid. By raising only to 3♠, you will leave plenty of room for slam investigation.

Your result so far:

A: 5NT. Partner is asking whether you hold the ♥Q. If you did not hold this card, you would sign off in the cheapest available bid in the trump suit (6♥ here). When you do hold the trump queen, you are normally entitled to cue-bid any side-suit king.

However, to bid 6♠ now would carry you past 6♥. It may be that partner was intending to bid a grand only if you held the ♥Q and a particular minor-suit king.

To pass the information that you hold the ♠Q and a side-suit king, but it is one that cannot be shown effectively due to the high level, you must make the special response of 5NT. Here, partner will then be able to bid 7♥.

Partner's hand is:
♠ A Q 6
♥ A K J 9 7 4
♦ A K Q
♣ A

Your result so far: