Aces on Bridge

DEAR MR. WOLFF: I know you aren’t the biggest fan of Key-card Blackwood, but if you ask for key-cards, then for the trump queen, what responses should you use to that second ask?

— Private Eye

ANSWER: Use a signoff in the trump suit as denying the trump queen. Other calls show it, and you cuebid a side-suit king if you can, or jump in the trump suit if you cannot. One can agree that when you have the trump queen and two side kings, you cue-bid the king you don’t have.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: I opened one diamond with this hand: SPADES A-Q-3, HEARTS 10-5-32, DIAMONDS A-Q-7-4, CLUBS Q-3. I raised the one-spade response to two (do you agree?), and then heard my partner bid three clubs. What should I have done next?

— Bell, Book and Candle

ANSWER: Yes, I would raise to two spades, though many would prefer a oneno-trump rebid. At your third turn, you do have a maximum, but it is not clear where you belong. A temporizing call of three hearts may get you to three notrump, if that is appropriate. If your partner bids three spades, you will have to decide whether to advance, and if so, how. I think a delayed three-no-trump call would be reasonable.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: I held SPADES 10, HEARTS A-K-86-5-3, DIAMONDS K-10-9-2, CLUBS J-7 and opened one heart. When the next hand overcalled one spade and my partner doubled, was I supposed to rebid two diamonds or two hearts? I opted to show my diamonds, and we ended up in a 4-3 diamond fit, which played far less well than our 6-1 heart fit would have.

— Strawberry Jammer

ANSWER: The better the hearts, or the worse the diamonds, the more attractive a two-heart bid becomes. Here, without the diamond spots, I can see the logic in repeating the hearts. But bidding two diamonds describes nine of your 13 cards, whereas repeating hearts shows only six of them. So I’d bid the diamonds, expecting my partner generally to know when to revert to hearts. A 4-4 diamond fit ought to play much better than hearts, on average.

DEAR MR. WOLFF: Please explain what Checkback Stayman means after opener has rebid one notrump. Do I understand correctly that the sequence one diamond - one heart one no-trump - two clubs is not natural? Isn’t there also a method called Two-way Checkback?

— Inquiring Minds

ANSWER: When opener rebids one no-trump, his degree of support for his partner and length in an unbid major are often still undefined. So responder has a Stayman-like relay (New Minor) at the twolevel. This promises values and is searching for threecard trump support or length in an unbid major. Two-way New-Minor uses two clubs as a puppet to two diamonds, to play there or invite game somewhere, while two diamonds is a game-forcing relay.