3 N T   I S   B L A C K W O O D


Baby Blackwood
Actually, Baby Blackwood is not a convention at all.  It's an agreement to use 3NT as a Blackwood bid, but only after the partnership has agreed on a major suit as trump.  If you don't like the name, call it Low-level Blackwood.
(This agreement does not work well with minors.)

Use whatever responses you are already using with 4NT Blackwood but just one level lower.

Baby Blackwood can be used when both partners are in agreement that trumps will be either hearts or spades.  An explicit understanding is required!
  • Your partner opens 1 and you give your partner a limit raise in hearts.  If his second bid is 3NT, that's Baby Blackwood.
  • You open a minor and your partner responds with 1.  You raise to 2 and partner jumps to 3NT.  That's Baby Blackwood.
Both of these examples show an explicit agreement on the trump suit, so 3NT is ace-asking.

An Optional Adjunct
There is an implicit agreement as well, but it's an optional treatment:
    You open either major and your partner immediately jumps to 3NT.  Many players who use Baby Blackwood treat that bid as an implicit agreement on the major as trump, and the 3NT response is ace asking.
If you use this enhancement, then whenever you actually want to play in 3NT after your partner opens a major, you must first bid 1NT forcing, and then jump to 3NT.

Roy Wilson