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Asking for Aces and Keycards




Asking for Aces After Partner's Preempt
You really don't want to jump to 4NT to ask for aces after your partner makes a preemptive opening bid, but sometimes you want to explore for slam with the right hand, right?

There are several methods for ace asking, but perhaps the best agreement is to use a simple 3 call as Keycard Gerber.

Keycard Gerber - Bid 3 to Ask
      4   0 or 1 key cards  
      4   2 key cards  
      4   3 key cards  


You can also use a jump to 4 as Keycard Gerber, or you can use 3NT as Baby Blackwood.  Your choice, and all of them are effective.  If you use Baby Blackwood you will have to agree with your partner that's its not to play.  If you want to actually play in 3NT you must first bid a forcing 2NT and then rebid 3NT.

Because a weak-2 bid should never have either three or four aces, you can modify the responses to the Ace asking bid.  Below is a suggested schedule, but feel free to create your own.

Baby Blackwood - Bid 3NT to Ask
      4   0 or 1 key cards
      4   2 key cards - no Queen of trump  
      4   2 key cards - with the Queen
      4   3 key cards
      5   3 key cards - void in clubs
      5   3 key cards - void in diamonds  
Note that the strongest steps commit you to at least the 5-level, but if you have the strength to initiate a Blackwood sequence, you will probably welcome the bid.  Keep in mind that three keycards are seldom three aces, but often two aces and the king of trump.
    If the opener jumps to the 5-level in the agree major, it shows 3 keycards and a void in the other major.
    (You might see this bid about every 3-4 years.)

Roy Wilson