Now that you have learned Blackwood let's see if you can tell the difference between 4NT Blackwood and 4NT Quantitative.
An easy way to remember is that 4NT Quantitative occurs after the FIRST bid by the Partnership was some number of NT or the LAST bid by the Partnership was some number of NT. This is not always true but for the most part is. Some of these are tricky! Think carefully as to what each bid means before you answer.
Brush up on 4NT Blackwood with this post:
Blackwood -- An Introduction
Brush up on 4NT Quantitative with these posts:
Bidding - Responding to 1NT with a Balanced HandGerber or 4NT Quantitative?
On each of the following auctions one person has bid 4NT. Is this 4NT bid Blackwood or Quantitative and what is the person asking with the bid?
WARNING! The following post talks about BLACKWOOD. Blackwood is a bid used by more experienced players. If you are a new player do NOT bother reading this post. When you have played a bit more and know a bit more you can learn Blackwood. For now, do not bother.
Blackwood
Please read the previous post to get a little information on Blackwood:
Blackwood -- An Introduction
Why would we bid Blackwood?
Say my Partner opened the bidding 1♣ and I hold this hand:
♠KQJ86
♥2
♦KQT96
♣AK
I respond 1♠ (with two 5 card suits bid the higher ranking suit first always) and Partner raises me to 2♠.
What do I need from Partner in order to take ALL the tricks? Basically just three Aces. That's it. I don't actually care how many points Partner has -- I just want to know how many Aces Partner has. If Partner has three Aces we should be able to take 13 tricks if ♠ are trump. With two Aces we should be able to take 12 tricks with ♠ are trump. However if Partner only has 1 Ace we don't want to be in a slam.
Hand A
Hand B
Hand C
♠A742♥A864♦A8♣J75
♠A742♥AKQ6♦84♣J75
♠A742♥KQJ4♦84♣QJ5
Partner has 3 Aces.With this hand we want to play in 7♠. We should be able to take 13 tricks with ♠ as trump.
Partner has 2 Aces.With this hand we want to play in 6♠. We should be able to take 12 tricks with ♠ as trump.
Partner has 1 Ace.With this hand we want to play in only 5♠. There is no point in being any higher. The Opponents can take two Aces right away.
What about if Partner doesn't have ANY Aces? Wouldn't we go down if we bid that high?
Yes, if Partner doesn't have any Aces we cannot bid past the 4 level. However it is mathematically impossible for Partner to not have any Aces when we hold the hand we have. Construct the WORST hand possible for Partner. If they have 13 (or even 12) HCP (which is their minimum to open the bidding) then they have an Ace.
Bidding Blackwood tells you the NUMBER of Aces Partner has in their hand. It does not tell you which Aces they are. Since you do not know which Aces Partner has you should NOT bid Blackwood if you have a VOID in a suit.
Let's take this hand:
♠KQT9872
♥A
♦KQJ95
♣
Partner opens the bidding 1♣. You respond 1♠. Partner rebids 2♠. They are showing a fit for you with about 13-16 points. Partner is allowed to count Dummy points because they know they have a fit and they know they are going to be Dummy. You have a very nice hand and want to know if Partner has the A♠ and the A♦. If you bid Blackwood on this hand and Partner shows you 2 Aces which Aces are they? Partner could hold:
Hand D
Hand E
Hand F
♠AJ65♥K982♦A2♣J83
♠AJ65♥K86♦62♣AJ86
♠J653♥K8♦A2♣AJ942
Partner has 2 Aces.With this hand we want to play in 7♠.
Partner has 2 Aces.With this hand we want to play in 6♠. The Opponents can take their A♦!
Partner has 2 Aces.With this hand we want to play in 6♠. The Opponents can take their A♠!
So bidding Blackwood does not help us here.
For the same reason you should NOT bid Blackwood with a useless doubleton. A useless doubleton means that there are two cards in the suit and neither of the cards are the Ace or King of the suit.
Let's take this hand:
♠KQT9872
♥43
♦AKQ9
♣
Partner opens the bidding 1♣. You respond 1♠. Partner rebids 3♠. They are showing a fit for you with about 17-18 points. Partner is allowed to count Dummy points because they know they have a fit and they know they are going to be Dummy. You have a very nice hand and want to know if Partner has the A♠, the A♥ and the K♥. If you bid Blackwood on this hand and Partner shows you 2 Aces which Aces are they? Partner could hold:
Hand G
Hand H
Hand I
♠AJ65♥QJ98♦2♣AK83
♠AJ65♥A862♦2♣KQJ8
♠J653♥AJ♦2♣AKJ94
Partner has 2 Aces but we are still off the first 2 ♥ tricks.With this hand we want to play in 5♠.
Partner has 2 Aces.With this hand we want to play in 6♠. We might have to lose a ♥ trick.
Partner has 2 Aces.With this hand we want to play in 6♠. The Opponents can take their A♠ but that is it!
So again there is no point in bidding Blackwood on that hand because you still might not know what level to play at!
Let's take a look at a few hands. On all these hands Partner opened the bidding 1♦. You responded 1♠. Partner rebid 4♠ which shows a VERY big hand! About 20 points. After all you only showed 6 points when you responded and Partner put you into game. So it's up to you. What do you do? Pass? Bid 4NT (Blackwood) to find out how many Aces Partner has? Just bid 6♠? 7♠?
State the reason(s) why you bid what you bid.
WARNING! The following post talks about BLACKWOOD. Blackwood is a bid used by more experienced players. If you are a new player do NOT bother reading this post. When you have played a bit more and know a bit more you can learn Blackwood. For now, do not bother.
Blackwood
Blackwood is a convention bridge players use to ask their Partner how many Aces they hold after the partnership has agreed upon a suit or, if no suit has been agreed upon, the last bid was not any number of natural NTs. In these auctions, a bid of 4NT asks their Partner how many Aces they hold. Bridge players call this 4NT bid Blackwood.
This could be bid after Partner supports your Opening suit:
Opener
Responder
1♥
3♥
4NT
This is BLACKWOOD. Opener, by bidding 4NT, is asking Responder to tell them how many Aces they have in their hand.
This could be bid after an opening bid of any suit:
Opener
Responder
1♣
4NT
This is BLACKWOOD. Responder, by bidding 4NT, is asking the 1♣ Opener to tell them how many Aces they have in their hand.
This could be bid after Partner opens and supports your suit:
Opener
Responder
1♣
1♠
2♠ (or 3♠ or even 4♠)
4NT
This is BLACKWOOD. Responder, by bidding 4NT, is asking the 1♣ Opener to tell them how many Aces they have in their hand.
This can be bid after Partner made an OVERCALL:
Opener (Dealer)
Overcaller
Responder
Advancer
1♠
2♥
Pass
4NT
This is BLACKWOOD. Advancer, by bidding 4NT, is asking the 2♥ Overcaller to tell them how many Aces they have in their hand.
What are the responses to Blackwood?
5♣
Partner I have either zero or all four Aces
5♦
Partner I have one Ace
5♥
Partner I have two Aces
5♠
Partner I have three Aces
Do you need to memorize this chart?
Not really. After the 4NT bid the first possible response you would make is for the worst possible case. Zero Aces. So the first possible bid after 4NT is 5♣. The second possible bid you would make after 4NT is the second worst response. So 5♦ would be the second worst response which is only 1 Ace. And so on. We need to group the worst response (zero Aces) with the best response (four Aces) because the Blackwood bidder should be able to tell which one Partner has.
There is quite a bit more to Blackwood that I will get to in the next few days. For now practice your responses to Blackwood.
On the following hands Partner opened the bidding 1♠. You bid 3♠ which shows about 11 or 12 points with four trump. Partner now bid 4NT which we now know is asking for the number of Aces we have in our hand. What is your response on each of the hands and what are you telling Partner with your bid?
