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Dear Ed & Peter,
In response to the 4NT bid: if you are void in a suit does that count as an ace? Thanks, Elener Rotan
Reply Ed Hoogenkamp (South) Dear Elener, Showing a void as an ace is very dangerous for two reasons:
1. Partner may think the partnership has all the aces and he bids the grand slam. If he has the ace in the suit you are void in, there is an ace missing in another suit...
2. Partner might decide to bid a no-trump slam, thinking you have a specific number of aces... There is a convention (of course, there always is a convention) to solve these problems. The response of:
- 5NT shows a void and 1* or 3* aces (or Key cards if you play Roman Key Card Blackwood — click to read about RKCB). Please note: that void must be an 'interesting' void, so don't show a void in a suit partner has bid a few times ... :-)
- Six in a suit shows a void in that suit with 0*, 2* or 4* aces (or key cards if you play RKCB. But: never bid above the trump suit: six in the trump suit shows a void in a higher ranking suit than the trump suit. Good luck with the aces. I excluded the Norwegian 'super special aces response'. I think it was 7NT: that bid denies any ace or king, but shows a very interesting void. Peter knows all about it. Un saludo, greetings from Barcelona Reply Peter van der Linden (North) Dear Elener, Ed is of course wrong with his usual insult towards Norway; to me the 7NT bid he mentions, looks more like an Old-Catalan style 'I-want-an-end-to-this-partnership'-response.
Ed's answer to your question makes more sense: never show a void as a normal ace.
Look at this example: | W/NS | | | | | ♠ | A Q J 10 7 6
|  | ♠ | K 9 4 3
| | ♥ | A K Q 2
| ♥ | —
| | ♦ | K 2
| ♦ | A J 7 6 3 | | ♣ | 8
| ♣ | 10 7 5 4
|
| West | North | East | South |
|---|
| 2♣1 | pass
| 2♦1 | pass | | 2♠3 | pass | 3♠4 | pass | | 4NT5 | pass | ?? | |
1 Strong, artificial
2 Relay; East can have any strength; he only denies having a very good suit (five-card suit with two out of three top honours)
3 One round forcing (only if East were to bid 3♣, second negative, and West were to rebid 3♠, could East pass below game)
4 Slam try (with a weaker hand East would have bid 4♠, with a very weak hand he would have bid 3♣: second negative)
5 Blackwood or Roman Key Card Blackwood
1. 4NT is regular Blackwood.
Suppose East were to bid 5♥, showing two aces (counting the void in hearts as an ace). West would certainly head towards a grand slam. All he needs to find out, is whether East has the ♠K. How he does that is a systemic matter, but my guess is that nine out of ten West players would eventually bid 7♠ (either after having found out about the ♠K or as a gamble) — or even 7NT in MP-play (hoping East has a solution for the fourth round of hearts). The result is down one in 7♠ or down a lot in 7NT!
So if EW have not agreed upon void-showing, East simply shows one ace. West will settle for 6♠: no accidents here. (True: with West's hearts and clubs interchanged, EW would thus miss the grand. Well, that can't be helped without the void-showing convention).
If EW have agreed upon void-showing, East should bid 6♥: one* ace and a void in hearts. West knows the ♣A is missing and settles for 6♠. 2. 4NT is RKCB.
Suppose again that East were to count his void as an ace. He would show three key cards then (the trump king and the four aces are the five key cards) by bidding 5♣ (standard RKCB) or 5♦ ('1430 RKCB'). West now confidently bids the grand, 'knowing' (he thinks...) that it will succeed!
So, without the void-showing agreement, East should show only two key cards (5♥), after which West knows an ace or the ♠K is missing.
If EW have agreed upon void-showing, East responds 5NT: two* key cards (as West can see) and a void. Next, West bids 6♣, asking for the void. East shows it by bidding the suit of the void (if it had been clubs, he would have bid 6♠). Problem solved.
(By the way: the problem would not have been solved if for example clubs had been trumps. West could not have asked for the void then without the risk of getting too high. Therefore East would have done better to bid 4♥ over 2♠. This is Splinter: a slam try establishing spades and showing a singleton or void in hearts. West would have known before then about East's shortness and upon hearing a void, he would have known which one right away.)
*Final remark: have you spotted the difference between Ed's advice and mine on showing a void? Ed suggests 5NT shows a void and an odd number of aces (key cards) and six in the trump suit shows a void and an even number of aces (key cards).
My advice is the other way around.
Three guesses which of the two approaches is more common... (I'll give you a clue: it's the approach from the colder country).
En hils, greetings from Orkanger. |