Bid both North and South through the complete auction, establish the trump fit, then use your chosen slam-investigation convention — Roman Keycard Blackwood, Classic Blackwood, Gerber, Quantitative 4NT or Control Cue Bids — before playing the final contract.
Five slam systems · North/South learner controlled
1. Board→2. Bid→3. Play→4. Review
Slam hands
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Board 1
You control both North and South. Both partnership hands are shown for bidding practice; East and West remain hidden until play.
The Auction
Hands for bidding
Your bidding box
Compact tabbed layout modelled on a table bidding box.
Choose North and South’s calls from the bidding box.
Slam investigation: waiting for the auction to develop.
North
East
South
West
Play the Hand
Contract
Declarer—
Trump—
N/S tricks0
E/W tricks0
To play—
North
South — You
West
East
Play will begin after the auction.
Teaching Points
Teaching Rules
Hand evaluation
Count high-card points: A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1.
Balanced shapes are 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2 and 5-3-3-2.
Uses the same balanced-hand evaluation, Goodies & Baddies and LTC treatment as the Leads trainer.
Opening bids
Open one of a suit with about 12+ points and an unbalanced hand.
Prefer a four-card major where appropriate; with two four-card suits bid the higher-ranking suit first.
Use the Rule of 20 on borderline first- and second-seat unbalanced hands: HCP + lengths of the two longest suits. 20+ supports an opening bid.
Position-sensitive openings include weak twos/pre-empts, third-seat ‘borrow a king’ judgement and fourth-seat Rule of 15, subject to EBU Level 2 minima.
Roman Keycard Blackwood
First establish the agreed or clearly implied trump suit. The trump king counts as the fifth keycard.
1430: 5♣=1 or 4; 5♦=0 or 3; 5♥=2 without the trump queen; 5♠=2 with the trump queen.
0314: 5♣=0 or 3; 5♦=1 or 4; 5♥=2 without the trump queen; 5♠=2 with the trump queen.
4NT is treated as RKCB only when a suit fit is already agreed or clearly implied.
Grand slam: when all five keycards and the trump queen are accounted for and thirteen tricks remain realistic, 5NT is a grand-slam try asking for a specific side-suit king.
After 5NT, responder shows the cheapest side-suit king; with none, return to six of the agreed trump suit. Bid seven only when the extra king/control information and hand evaluation support thirteen tricks.
5NT commits the partnership to at least a small slam — do not use it merely to check whether six is safe.
Partnership agreement: some RKCB methods show the number of side kings; this trainer uses the specific-king treatment, showing the cheapest side-suit king.
Classic Blackwood
4NT asks for aces: 5♣=0, 5♦=1, 5♥=2, 5♠=3, 5NT=4.
If all four aces are held, 5NT then asks for kings: 6♣=0, 6♦=1, 6♥=2, 6♠=3, 6NT=4.
Stop in the agreed suit at the five level when two or more aces are missing.
Avoid Blackwood with a void, singleton or weak doubleton such as Qx when a particular side-suit control matters; prefer control cue-bids first.
Classic Blackwood does not distinguish the trump king or queen — Roman Keycard is generally superior for suit slams.
Gerber 4♣
4♣ is an ace-asking convention, best used in NT auctions where 4NT would be quantitative.
Responses: 4♦=0 or 4 aces; 4♥=1; 4♠=2; 4NT=3.
If all aces are held, 5♣ asks for kings using the same step responses.
Sign off in the agreed suit or NT when aces are missing.
Avoid Gerber with a void, singleton or weak doubleton such as Qx when you need to locate a specific control; prefer control cue-bids.
Quantitative 4NT
In NT auctions, 4NT is a natural quantitative raise inviting 6NT.
Partner accepts with a maximum hand within the advertised NT range: after a 12–14 1NT opening, accept with 14; after a 20–22 2NT opening, accept with 22. With less than the maximum, normally pass 4NT.
Use Gerber (4♣) if you need to count aces in an NT context.
Best deployed when both hands are balanced and the point total is near the slam threshold.
Cue Bids to Slam
Once a trump suit is agreed and slam is possible, begin by showing first-round controls (ace or void) in side suits.
As the cue-bidding sequence develops, higher cue-bids may also show second-round controls (king or singleton).
Bid controls economically, normally up the line. In this trainer first-round controls take priority; later second-round cues refine the picture.
Partner responds with the cheapest useful control; return to the trump suit to sign off when a necessary control cannot be established.
Ideal when partnership controls matter more than a raw ace count.
Responses & continuations
Support partner's major with four-card support when the strength is suitable.
With no fit, show a four-card suit at the one level when possible.
Stayman, transfers, Puppet Stayman, CRO, Pender–Flint, doubles, Law of Total Trumps and fourth-suit forcing remain available in the underlying Acol engine.
Card play
Follow suit whenever you can.
Second hand generally plays low; third hand generally plays high.
With a sequence, lead the top; in No Trumps a low card can be fourth highest from an honour.
Count winners, identify losers and plan before playing from dummy.
Slam Conventions · Bid & Play
You control both North and South. Choose which slam-investigation convention the engine will use throughout this exercise. You can change it at any time using the toolbar selector.
Slam investigation system
RKCB variant (when Roman Keycard is selected)
In both: 5♥ = 2 without trump queen; 5♠ = 2 with the trump queen.