🚀 go-pugleaf

As a followup to the rules on "what is the key suit?" let me suggest:
1)  If a minor suit has been bid and raised, it is the key suit even if
    you expect to play slam in NT.  It is unlikely that you will find 
    sufficient winners without establishing the minor suit.
2)  If responder jump shifts, then immediately Blackwoods, his suit is the
    assumed key suit, regardless of opener's rebid.  Responder can use this
    technique with a one-suited monster where the K or Q of his suit will be
    important.  
3)  Similiarly, a player who opens a strong or intermediate two-bid and who
    proceeds to Blackwood immediately after naming his suit is asking about
    his own suit.
4)  In most other cases where no suit has obviously been agreed, the last 
    suit bid by the partnership can be assumed.  For this purpose, IGNORE
    ARTIFICIAL BIDS, e.g., Stayman, 2D negative over 2C, cue-bids, etc.
    Also, with any kind of transfer bid, consider the suit INDICATED (e.g.,
    if 4D is used to indicate a strong 4S opener, 4D-P-4NT would ask about
    SPADES, not diamonds. )

Paul Hightower
University of Kentucky

...can be found in a four-part series by Eddie Kantar in \\The Bridge World//,
v.51 #10 (July 1980) et seq.  So find a friend or partner whose collection
goes back at least that far, beg, borrow, or steal the appropriate four
issues, and pretty soon you can be a master of Roman Key Card disaster,
too!

All kidding aside, RKCB can, as previously pointed out, be a very effective
tool. I use the full version described by Kantar in one of my most active
partnerships, and a simplified version (usually about up to queen-asks and
responses) in a number of frequent, infrequent, and casual partnerships.
Like most conventional tools, it is subject to abuse and in no case should
be allowed to substitute for clear thinking.

For those desiring another set of rules for the "agreed suit", you can
use Kantar's set in the third article (too complex to repeat here) as
modified to fit your partnership understandings, or use a somewhat more
basic set:

	Wild Bill's RKC Suit Agreements for Casual Partnerships

1. The *first* suit bid and raised, either explicitly or inferentially,
   by the partnership, is the agreed suit. (Examples of inferential
   agreement include such auctions as 1NT - 2D (transfer) - 2H - 3C - 3S --
   clubs are now agreed. ... 3C - 3H would agree hearts.)
2. If exactly one partner has shown a long, (nearly) self-sufficient
   suit, that suit is the agreed suit. (Example: 1C - 1S - 3C - 3H - 4NT --
   clubs is agreed.)
3. If the 3 NT level has been reached in a misfit auction, 4NT is *not*
   Blackwood. It is to play if the opposite hand has been limited; otherwise
   it is a quantitative invitation. (Example: 1D - 1S - 2H - 2S - 3H - 4C -
   4D - 4NT is invitational; 1S - 2H - 3C - 3H - 4C - 4D - 4NT is to play.
   Strong club systems are common sources of these auctions.)
4. In all other auctions, the last bid suit is the agreed suit.

These rules are simple enough to not pose an incredible burden to one's memory,
yet rich enough to allow handling of most of the common situations which
arise.

                                        Bill Laubenheimer
----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science
     ...Killjoy went that-a-way--->     ucbvax!wildbill

Remember: You can always tell a bridge player, but you can't tell him much!