Monday, July 24, 2006 1:13 AM
4 level Exclusion
PITBULLS:
Most
of the Bridge players in the world play their splinters at the 4 level. This is
why Exclusion Blackwood was invented as a jump to the 5 level. In Alberta , our splinters are at the 3 level so we have
the advantage of playing Exclusion at the 4
level. One ♥/♠
- 4♣/♦
is exclusion KCB. We traditionalists still like a jump to game in a major as
natural so 1♠-P-4♥
is natural as is 1♥-P-4♠.
So what is
1♥-P-3♠
? We play 1♥-P-3♦ as a splinter in spades ( other major) and 1♥-P-2♠ as natural so why not make that
sequence exclusion Blackwood for spades ?
1♠-P-3♦ shows a void or singleton heart ( ♦’s always shows a splinter in the other major ) . If
the responder now bids 4♥
it is Exclusion Blackwood with a heart void so we have all the bases covered.
The beauty
of exclusion is that it is KCB so suit asking bids are built into the
structure. Here is a hand from the Vanderbilt where you must get to 7♠ to push
the board in two matches.
♠Q108x ♥KJ109 ♦AJ10xx ♣ void and partner opens 1♠ . You bid 4♣ and partner
shows 3 controls by
bidding 4♦ ( 0314) . So you bid 5♦ which is a suit ask in diamonds. Partner
bids 7♠
with
♠AKJ9xx ♥Ax ♦x ♣xxxx
. Believe it or not , you must get to your 23 HCP grand for a push !!
The
Kantar scheme for suit ask is back to the trump
suit for the “death response” . 1st step shows queen or
doubleton , next step Kxx , next Kx . KQ(x) is shown by bidding the asking suit and a singleton is shown by a
leap to 7 in the trump suit. Memorize this as
it is a standard part of KCB , minor suit KCB and exclusion Blackwood.
If
you do not have elaborate KCB tools , grand
slams will almost be impossible to bid.