Friday, November 25, 2005 1:57 AM

Exclusion KCB - Suit Asks

PITBULLS:

Knowing when and how to use Exclusion KCB is only half the battle. You should have understandings how to proceed after you have received your information for grand slam purposes. BJ & I had an auction tonight that brings this home. BJ opened 1NT ( 15-17 ) and I held Qxxx Q987x void AKQx . I bid Stayman and partner responded 2♥ . I just need 14 HCP’s for a grand slam but they must be specifically the AK of spades and hearts. How do I find this out ? Exclusion KCB is a good start so I bid 5♦. BJ replied 5♠ which in our system is just straight 1430 KCB. He shows 3 Aces outside the diamond suit. So I know he has the spade Ace and the AK of hearts.

In exclusion auctions , there are only two outside kings so having a king asking bid is a waste. You usually have one outside king so it’s a matter of finding the missing one king. You can obtain the same information from suit asking bids. You already know the location of the Aces so the key cards in suit asks are the queen & king. The death response for a suit asking bid is returning to the trump suit. The first step is the queen , the 2^nd is the king and leaping to 7 is both the KQ. I have the club King so how do I ask about spades ? 5NT would ask for the queen of trump and partner would have to reply kings if she has one but I have the heart queen so that does not work. 6♣ would be a suit asking bid in clubs so 6♦ ( exclusion suit) must be a suit asking bid in spades !! Voila you have found out if partner has the spade king. The death response of 6♥ says I do not have that card. Whenever you only have one step before the trump suit you are specifically asking for a king with these suit asking bids as showing the queen gets you past your 6♥ contract.

Assume hearts trump again but this time you made an exclusion bid of 5♣ and partner bids 5♠. You still have room to ask in diamonds and this time 6♣ would be the suit ask for spades. The exclusion suit put to a good use. With spades as trump you have room after the response for suit asks. It gets hairy if you have made an exclusion bid of 5♥ and partner responds at the 6 level. Use the exclusion suit ( hearts ) to ask for diamonds if partner has bid 6♦ . If partner has bid 6♣ you have 6♦ available so 6♥ should be suit asking in clubs.

Exclusion in spades is always at the 4 level. Void Q987x Qxxx AKQx and partner opens 1NT again and bids 3♥ in reply to your transfer. You bid 4♠ exclusion KCB and partner bids 5♣ showing 3 controls. You have room to bid 5♦ but if you wanted to ask in clubs , 5♠ saves going to the 6 level.

Exclusion Blackwood with a minor implied fit is normally done at the 4 level with a major. 1♦-P-2♦-P

3♦-P-4♥-P

So you have room for suit asks before 6♦ is reached. If clubs are trump and you make an exclusion bid of 5♦ you are in trouble for suit asks. With clubs trump , your exclusion bid must be a grand slam try as you are forced to slam.