(The following excerpt is from 25 BRIDGE CONVENTIONS YOU SHOULD KNOW by Barbara Seagram and BRIDGE FORUM'S 'conductor' of 'Bid With The Experts' and teacher Marc Smith. The book is available from Master Point Press, and may be ordered directly from the MPP web site http://www.pathcom.com/%7eraylee/).

BLACKWOOD

Two conventions, Stayman and Blackwood, are played almost universally by just about every regular partnership in organized bridge. Blackwood is also THE most abused convention, perhaps because it is so simple to understand.

Basically, Blackwood is a bid of 4NT that asks partner how many aces he has. Let's say you have the following hand:

ª	A K 8 6 4
©	K Q 9 6 2
¨	7
§	KQ

You	Partner
1ª	2©
?

Do you really need to know anything other than how many aces partner holds? No. In the unlikely event that he has only one, then you want to play in 5©. If he has two aces, you expect to make 6©, and if he has all three missing aces then he will surely be able to make all 13 tricks.

Responding to Blackwood...

The beauty of Blackwood is its simplicity. To answer partner's question you show how many aces you have as follows:

Bid	Your holding
5§	0 aces OR 4 aces
5¨	1 ace
5©	2 aces
5ª	3 aces

When to use Blackwood...

So, when can you use Blackwood? The simple answer to this question is, "When the ONLY thing you need to know is how many aces partner holds." That may seem obvious, but it is worth thinking a little deeper.

To make a small slam, you need a number of factors to be present:

1) you must be able to make 12 tricks

2) you must have a sufficiently strong trump suit

3) if playing in NT, all suits must be adequately stopped

4) the opponents must not be able to take two tricks first

For the following months, BRIDGE FORUM will highlight an excerpt from "25 Conventions You Should Know". We trust that you will find each essential to enhancing your game.

HAPPY BRIDGINGJ