[tergra51]

I use SAYC and I am an intermediate player. I would like to learn RKC 3041 system and I am looking for a very simple article or book and realizes I know NOTHING about the topic (which is true). After discussion I would like something that is example based, clarifying exactly what each bid and step means. Can anyone recommend something for me? I have looked on line and I can not seem to find anything that starts with a very basic discussion. Thanks in advance for your help.

[eagles123]

Hi, I don't know a 3041 system as such, but 3041 rather than regular blackwood, the difference is you also include the King of trumps in the response: so your 5 possible "key cards" are the 4 aces and the King of trumps

5C = 0 or 3 key cards
5D = 1 or 4 key cards
5H = 2 (or 5) key cards, no Q of trumps
5S = 2 (or 5) key cards, + Q of trumps

after that the next suit asks for the queen of trumps,

i.e.

1H - 3H
4N - 5C
5D

5D = Q ask

following that example, 5H would then deny the Q whilst any other suit would promise the Q and the K of that suit. I.e. 5S would show the Q hearts + the K spades

I don't know if there's much more?

Eagles

[hrothgar]

tergra51, on 2014-June-10, 08:10, said:

I use SAYC and I am an intermediate player. I would like to learn RKC 3041 system and I am looking for a very simple article or book and realizes I know NOTHING about the topic (which is true). After discussion I would like something that is example based, clarifying exactly what each bid and step means. Can anyone recommend something for me? I have looked on line and I can not seem to find anything that starts with a very basic discussion. Thanks in advance for your help.

the following is generally considered the authoritative guide

http://www.amazon.co...d/dp/1897106351

[guido]

eagles123, on 2014-June-10, 08:27, said:

Hi, I don't know a 3041 system as such, but 3041 rather than regular blackwood, the difference is you also include the King of trumps in the response: so your 5 possible "key cards" are the 4 aces and the King of trumps

5C = 0 or 3 key cards
5D = 1 or 4 key cards
5H = 2 (or 5) key cards, no Q of trumps
5S = 2 (or 5) key cards, + Q of trumps

after that the next suit asks for the queen of trumps,

i.e.

1H - 3H
4N - 5C
5D

5D = Q ask

following that example, 5H would then deny the Q whilst any other suit would promise the Q and the K of that suit. I.e. 5S would show the Q hearts + the K spades

I don't know if there's much more?

Eagles

Just to clarify the Queen ask:
To ask for the Trump queen, makes the cheapest non-trump suit bid (not trumps, not NT)
The return to the trump suit denies the Queen of trumps
Jumping in the trump suit shows the trump queen and denies any kings in the side suits
Bidding any non-trump suit shows the trump Queen and the king in the bid suit
Do not show a king higher than six of the agreed to trump suit .. some players use 5N to show a king of an "excluded" suit.

The most common problems with RKC is knowing:
a) is the call vanilla Blackwood or RKC?
b) what's trump?
c) knowing if the partnership is playing the first step as 0-3 OR 1-4

[tergra51]

eagles123, on 2014-June-10, 08:27, said:

Hi, I don't know a 3041 system as such, but 3041 rather than regular blackwood, the difference is you also include the King of trumps in the response: so your 5 possible "key cards" are the 4 aces and the King of trumps

5C = 0 or 3 key cards
5D = 1 or 4 key cards
5H = 2 (or 5) key cards, no Q of trumps
5S = 2 (or 5) key cards, + Q of trumps

after that the next suit asks for the queen of trumps,

i.e.

1H - 3H
4N - 5C
5D

5D = Q ask

following that example, 5H would then deny the Q whilst any other suit would promise the Q and the K of that suit. I.e. 5S would show the Q hearts + the K spades

I don't know if there's much more?

Eagles

[tergra51]

thank you--you clarified what I couldn't get in long, long articles.

[tergra51]

hrothgar, on 2014-June-10, 08:29, said:

the following is generally considered the authoritative guide

http://www.amazon.co...d/dp/1897106351

[Mbodell]

A few other points to consider:

1. At least near me, 14-30 rather than 30-14 is by far most common. I think historically 30-14 happened first, but there are some technical reasons why 14-30 is better more often that make it slightly preferred (it more frequently leaves more room for Q ask bids), so now most people learn 14-30. You can also use the mnemonic that the duplicate score for a 6 Major score when vulnerable is 1430, so keycard is also 1430. There was an article I saw online from 2008 that had surveyed 60 top pairs and found 8 use plain blackwood, 8 use 30-14, and 44 use 14-30. If anything I'm surprised the 14-30 wasn't higher.

2. Keycard should not be used to announce "I have a good hand", but should be used in a narrow situation for when it is valuable. The primary reason to use it is to not bid slams that don't make despite you having the values for slams (I.e., slams where you lose 2 quick tricks or slams where you lose a quick trick and a trump trick because your trump holding wasn't that good). Therefore you should only keycard if:
a. You have the combined values for slam zone (I.e., if partner shows a minimum opener and you have 13 points and no special shape, you should not be using keycard; Even if you have 16 points and partner opens you may not have the combined values for slam, you need to get more information from partner as to strength. There are tools like non-serious/serious 3nt, fast arrival, jacoby responses, etc. that help with this).
b. You know what to do over every possible answer (I.e., you should not be pausing over any of the answers, you should have already planned if this answer means sign off, explore more, bid small slam, invite grand, sign off in slam - this makes it hard at times to keycard when you hold a void as you may not know if one of the keycards shown is in the suit you are void).
c. You will not be too high by the time you get the answer (I.e., if you know if the answer is 5♥ that you should play 5♦ this is too late to do any good!).
d. You know that if you are missing only one keycard but have the Q, or have all the key cards but not the Q, then you belong in small slam. (I.e., the side effect of this is that you shouldn't generally have a suit that you have two quick losers in that partner hasn't already shown they control. If you have xx of diamonds and partner has never shown anything in diamonds, now if you bid a slam in hearts you might be off the two top diamonds and lose the AK of diamonds. This is where splinters, cue bidding, picture bids, last train, and many other tools help out).
e. You know what the trump suit is, and partner will know what the trump suit is for the purpose of keycard (occasionally this might not be the same thing as you might just be extracting information in one suit to place the contract in another place - often nt).

If all of the above is true, than 1430 is appropriate, and it then becomes a very useful tool. At first you might have some concern that you can't tell which of 1 or 4 keycards the person has (or which of 3 or 0 they have), but in practice it is nearly impossible for this to be the case as the key card person should have enough clue that the 11 point minimum difference (2 A and one K) between the two answers should be obvious of if there is enough other values present such that the responder has to have the bigger or smaller of these - particularly if you only use keycard when you should.

I'd also modify eagles123 summary slightly (more in how to think about it, then what the meanings are) because it will help for some other later developments that may occur (don't worry about any of these but they include kickback/minorwood, what to do over X/interference with DOPI and ROPI, exclusion, etc.) - this is also 14-30, reverse the first 2 for 30-14:

1st step: 1 or 4 key cards
2nd step: 3 or 0 key cards
3rd step: 2 (or 5) and not the Q of trump
4th step: 2 (or 5) and the Q of trump

You'll note that over 4nt this maps these steps to the same bids that eagles123 said.

For the later questions, a retreat to the trump suit is not a question, it is placing the contract. You can decide for yourself if NT is a possible further question, or a possible attempt to place the contract (usually it is a possible further question if 5nt, but defining it as a natural place to play over a minor suit makes a fair amount of sense). If that is the case then a follow on question is:

If the trump Q is not known (for instance spades are trump, 4nt is 1430, 5D is the answer showing 3 or 0, now):

1st step asks about the trump Q with no resulting in a retreat to trump at the lowest level, yes resulting in bidding the cheapest side K possible, retreating to the next highest level of trump if not. When this is below 5 of trump then it is possible that the side is missing a keycard (and hence is looking for the Q if yes for a small slam, if no, for signing off at the 5 level).
2nd step asks about specific K and confirms that the partnership has all the keycards and the Q (I.e., you are looking for a grand slam).

So in my example above over 4nt-5D with spades as trump then:
5H - asks about the Q, 5S shows no SQ, 6C would shows yes SQ and also CK, 6D would show yes SQ and DK but no CK, 6H would show yes SQ and HK but no CK or DK, 6S would show yes SQ but no side K.
5NT (skipping 5S because that would be a signoff bid, and assuming that you don't play nt as a sign off over a major so 5nt is a question) - shows that we have all of the keycards and the Q and is looking for specific K. Responder is also free to jump to 7 with undisclosed extras/source of tricks, because responder knows that all of the keycards are present so we have no quick losers and have the top 3 trumps. If not jumping to 7 then responder bids 6C with the KC, 6D with the DK and not the CK etc.

If the trump Q is known, then the first step is just asking for K and confirming all the keycards (with hearts as trumps we bid 4nt keycard and partner answers 5H, now 5S by us asks about K and confirms all the key cards).

Others might have slight tweaks to the above (like what 5nt means over the Q ask, or showing multiple K at once instead of just the cheapest, but I think what I have is the normal basic agreements).

More advanced stuff, ignore until the above is fully understood:

1. A standard advanced practice is that if you have a known 10+ card trump fit you should show the Q when asked even if you don't have it. The reason is you are very likely to be able to drop the Q in a 10+ card fit. 3 cards split 2-1 78% of the time, and even on some of the 3-0 splits you may be able to finesse the Q, plus sometimes you'll think you have a 10 card fit but really have an 11 card fit. This can come up most often when you have 5 card support for partner's 1M opening promising 5 cards or when you have a 6 card major you open and your partner does jacoby 2nt promising 4+ card support. If your partner shows the Q to you when you are looking at it in your own hand you can use this inference to know they have extra length in the suit and this might let you count an extra trick and find a grand that way too.

2. If your partner keycards and you hold a void there is a proper way to handle it (and it isn't to pause and hem and haw and hesitate in your answer showing that something odd is going on with your simple answer to partner's question). If you have a useful void to show in context the normal way to show it (although again some have different agreements in some other contexts) is:

5th step: even number of key cards (usually 2, but could be different in context) and a useful void
other steps between 6th step and 6 of trumps: odd number of key cards, and a void in this suit
6 of trumps: odd number of key cards and a void in a higher suit

For instance if hearts is trumps and you bid 4nt then partners answers are:
1st step (5♣): 1 or 4 key cards
2nd step (5♦): 3 or 0 key cards
3rd step (5♥): 2 (or 5) key cards and no ♥Q
4th step (5♠): 2 (or 5) key cards and the ♥Q
5th step (5nt): even number of key cards and a useful void
6th step+ (6♣): odd number of key cards and a club void
6th step+ (6♦): odd number of key cards and a diamond void
6 of the trump suit (6♥): odd number of key cards and a higher (I.e., spade) void

Over the void showing response you can use the next step if before 6 trump to ask for the Q and start K showing responses if that is needed.

3. Once you start asking for specific K in any sequence you can continue with new suits asking for the K in that suit. So if spades are trump and 4nt is the key card ask you can have it go:
4nt - key card
5♠ - 2 key card and the Q
5nt - We have all the key cards, I'm interested in 7, which side K do you have?
6♣ - I don't have surprise extras to put us in 7 right away, but I do have the ♣K
6♦ - I'm still interested but don't have enough information, do you have the diamond K? (if you wanted to you could have bid 6♥ instead of 6♦ if the heart K was more interesting)
etc.

4. Sometimes once you've the K, or more often when you've denied the K of a suit, you can use later higher bidding to ask for the Q or show third round control in a suit. For example, suppose that in a cue bidding sequence you've already denied a control in diamonds (so you don't have the A or K of diamonds nor do you have a singleton or void in diamonds). Now if we carry on with the same example auction in 3 above with spades as trump you have:
4nt - key card
5♠ - 2 key card and the Q
5nt - We have all the keys, which side K?
6♣ - No surpirse extras, but I do have the ♣K
6♦ - I'm still interested but don't have enough information, do you have help in diamonds, I already know from earlier in the auction that you can't have a void or stiff in diamonds nor the ace or king therefore I'm asking for 3rd round control.
etc.

5. You should consider what you do in competition if the opponents are rude enough to X a keycard bid or the answers to a keycard bid (doubling a keycard answer for lead is pretty common) or if they interfere by bidding. One of the reasons to think of things as steps is it is easy enough to apply steps again. So if they double 4nt as key card now you have two additional steps Pass, and XX so now the first step (1 or 4) can be pass and the next step (3 or 0) can be XX, and the 3rd step (2 and not the Q) can be the cheapest next suit (so 5♣ over 4nt and X). Pass is cheaper than XX because in response to pass partner can XX to ask the next step where as in response to XX partner's cheapest next step is the next suit (5♣). This works in other situations to like if hearts are trumps and over 4nt you bid 5♦ (3 or 0) and now an opponent X, partner can again pass to ask you about the Q. The situation I've described here is roughly akin to the DOPI convention, as applied to 1430 as opposed to normal blackwood. You might decide you want one or both of pass or XX to mean other things (like controls in those suits, desire to play the contract, etc.) but if that is the case you just exclude those bids from your step responses. But thinking about all of these responses as "steps" is a healthy way to go.

6. Some people start to use calls other than 4nt to be keycard. This includes kickback (the bid above 4 of our suit is keycard) or minor wood (4 of our minor is keycard) or others. You certainly don't need to do this, and there is lots of examples of kickback confusion. In theory, these are definitely theoretically better because they give you more room, but in practice I suspect they hurt more people than they help due to confusion about when they apply. But at least knowing this is what is going on can help you figure out what other people are doing when they make their bids. And again a step thinking process will help follow what happens and also help you should you transition to these bids.

7. In some situations people play 6-card keycard where there are two suits of interest. The easiest way to do this is to have 6 keycards (the 4 A and the K of each of the two suits) and just use the same answers as usual (with the 6 answer going with 0 or 3). Now showing/denying the Q is about the higher of the two suits. When you are showing specific K you treat the Q in the lower suit as the K (since you've already given a keycard answer about the K of that suit). So if the two suits in question are spades and clubs and someone bids 4nt and the answer is 5♠ that shows 2 keycards (from the 4 aces and the K of clubs and the K of spades) and also the Q of spades. If the person now bids 5nt as the K ask a response of 6♣ shows the club Q (since we've already shown/denied the club K with our keycard bid) and a response above 6♣ denies the club queen. You need rules about when 6 card keycard applies, most people never play it, I have a partnership that I only play it specifically over 1X-2Y-3Y-3X where now if we keycard it is 6card with both X and Y in focus.

[Fluffy]

I am amazed that someone could find enough to say to write a book about blackwood.

[aguahombre]

Fluffy, on 2014-June-11, 10:15, said:

I am amazed that someone could find enough to say to write a book about blackwood.

What Kantar has written about it could Easley fill a book.

[blackshoe]

aguahombre, on 2014-June-11, 12:27, said:

What Kantar has written about it could Easley fill a book.

Nice one, Agua!

If I'm not mistaken it's filled five already.

[Bbradley62]

I sure hope Mb copied-and-pasted that from somewhere.

[Lovera]

In response to Mbodell :(A few other..2.Keycards.. If not jumping to 7..) When you have two Kings one in clubs do the answere to 5NT always 6c ?

[helene_t]

Lovera, on 2014-June-12, 08:57, said:

In response to Mbodell :(A few other..2.Keycards.. If not jumping to 7..) When you have two Kings one in clubs do the answere to 5NT always 6c ?

Yes I think that is the most common agreement. With Shogi I play that 6bananas shows either the banana king OR the two non-banana kings, this works great when partner has a king himself, then he can work it out. When partner has no kings it could go wrong but maybe there is a clue from the earlier bidding.

We adopted this from one of the top Dutch pairs, I don't remember which.

[Lovera]

helene_t, on 2014-June-12, 09:01, said:

Yes I think that is the most common agreement. With Shogi I play that 6bananas shows either the banana king OR the two non-banana kings, this works great when partner has a king himself, then he can work it out. When partner has no kings it could go wrong but maybe there is a clue from the earlier bidding.

We adopted this from one of the top Dutch pairs, I don't remember which.

Then with trump heart, Kings in diamond and spade, is the answere to 5NT 6 d denoting King of diamond or two Kings not determinate ?

[Mbodell]

Lovera, on 2014-June-12, 09:49, said:

Then with trump heart, Kings in diamond and spade, is the answere to 5NT 6 d denoting King of diamond or two Kings not determinate ?

Right. Sticking with what I think is standard (although I do know more than a couple of experts that play exactly what helene_t describes), you always show your cheapest K and it doesn't show or deny higher kings, but does deny lower kings.

So to fill out let's say that hearts are trump and we've reached 4nt. The bidding might go:

4nt - 1430
5♠ - 2 KC and the ♥Q
5nt - We have all the KC + the Q and I might be interested in 7 (I might not be interested in 7 and just bidding this to let you jump to 7 if you have a "surprise" extra source of tricks, or extra cards [like maybe all the side K])
6♦ - I don't have the surprise source of tricks, I don't have the ♣K because I've skipped 6♣, I do have the ♦K. It is possible I have the ♠K (although if I had the ♠K and more "extras" I might have bid 7 on my own), it is possible that I don't have the ♠K. If partner wants to ask about the ♠K, they can by bidding 6♠, but this has the obvious problem that it takes us past 6♥, so they can really only do it if they are picking between 7♥ and 7nt (or maybe if 6nt is in the picture and your agreement is to bid 6nt with no help in spades).

You can see that this lack of knowledge of the K of spades below 6 of our suit could be a problem, but in practice it is pretty rare (if your only flaw is you miss bidding the odd hard to find grand slam you are doing pretty well!). But it is a solvable in different ways (the 1 K in X or 2 in not-X as described by helene_t (although this can still be confusing in some cases where a specific K matters and you can't tell which of the two it is); or, by using a cheaper keycard bid like kickback and thus having your asks happen at a lower level: if we had started our keycard at 4♠ and then with the same answers (all one level lower) got to use our K asks bid at 5♠, and used a 5nt answer to that to show the ♠K, now we have room for all of our K asks below 6 of our trump suit. Our auction might be ...-4♠(1430 for ♥)-5♥(2KC+♥Q)-5♠(we have all the keycards, how about K?)-5nt(I have the ♠K)-6♦(what about the diamond K?)-7♥(yes).).

But sticking to standard agreements (I.e., what I'd assume to be playing with a reasonable pickup partner and just agreeing to 1430 with no more discussion) is definitely good to start.

[johnu]

There seems to be a lot of momentum for 1430 responses. For the other point of view:

First, if you are in a more than pickup partnership, you may be playing kickback, so you always have room to make a queen ask. If you aren't playing kickback, you can't afford to RKC with only 3 key cards if your suit is clubs, since a 5♦ response will take you past your security level of 5♣. I suppose you can play 0314 responses if the suit is clubs, and 1430 otherwise, but this is an accident waiting to happen If diamonds are trump, you don't have room for a queen ask with either response scheme. With spades, you always have room for an ask, so hearts is the only suit where you may have an advantage with a queen ask. Of course, if the RKC'er has 4 key cards then they can't make a queen ask over a 5♦ 1430 response.

[Lovera]

Mbodell, on 2014-June-12, 17:20, said:

Right. Sticking with what I think is standard (although I do know more than a couple of experts that play exactly what helene_t describes), you always show your cheapest K and it doesn't show or deny higher kings, but does deny lower kings.

So to fill out let's say that hearts are trump and we've reached 4nt. The bidding might go:

4nt - 1430
5♠ - 2 KC and the ♥Q
5nt - We have all the KC + the Q and I might be interested in 7 (I might not be interested in 7 and just bidding this to let you jump to 7 if you have a "surprise" extra source of tricks, or extra cards [like maybe all the side K])
6♦ - I don't have the surprise source of tricks, I don't have the ♣K because I've skipped 6♣, I do have the ♦K. It is possible I have the ♠K (although if I had the ♠K and more "extras" I might have bid 7 on my own), it is possible that I don't have the ♠K. If partner wants to ask about the ♠K, they can by bidding 6♠, but this has the obvious problem that it takes us past 6♥, so they can really only do it if they are picking between 7♥ and 7nt (or maybe if 6nt is in the picture and your agreement is to bid 6nt with no help in spades).

You can see that this lack of knowledge of the K of spades below 6 of our suit could be a problem, but in practice it is pretty rare (if your only flaw is you miss bidding the odd hard to find grand slam you are doing pretty well!). But it is a solvable in different ways (the 1 K in X or 2 in not-X as described by helene_t (although this can still be confusing in some cases where a specific K matters and you can't tell which of the two it is); or, by using a cheaper keycard bid like kickback and thus having your asks happen at a lower level: if we had started our keycard at 4♠ and then with the same answers (all one level lower) got to use our K asks bid at 5♠, and used a 5nt answer to that to show the ♠K, now we have room for all of our K asks below 6 of our trump suit. Our auction might be ...-4♠(1430 for ♥)-5♥(2KC+♥Q)-5♠(we have all the keycards, how about K?)-5nt(I have the ♠K)-6♦(what about the diamond K?)-7♥(yes).).

But sticking to standard agreements (I.e., what I'd assume to be playing with a reasonable pickup partner and just agreeing to 1430 with no more discussion) is definitely good to start.

Just a while..! I think it is better to follow how sayed in Convention (see "Double squeeze [guys] ) RKCB King asking variant Jeff Rubens is like roll Blackwood , otherwise 6c 0 or 3 Kings aside , 6d 1 King aside , 6h 2 Kings aside (out trump). When heart is trump no problem but with diamond we can use 6c for 1 or 3, 6d 2 Kings and jumping to 7 with 3 Kings when partner bid 6d .

[P_Marlowe]

johnu, on 2014-June-13, 00:35, said:

There seems to be a lot of momentum for 1430 responses. For the other point of view:

First, if you are in a more than pickup partnership, you may be playing kickback, so you always have room to make a queen ask. If you aren't playing kickback, you can't afford to RKC with only 3 key cards if your suit is clubs, since a 5♦ response will take you past your security level of 5♣. I suppose you can play 0314 responses if the suit is clubs, and 1430 otherwise, but this is an accident waiting to happen If diamonds are trump, you don't have room for a queen ask with either response scheme. With spades, you always have room for an ask, so hearts is the only suit where you may have an advantage with a queen ask. Of course, if the RKC'er has 4 key cards then they can't make a queen ask over a 5♦ 1430 response.

That. The 4130 maybe superior, if we talk about major suits, but makes live more complicate, if it comes to minor suits.
We play 3041, and 4NT the only Ace asking bid and it works, you have to rely a lot on cue / control bidding, but you also
have to cue / control bidding with other Ace Asking schemas, so it may be technical superior, but if you factor in simplicity,
3041 easily beats 4130 and all the other schemas.
And the simplicity aspect should be high on the list, if someone starts with the whole thing.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Zelandakh]

Just to add here that there are a range of different follow-ups available and this is an area you have to agree with a partner. I think it is more mainstream to play king shows and Specific Suit Asks (SSAs) than Mobodell's Asking Bids so I will try and outline that approach.

Initial Ask - 4NT with spades as trumps; the ask may vary for other suits:
==
No need for me to repeat what has already been written above. My reocmendation would be for 1430 since the one key card case comes up most frequently.

Second Stage - Trump Queen
==
The first non-trump step after a response showing 0/3 or 1/4 is an ask for the trump queen (or extra trump length). In response bid the trump suit at the lowest level without the queen and show the cheapest king with it. My preference is to use 5NT here to show the most expensive king and any otherwise unused bids show the trump queen, no side king and a useful extra. eg spades are trumps and the initial response was 5♦. Now 5♥ is a queen ask with responses:

5♠ = no ♠Q
5NT = ♠Q + ♥K
6♣ = ♠Q + ♣K, no ♥K
6♦ = ♠Q + ♦K and no other side king
6♥ = ♠Q + no side king + useful extra (typically a queen in partner's side suit)
6♠ = ♠Q + no side king + no useful extra

Bidding the trump suit after a response showing 0/3 or 1/4 is a non-forcing trump queen ask unless Asker is a weak hand facing a strong hand. With 0 or 1 key cards the Answering hand passes, with 3 or 4 they respond as if a queen ask was given.

Third Stage - Side Kings
==
After a response showing 0/3 or 1/4 the second step (excluding the trump suit) is a specific king ask. Similarly for the next non-trump suit step after a 2/5 response. With 0 side kings the response is to bid the trump suit at the lowest level. With one of 2 side kings partner should show the cheapest. With 3 they can make a call above 6 of the trump suit. or show an additional extra by using an otherwise undefined response. Taking the example of spades again, the king ask will always be 5NT. Then

6♣ = ♣K
6♦ = ♦K, no ♣K
6♥ = ♥K only
6♠ = no side king
6NT = all 3 side kings
7♣♦♥ = enough for grand + a side feature

Fourth Stage - Additional Side Kings
==
Once a side king has been shown the next step is an ask for additional side kings if that possibility has not been excluded. In cases where both side kings cannot be shown below 6 of the trump suit the second step becomes a specific king ask. For example, take the 6♣ response from the previous section showing ♣K and leaving open the red kings. Now 6♦ asks for another king but only ♥K can be shown below 6♠. Therefore 6♥ becomes an ask for specifically the ♥K so that we do not get too high opposite the ♦K. Summarising the example

... - 6♣
==
6♦ = king ask
... - 6♥ = ♥K
... - 6♠ = ♣K only
... - 6NT (and higher bids) = ♦K
6♥ = ♥K ask
... - 6♠ = no ♥K
... - 6NT (and higher bids) = ♥K

Fifth Stage - SSAs
==
The last stage of the process is asking about a specific side suit. This is a comparatively rare call but sometimes very useful. There are several possible response structures. A simple and effective one is
trump suit = no undisclosed third round (or better) control
1st step = doubleton
2nd step = queen
3rd step = king
4th step = king + queen
5th step = undisclosed singleton
6th step = undisclosed void

Final Stage - General Invite
==
Finally, any remaining undefined calls either show an undisclosed extra or ask if partner holds extras, depending on which partner makes the call.


Note that much of the material here would not be regarded as Standard so do not try using, for example, the SSA answers without discussion. The structure is so laid out as to make it easily portable to alternative key card asks such as Kickback or Minorwood. There are certainly improvements to be made, but that is true of any generic structure. Most important is for the players involved to find it logical and I think structures of this type generally pass that test. Good asking structures should too but most players think more in terms of shows. Asking structures also have some issues checking for third round controls sometimes for what that is worth. At the end of the day, use what is easiest to remember because the gains are not big enough to offset a misunderstanding.

A final point is whether to be able to escape into NT when our agreed suit is a minor. This is something that is often important at MP scoring and can sometimes be useful at IMPs too. I am not going to get into it here but adding this feature does have an effect on the available space and therefore on what information can be obtained.

And finally, no I did not copy/paste this from somewhere but rather typed it in during breaks at work so apologies if there are any mistakes.