Exclusion Blackwood
When a player wishes to learn about controls in his/her partner's hand, yet the player's own hand contains a void, information about aces may be worthless, because the partner may have an ace in the void suit. To compensate for the void while requesting controls, the player makes a jump past 4 the of agreed suit.
- Clubs agreed suit.....jump to 4
/4
/4
is Exclusion. - Diamonds agreed suit.....jump to 4/4/5
is Exclusion. - Hearts or Spades agreed suit.....jump to 5 of any other suit is Exclusion.
Partner then shows key cards EXCLUSIVE of any in the void suit.
Responses are:
- 0 or 3
- 1 or 4
- 2 without
- 2 with
Another Version
- 0 keycards
- 1 without the queen
- 1 with the queen
- 2 without the Queen
- 2 with the Queen
Bob Crosby's notes on further use of Exclusion
Fred Gittleman feels that cue bidding at the 5 level is a failure. A sign of something gone wrong in an auction because you have gone past Blackwood. I feel that this stance is a little too general. I advocate that after a fit or an implied fit the first new suit bid at the 5 level is not a cue bid but Exclusion Blackwood. Why would you be starting a cue bidding auction at the 5 level when you had Blackwood at your disposal unless you had a void? If you have a void, define the 5 level bid as Exclusion Blackwood!! Exclusion Blackwood is a powerful bid and it should make the 5 level cue bid extinct if introduced at that level.
Laura Farrer had this hand at a Calgary Sectional KQJxxx x AKQJxx void and it went:
| 1 |
Pass | Pass | 2 |
| Pass | 2NT | Pass | 3 |
| Pass | 4 |
Pass | 5 |
5 has to be Exclusion on this auction. Partner has the inference that she bypassed Blackwood and why initiate a cue bidding auction at the 5 level when Exclusion Blackwood would work better an any case? Partner had the spade Ace and 6 spades can be confidently bid.
Dave Smith and Doran Flock had this hand in Red Deer. AKxx void xxx AKQJxx. I opened 2 and Doran overcalled 2 vulnerable. My partner bid 4 and Dave Smith had a decision to make. 4NT with a void does not work but he bid it anyway. Doran showed an Ace and Dave assumed it was the diamond Ace on the auction and bid 7. Wrong as we cashed the ace of diamonds! Why not use the sanctity of the 5 level as a non cue bid and bid 5 Exclusion Blackwood? Why would you ever want to initiate a cue bidding auction at the 5 level when you have Exclusion Blackwood as a tool? You then arrive at your sane +1430.
You hold QJ10xxx KQxx Ax A and you open 1 and partner bids 2NT. RHO comes in with a 5 bid. Now what? Has the opponent shut you out of your Ace asking bid? No, Exclusion Blackwood to the rescue. You make a phony Exclusion Blackwood bid of 5! Partner shows 3 Aces and you ask for a specific Kings. Partner shows the diamond King and you bid 7. Try getting there any other way? Think about it. 5 as a cue bid is silly as you will never have enough room to cue bid your way to seven spades.
Here are Fred Gittleman's thoughts on the subject from an article on his Web site.
It is almost never necessary to cue-bid at the five level. In case you haven't noticed, cue-bidding at the five level is usually a sign of desperation - you don't know what to do so you cue-bid at the five level to transfer the decision to your partner.
Whenever a major suit is agreed, a bid of five of any other suit is "Exclusion RKCB". This means that you have a void in the bid suit and you want to know how many Keycards your partner has, not counting the ace of your void. Before you make this sort of bid, make sure none of the possible responses will get you too high if you are off two keycards.
Always remember WE NEVER CUE-BID AT THE FIVE LEVEL.