Blackwood Convention - Roman Blackwood

A variation of the standard Blackwood convention, known as Roman Blackwood, was popularized by the famous Italian Blue Team in the 1960s. In Roman Blackwood, the responses are even more ambiguous, but more space-conserving. The basic outline of responses is:

In practice, the ambiguity is unlikely to occur, as a strength difference between hands with 0 or 1 and 3 or 4 aces is big enough that it can be established in previous rounds of bidding. In other words, a partner who has previously shown, for example, 12-15 range of high points is unlikely to hold 3 aces for his bid, etc.

Even Roman Blackwood convention has several variations, revolving around 5♥ and 5♠ responses. In all variants, they denote 2 aces. One variation is that 5♠ shows extra values, while 5♥ does not. In other variations, responses 5♥ - 5NT denote specific combinations of aces (same color, same rank, or "mixed").

If the querying partner ascertains that all aces are present, he can continue as follows:

• 5NT is the Grand slam force
• The first available bid which is not the agreed suit is the Roman Blackwood for kings. The partner responds stepwise, as above.