It is easy to count your partnership’s total points from your opening and responding bids at the beginning of the auction. To determine the amount of controls in your partner’s hand, however you must ask it with special “asking” bids and the 4NT bid now means something different rather than just inviting partner to bid Slam
Ace Asking with The Blackwood Convention
Asking Your Partner About Their Aces
4 NT is an artificial bid asking your partner to tell you about the number of Aces held in their hand.
You can only use Blackwood Convention if the notrump bid has not been used in your current auction. So you and partner have shown good points either your partner has opened or pre-empted and you have a fistful of points in your hand but not enough aces to control all the suits. 1.) Firstly you usually make a jump bid of 4NT. This is saying to partner please tell me how many Aces (or sometimes a void can count as an Ace if you are going to be in a suit contract).
Replying To Partners Ace Ask
Your partner is asks about your aces by bidding 4 NT, your response will be as follows if you are using Blackwood Convention:
Table of Responses to Partners Blackwood Convention Asking Bid
| Partner Bids | You Bid With All or No Aces | With 1 Ace | With 2 Aces | With 3 Aces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4NT… | 5C | 5D | 5H | 5NT |
Play Bridge now and practice your Ace Asking.
North
Opener
♠ K J 6 4
♥ Q 8
♦ A K Q 4
♣ 8 4 2
Respond 5D to ace ask showing 1 Ace
South
Responder
♠ Q 10 2
♥ A 7 3
♦ –
♣ A K Q J 10 7 3
With your 16 points use Blackwood 4NT to Ace ask