This Week in Bridge
(538) Q-Minorwood
©AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 10 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
When we have a minor suit fit, using 4-minor as Keycard in our suit (Minorwood) is an effective tool for exploring slam without getting the auction beyond game in 5-minor. But by adopting Minorwood, we give up the natural slam try of 4-minor, asking partner to do something forward-going for slam, usually starting to make a control-showing bid, if they like their hand. By making an improvement to our Ace-showing structure in Minorwood, we can combine both Keycard-asking and quantitative bidding into one structure. This new structure is called Q-Minorwood. Let’s see how it works.
Q-Minorwood
The idea when playing Q-Minorwood is to insert a quantitative negative step (Q-) at the start of the answers for Minorwood. Step 1 now says that partner does not like their hand and the next steps (all Q+) starting at Step 2 show 1430 answers and a good hand.
Example 1
1♦ 2♦*
4♦ __?
4♥ Q- (4♠ Relay to force Keycard – more below)
4♠ Q+, 1 or 4 Keycards (5♣ relay to ask for the Queen, some use 4NT as Queen Ask)
4NT Q+, 3 or 0 Keycards (5♣ relay to ask for the Queen)
5♣ Q+, 2 Keycards without the Queen
5♦ Q+, 2 Keycards with the Queen
Example 2
1♣ 2♣*
4♣ __
4♦ Q- (4♥ Relay to force Keycard – more below)
4♥ Q+, 1 or 4 Keycards (4♠ relay to ask for the Queen)
4♠ Q+, 3 or 0 Keycards (4NT relay to ask for the Queen)
4NT Q+, 2 Keycards without the Queen
5♣ Q+, 2 Keycards with the Queen
Continuations After Partner Shows Q- Response
After partner shows a discouraging hand for slam with the cheapest bid at Step 1, we can ask them to answer their number of Keycards anyway by relaying (making the next cheapest bid). After this, partner responds with traditional 1430 Keycard steps.
Example 3
1♣ 2♣*
4♣ 4♦
4♥ __
4♠ 1 or 4 Keycards
4NT 3 or 0 Keycards
5♣ 2 Keycards without the Queen
5♦ 2 Keycards with the Queen
Notice that after partner shows a Q- hand, if we ask for Keycards we will be beyond game if partner has 2 Keycards with the Queen, but that is usually acceptable because that is enough for us to be happy reaching slam.
If we decide that we want to stop the auction after partner shows a Q- (with 4♦ in this case or 4♥ when ♦ are trump) then we can bid 4NT or 5-minor (our suit) to play, or even bid a new suit as a cuebid, making one last try for slam.
Queen Ask
If our answer to the Minorwood ask is 1/4 or 3/0, then the Queen of trump is still an unknown card. To ask partner about this important card we do just as we would over a traditional 4NT Keycard auction – make the cheapest available forcing bid (usually the next step up). Let’s look at some examples of Minorwood Queen asks.
Example 4
1♦ 2♦*
4♦ 4♠
5♣
We don’t use 4NT as a Queen-asking bid in this auction - 4NT is a reasonable place to play here. Instead, we use 5♣ as our asking bid. If possible, when exploring slam in a minor (using Minorwood) we want to keep 4NT as a possible final contract.
Example 5
1♦ 2♦*
4♦ 4 NT
5♣
Example 6
1♣ 2♣*
4♣ 4♥
4♠
Example 7
1♣ 2♣*
4♣ 4♠
4NT
We normally would not want to use 4NT as a Queen-asking bid, as it is a reasonable place to play. However, when ♣ are trump, there is no room to ask for the Queen unless we do use 4NT for that purpose.
After the Queen ask, partner answers just as they would in normal Keycard (after a 4NT Keycard Ask) –
If partner does NOT have the Queen, they rebid 5m.
If partner does have the Queen, then they start showing their specific Kings up the line, and the auction continues just as it would in a 1430 Keycard auction.
King Ask in Minorwood
Once we have our answer to the number of Keycards, we may sign off in game (5m or 4NT), bid slam (6m or 6NT), or ask for Kings if we are interested in more information (usually looking for a grand slam). Although we used 4m to ask for Keycards, we cannot use 5m to ask for Kings because we will frequently want to play there. Instead, we will use 5m+1 (the bid just above game in our suit) to ask for Kings:
If we Keycard in ♣, then 5♣+1 = 5♦ is our King Ask.
If we Keycard in ♦, then 5♦+1= 5♥ is our King Ask.
These bids ask partner to start bidding their specific Kings up the line and the auction continues as expected.
Note: If you play 0314 Keycard instead of 1430, then you can continue to play this way with your first two steps “switched”. Asking for Kings is also not affected by adding the Q-step to Minorwood.
Conclusion
Adding complexity to our bidding system can cause misunderstandings, but improving our bidding tools can make us more accurate bidders. There is a balance between these two approaches, but if you are already playing Minorwood (and have good agreements about when it applies), then upgrading to Q-minorwood is an improvement in methods without adding much complexity. Give it a try with your regular partner and see if you can get some input from partner about the quality of their hand as well as their number of Keycards.