As part of improving at bridge, I try to choose a different bridge convention every few weeks – and then learn a few more things about it. This is a slow process, but I’ve found it an effective one for absorbing more information than I would have if I had taken all the bridge conventions and tried to learn them at once. 

Recently, I was browsing through Blackwood – and because this is a column where we talk about the game of bridge, I thought it was only right to share. 

Here are some fascinating facts about the Blackwood convention.

The Blackwood Convention was named for Easley Blackwood. Blackwood Sr. invented the standard Blackwood convention in 1933 – and later, was included in the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1995 for his everlasting contributions to the game.

The Blackwood Convention uses 4NT as an artificial bid. Artificial bids are usually asking bids; it means that the suit you’re bidding doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the literal suit you’re referring to. When saying NT, you’re actually asking for aces in any suit. See? Artificial.

There’s also an Easley Blackwood Junior, and he’s an accomplished musician. Born in the same year as the famed convention, the creator’s son is a professor of music and a composer. Microtonal Compositions by Blackwood Jr can be found on YouTube.

Blackwood asks for aces – and is most commonly used when you think the answer is going to be in your favor. Since you can’t bid “backwards” or lower in number, if you’ve started with Blackwood it’s pretty damn hard to work your way back once you’ve put it out there. So, don’t, unless you’re pretty sure.

There’s also the Roman Key Card Blackwood convention. It was invented by and named for the Italian team at their height. One of the differences from the standard convention is that the point of RKCB is to ask for the so-called “fifth ace” – or King of the trump suit.

The Roman Key Card Blackwood has a few different names. You’ll also encounter this spin on the Blackwood convention by different names, including 1430 or 0314. Sometimes, it’s just referred to by RKCB or Key Card.