Lesson 11 - Going for slam - 15 mins

If you have a hand which you think can make 12 tricks with a little help from your partner, or what bridge players call a 'slam', you should consider using the Blackwood convention. It is the only convention (or code) used by the bridge starter system.

Generally, you will need:

You get massive bonuses for bidding and making 12 and 13 tricks. These are called slam bonuses.

Slams are made in about 1 in 20 hands.  When they are bid, they cause great commotion as a whole session's tightly competed play could be overturned by the bonus points on offer. You will learn more about scoring later but slam is always worth considering even if you don't have the required points.

Blackwood is the slam convention. It is very simple and very useful.

Here is an example of Blackwood.

You are dealt the hand above and to your great joy your partner opens 1 spade.

This tells you that your partner has at least 11 hand points and 4 spades. You have 26 points with a combined total of at least 37 points. 

Your partner has at least 4 spades which means that you have at least 11 spades between you.  

Game in spades usually requires 26 points and you have at least 37. You should bid for slam. It is very possible that you will make grand slam.

Bid 4 no trumps 

This is the only conventional bid used in the bridge starter system. It is the only non-natural way of bidding in the system. It says to your partner, "I think we can make slam but I need to know how many aces you have".

Your partner has to respond with a bid after you bid 4 no trumps. Your partner shouldn't pass because your bid is a code and not what you think is the best contract.

What follows must be a coded answer from your partner:

If your partner responds 5 clubs - it says that they hold no aces

If your partner responds 5 diamonds - it says that they hold 1 ace

If your partner responds 5 hearts - it says that they hold 2 aces

If your partner responds 5 spades - it says that they hold 3 aces

It is very rare that your partner would respond 5 no trumps.

In this case, your partner responds 5 diamonds. They have the missing ace! You now know that 6 spades is easy to make.  What about grand slam? You can either take a calculated risk and bid 7 spades or you can use Blackwood to ask for kings.

Your bid is 5 no trumps.

What follows must be a coded answer from your partner.

If your partner responds 6 clubs - it says that they hold no kings

If your partner responds 6 diamonds - it says that they hold 1 king

If your partner responds 6 hearts - it says that they hold 2 kings

If your partner responds 6 spades - it says that they hold 3 kings

In this case, your partner responds 6 diamonds. They also have the missing king!

They also must have at least 4 spades to have bid them and I think that you will find it easy to make all the tricks so you should bid 7 spades.

You might want to consider, when going for grand slam, whether you could just as easily make 7 no trumps as you could 7 spades. It scores more. The correct bid in this hand should be 7 no trumps.

There is no test at the end of this session. All you need to know is that 4 no trumps is the slam code. You can and should always refer to the printable helpcard where all the possible responses are listed.