This Week in Bridge
(583) Problems with Kickback Keycard
©AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 10 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
Kickback is a convention that can make slam bidding easier, in that it gives us more space to ask partner for the Queen of trump, but it can also cause problems for us in the bidding. Any time we make a game contract (like 4♥ or 4♠) a conventional bid, there is danger that we have an expensive mixup with partner. Here we look at some classic danger auctions that may come up if we choose to play Kickback and then discuss some of the common partnership agreements or philosophies for how to handle these dangerous auctions.
Some Problem Auctions
There are a good number of auctions that can lead to confusion when we play Kickback. Some of these are confusing even if we are not playing Kickback, but Kickback makes things even more difficult.
Example 1
Opener Responder
1♥ 4♠
Is this to play in 4♠ or is this Kickback Keycard in ♥?
Example 2
Opener Responder
1♥ 4NT
Is this Blackwood (number of Aces) or Exclusion Keycard in ♥ -- Excluding ♠?
Example 3
Opener Responder
1♥ 1♠
2♥ 4♠
Is this to play in 4♠ or is this Kickback Keycard in ♥?
Example 4
Opener Responder
1♦ 1♥
2NT 4♥
Is this to play in 4♥ or is this Kickback Keycard in ♦?
Example 5
Opener Interferer Responder Advancer
1♥ 2♦ 4♠
Is this to play in 4♠ or is this Kickback Keycard in ♥?
These bidding sequences above could have a variety of different interpretations. The most important thing is for us to have discussion with partner about the meaning of these and similar types of bids.
Partnership Rules – Options
Some partnerships that play Kickback Keycard have many agreements that allow them to handle these complicated auctions, but another way to handle these auctions is to have a general set of rules that allows us to work out when an auction is Keycard.
Here are two general agreement options that we could use:
1. If a suit has been bid naturally in the auction before, then it is natural, not Kickback.
2. If we could make another forcing bid in a suit, jumping to this suit is Kickback.
These lead to some very different approaches.
Example 6
Opener Responder
1♦ 1♥
2NT 4♥
In agreement 1, 4♥ is to play since ♥ has been bid before. But if we use agreement 2, 4♥ is Kickback (keycard in ♥), since 3♥ would be forcing and we could bid that and then 4♥ if we wanted to play 4♥. Either of these are playable agreements, but we need to have a partnership consensus.
Conclusion
Kickback can be a useful convention, but it can also lead to big partnership mixups. If you decide to play it, you need to spend some time with partner to discuss a lot of different auctions where things could go astray. This convention can be a disaster if you do not treat it carefully. Make sure you do not adopt it lightly.