Leaderboard

So ♠xxx ♥KQx ♦AQJx ♣KQx. What's wrong with 2♦? Or since pure takeout doubles are often combined with a general cue rather than a UCB, 2♠ might also be an option. This sort of description is at best rubbish and at worst ethically challenged. A description such as "convertible values" is just fine, but "pure penalty"? Really? I suggest you provide us with a set of agreements that work perfectly for this hand but fail on most others and bid accordingly.

What do you expect partner to do with a 3343 hand and all the missing non spade high cards ? he bids like this. Yes this is a takeout double that becomes a penalty double. Whether I bid 4N or 5♥ (or pass) next depends on my agreements about the double and 4N.

That's because people never use RKC directly after 2c-2d-2nt without setting a suit first. It's inapplicable when a trump suit hasn't been set, 2nt-4nt and 2c-2d-2nt-4nt are absolutely never RKC. After 2c-2d-2nt, or 2nt-?, normally 4nt is played as a quantitative invite (bid 6 if max, pass with min, advanced partnerships may have methods to accept but also look for say a 4-4 minor or 5-3/6-3 minor fit also). 2nt - 4c is Gerber for a lot of players here, at least in countries where South African Texas is unpopular. Though some might prefer 4c to be part of set of bids to find minor suit slams (perhaps just showing long clubs). But it's quite rare to be dealt hands where you just want to have partner answer aces and then you can just count tricks and place the contract. So it's far more common over 2nt to search for a suit fit first, or to set a suit first then use keycard/kickback/minorwood/optional minorwood (e.g. texas transfer then 4nt, 2nt-3S! (puppet to 3nt)-3nt-4c/4d showing a minor one suiter) Gerber is more useful when your suit is solid like KQJTxx and you aren't missing K or Q of your suit, or you are going to chance it on power (~32+ hcp) but don't want to be off 2 aces. Or on some hands, you might start with stayman and then set a trump suit, then RKC (2nt-3c-3H-3s! (setting hearts by bidding other major)-?-4nt). Or one might jacoby transfer at 3 level and show a 2nd suit, then RKC if opener shows fit for the major. Or you might be playing GF jacoby transfers and know right away if opener has a major fit or not (if they only accept with 3, your system not catering to very weak hands being able to sign off in 3M opposite 2 only), then RKC. Only with beginner level players (or "permanent beginners") who have never learned about quantitative invites over natural NTs (or otherwise when no suit has been agreed) where one is supposed to treat 4nt as natural and pass it frequently. Gerber is fine over 2nt if you have the hand for it, it just very rarely comes up. The main thing is sequences like 2nt-3h!-3s-4c should not be Gerber (what if you have a good hand with spades and clubs, you want to find slam in either suit, you need 4c natural; if you just want to rkc in spades just bid 2nt-4h!-4s-4nt, if you just want to ask aces then 2nt-4c!). Or 2nt-3c-3h-4c should also not be Gerber (you have 4 spades 5 clubs or 4 spades 6 clubs, want to explore slam in either suit). Basically Gerber is fine as a direct bid over 1nt/2nt/natural 2nt rebids, but if you are looking for suit slams and need to be able to bid clubs naturally or to show control in clubs, you don't want to be interpreting 4c as Gerber all the time on all sequences. Bad club players want every 4c bid to be Gerber; good players use it on specific defined sequences only, and it just comes up extremely rarely, as usually some other sequence is better (to find suit slam with extra chances vs playing in NT, sometimes to find grand in a suit when 6 is the limit in NT).

In most auctions without a fit it is more important to show the strength of the hands, rather than ask for aces. I'd usually make quantitative bids in that case, or sometimes set a dummy suit as trumps to return to 6NT later (and benefit from the extra knowledge in a long suit for a source of tricks along the way). I'm honestly not sure that this is a problem that comes up at all. Could you give an example auction?

In 6-of-a-suit the king of trumps is arguably as important for maintaining control of the hand as any ace, and it will likely have to be knocked out early if you do not have it. Furthermore, unless you have a favourable finesse, it is an unavoidable loser. That is the main argument for using RKC. I think ace-asking or keycard-asking bids in general are overrated, and you may almost as well do away with most of them. Not much is gained or lost by swapping out one version for a different one.

Run…run as hard as you can from any textbook that says that this is a 3H overcall. It’s written by someone with no clue about the game. A textbook 3H bid looks roughly like this: Kx x AKQJxxx Axx Can one sometimes stretch? Yes, but one should always have at least one side suit stopped and have a little something in the other. Say Qx x AKQJxxx Axx. Now as little as Jxx in spades will stop them running that suit. Bear in mind that after (1H) 3H (p) 3N, opening leader will rarely underlead the heart ace, since he ‘knows’ that he’s likely giving up by doing so.