Kickback and Minorwood are two ways to ask for key cards below 4NT when a minor suit is trumps, so that you can still stop in five of the minor. With Kickback, the ask is the suit just above the agreed suit at the four level: 4♦ when clubs are trumps, 4♥ when diamonds are trumps. With Minorwood, the ask is four of the agreed minor itself: 4♣ or 4♦. The answers are the normal Roman Key Card steps, only lower.
You need one of them because with a minor as trumps, ordinary 4NT often leaves you too high. The rest of this article shows the problem, both solutions, the answers and the agreements that make them safe.
Why 4NT Is Too High When Clubs Are Trumps
In Roman Key Card Blackwood there are five key cards: the four aces and the king of trumps, and the trump queen is shown in the answers. With 1430 answers, 4NT gets:
| Answer to 4NT | Key cards | Where it leaves you with clubs as trumps |
|---|---|---|
| 5♣ | 1 or 4 | Fine: you can pass |
| 5♦ | 0 or 3 | Already past 5♣ |
| 5♥ | 2, no trump queen | Past 5♣ |
| 5♠ | 2 with the trump queen | Past 5♣ |
Say you hold two key cards and partner, who holds none, answers 5♦. Three key cards are missing, and you cannot stop in 5♣ any more. You go down in six, or try 5NT and hope partner reads it. With diamonds as trumps the problem is smaller, since 5♣ and 5♦ leave you room, but a 5♥ answer still forces you past 5♦.
How Kickback Works
Kickback uses the bid just above four of the trump suit as the key card ask.
| Trump suit | Kickback ask |
|---|---|
| Clubs | 4♦ |
| Diamonds | 4♥ |
| Hearts | 4♠ |
| Spades | 4NT |
Many pairs use it only for the minors, where it matters most, and keep 4NT as the ask with a major. The answers are steps, and with 1430 they look like this:
| Clubs: after 4♦ | Diamonds: after 4♥ | Shows |
|---|---|---|
| 4♥ | 4♠ | 1 or 4 key cards |
| 4♠ | 4NT | 0 or 3 |
| 4NT | 5♣ | 2, no trump queen |
| 5♣ | 5♦ | 2 with the trump queen |
Every answer is at or below five of the trump suit, so the asker can always stop. Over 4♥ with clubs as trumps, for example, the asker bids 5♣ to sign off.
The queen ask is the next step after a first- or second-step answer, skipping the trump suit. With clubs as trumps, after 4♦ - 4♥, the asker bids 4♠ to ask for the ♣Q. Without it, partner signs off in 5♣ (some pairs also allow 4NT). With it, partner shows a side king or bids slam, by agreement.
Rule of ThumbKickback for clubs is 4♦. Kickback for diamonds is 4♥. The answers are the same steps as 4NT, one level lower, and five of the minor is always still available.
How Minorwood Works
Minorwood makes four of the agreed minor the key card ask. It is even lower than Kickback:
| Clubs: after 4♣ | Diamonds: after 4♦ | Shows |
|---|---|---|
| 4♦ | 4♥ | 1 or 4 key cards |
| 4♥ | 4♠ | 0 or 3 |
| 4♠ | 4NT | 2, no trump queen |
| 4NT | 5♣ | 2 with the trump queen |
The queen ask is again the next step, and five of the minor is the signoff. Minorwood keeps 4♦ and 4♥ free as cue bids, but it gives up the natural raise to four of the minor. In a forcing auction that raise is a useful slam try, which is the main reason some pairs prefer Kickback.
Minorwood applies only in a game-forcing auction where the minor is agreed. A raise to four of a minor in competition, such as 1♦ - (2♠) - 4♦, stays natural and preemptive.
When Is the Ask On? Agree It in Advance
The danger with both methods is that a four-level bid can have two meanings. Is 4♦ after clubs a key card ask, a cue bid or a natural diamond suit? Write down a clear rule. A simple one that many pairs use:
- The minor must be agreed: raised by partner, or rebid and then supported.
- The auction must be forcing to at least game, or the minor raise must be forcing, as an inverted raise is.
- Neither of you may have bid the ask suit naturally. If diamonds is a real suit in your auction, 4♦ is natural and you fall back on 4NT.
After that, Kickback or Minorwood is on, and every other four-level bid is a cue bid. If you also play splinter bids in a minor, check that the jumps do not clash with your ask.
Worked Example: Kickback After an Inverted Raise
South opens 1♣ with 19 HCP and six clubs. North has 12 HCP and five clubs.
North's 2♣ is an inverted raise. South's 4♦ is Kickback; 4NT shows two key cards without the trump queen.
North's inverted raise agrees clubs and is forcing, so the Kickback ask is on. South has 19 HCP, a long, strong club suit and first-round controls in hearts, so he only needs to know how many key cards are missing.
Over 4♦, North counts the ♠A and the ♣K: two key cards. The ♣Q is in South's hand, so North answers 4NT, the third step. South now knows that the side holds four key cards and the trump queen, missing only the ♦A, and bids 6♣.
Double dummy, 6♣ makes twelve tricks on any lead, losing just the ♦A. With 4NT as the ask, North's answer would have been 5♥, already past 5♣. That is fine here, but it is a warning. If North held no key card at all, his 5♦ answer would leave South above five clubs with three key cards missing. With Kickback that answer is 4♠, and South signs off in 5♣.
Kickback or Minorwood: Which Should You Play?
| Kickback | Minorwood | |
|---|---|---|
| Ask with clubs agreed | 4♦ | 4♣ |
| Ask with diamonds agreed | 4♥ | 4♦ |
| Lowest answer level | One step above the ask | One step above the ask |
| Gives up | A natural or cue bid in the next suit | The natural slam-try raise to four of the minor |
| Easy to recognize | Harder: the ask is a different suit | Easier: you bid your own suit |
Both solve the same problem, and both are far better than using 4NT with a minor. Minorwood is easier to remember, and Kickback keeps the raise to four of the minor as a slam try. Pick one, and make sure both of you know when it is on. A related method, Redwood, is Kickback used only for the minors.
Mistakes to Avoid
- Using the ask without an agreed minor. If clubs was never raised, 4♦ is not Kickback.
- Forgetting the trump queen. A first- or second-step answer says nothing about the queen. Ask for it with the next step before you bid a grand slam, and stay out of a small slam when a key card and the queen are both missing.
- Counting the wrong king. Only the king of the agreed trump suit is a key card. A side king is shown later, after the queen ask.
- Reading 4NT as Blackwood. With diamonds as trumps and Kickback on, 4NT after a 4♥ ask is the second-step answer (0 or 3), not a new ask.
You open 1♣ and rebid 2NT over partner's inverted raise. Partner bids 4♦, Kickback for clubs. Your answer?
Clubs are agreed and partner asks with Kickback 4♦. You play 1430 answers. What do you bid?
Your hand:
You asked with Kickback 4♦. Partner answered 4♥: one or four key cards. Your call?
You asked with Kickback 4♦ and partner answered 4♥ (one or four key cards). What now?
Your hand:
To see how robots read these bids, compare what 4♦ means in every system after an inverted raise. In some methods it is a splinter or a cue bid, which is exactly why you must agree your ask. For practice, try the slam hands in bidding puzzles, and read the full slam toolkit in slam bidding and Blackwood.