Blackwood convention Blackwood convention In the partnership card game contract bridge, the Blackwood convention is a popular bidding convention that was developed by Easley Blackwood. It is used to explore the partnership's possession of aces, kings and in some variants, the queen of trumps, to judge more precisely whether slam is likely to be a good contract. Two versions of Blackwood are common: "standard" Blackwood, developed by Easley in 1933, and "Roman Key Card" Blackwood ("RKC" or "RKCB"), named for the Italian team which invented it. Standard Blackwood enables one partner to count partnership aces and kings in general. Key card variants
Douglas Blackwood which bore his name. He remained chairman of the publishing house until 1983. His biographer, Trevor Royle noted that Blackwood, being shy, could appear remote or aloof, although he was considered "a kindly man who wore his learning lightly". He was most comfortable in military company and never courted literary or political society. He had little literary pretension - when a reviewer asked if he had known George Orwell at Eton - he was six years his junior there and at St Cyprian's - Blackwood replied, "Oh, Blair, yes I remember him, he had a motor-bicycle." However Blackwood's dismissive comment