My Life Here at THD- Playing Contract or Party Bridge

My dream of playing bridge again after 25 years of hiatus has been achieved here at THD. It appears that next  month I will be playing bridge 3 days per week, and I am enjoying it.  There are a number of good players here and some of them were duplicate bridge players in their younger days like me.  I play the Standard American bidding system and used Stayman convention asking for 4 card majors after partner bid 1NT.   I also used either the Blackwood or Gerber conventions asking for Aces and Kings. But I have never used or not familiar with bid asking for the Queen of Trumps. So I did some search  and here's what I found;   Queen Ask - A bid associated with the Keycard Blackwood auction.  After partner's Keycard ask has disclosed the partnership hold all 5 keys,  the bid of the next cheapest suit asks partner to disclose holding the trump Queen. Examples: 1S - 2N;  Responder shows strong Spade support (Jacoby 2NT) 3S - 4N;  Responder initiates Slam bidding (1430 Blackwood) 5C - 5D;  Opener shows 1 or 4 Key Cards 5H          Opener asks if Responder holds the trump Queen (SQ)   First step Denies the trump Queen Second step (or higher playing "specific King ask) Affirms holding the trump Queen Missing the trump Queen, partner makes bids the first available step, 5S in this example.  Holding the trump Queen, partner would bid the second step. Playing "Specific King Ask", partner would bid the lowest ranking suit (up the line) containing a King or return to 6 in trump suit missing Kings.  Those playing normal Blackwood King ask would respond 5N holding the trump Queen. Another convention that is used by experts is the Jacoby Transfers. They are used after a player has opened or overcalled a natural 1NT and his partner holds at least one 5-card major suit. Responder naturally wants his side to play in his long suit, but with a weak hand, he would prefer his partner to play the contract. The reasoning is this: If the weak hand plays the contract, the strong hand becomes dummy and exposes its high card points and tenaces to the defenders. If the strong hand plays the contract, however, the weak hand becomes the dummy and the opponents have a harder time locating the high cards. Jacoby Transfers work as follows. In response to 1NT: Response Meaning 2 5+ hearts. Asks partner to bid 2. 2 5+ spades. Asks partner to bid 2. Note: If you are not a bridge player, the above posting does not make sense to you. But if you are a bridge player, I will be glad to hear from you, if you have ever used this bid asking for the Queen of trumps.  Meanwhile enjoy this photo of my indoor plants at night time in my Gilded Cage Here at THD. And Finally:   “The real test of a Bridge player isn't in keeping out of trouble, but in escaping once he's in.” “I can always tell a good man by the way he plays Bridge: hard and long.” “Bridge is too important to take seriously.” “Old Bridge players never die; they just lose their finesse.”