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Bridge Basics 1: An Introduction

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This course gives you an introduction to all three aspects of playing the game of bridge. 

  1. Play of the hand: Analyzing your and your partner's hand to see where tricks can be made and what techniques to use.

  2. Bidding: Communicating with your partner through bidding to reach the best contract.

  3. Defense: Communicating with your partner with the cards you play so your side can take your share of tricks.

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There are four sessions in this course.

  • The Basics of Bridge, a trick-taking game

  • Notrump Opening Bids and Responses

  • Major Suit Opening Bids and Responses

  • Minor Suit Opening Bids and Responses

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At the end of this course, you should be able to enter a casual game of bridge.

Simply Bidding​

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This course is entirely about basic bidding. We look at each one-level opening bid and consider the bidding that follows. Learn about the meaning of responder's first bid, opener's rebid, and, where applicable, responder's rebid. You will learn which bids define the strength of a hand within a limited range. You will learn what the responder does when the opener has offered a choice of two trump suits. There are no conventions included in this class. There will be practice during each session.​

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There are four sessions in this course.

  • Bidding overview and 1NT open with subsequent bidding

  • Opening one-of-a-major (1♥ or 1♠) and subsequent bidding

  • Opening one-of-a-minor (1♣ or 1♦) and subsequent bidding

  • Staying out of trouble

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At the end of this course, you should be able to be more confident in your bids and understand your partner's bids so you arrive at the best contract.

Bridge Basics 2: Competitive Bidding

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Competitive bidding lets you enter the auction even when your opponents have opened the bidding, get in the way of your opponents' bidding, or give your partner a clue on how to defend when the other side wins the auction. You also learn how to handle or even leverage the opponents competitive bid when your side has started the auction.

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There are four sessions in this course.

  • Weak-Two Opening Bids

  • Overcalls and Advances

  • Takeout Doubles and Advances

  • Counter Responses to the Bad Guys

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At the end of this course, you should be able to get off the sidelines during the bidding and have more fun.

Bridge Basics 3: Popular Conventions

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Popular Conventions offers a thorough grounding in the most common conventions; Stayman, Jacoby transfer bids, the strong opening bid, and Blackwood and Gerber. This book, the third in the Bridge Basics series, carefully illustrates the problems these conventions are designed to solve and how the conventions can best be used. Bridge Basics 3 will leave you confident adding these conventions to your bidding system.

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There are four sessions in this course.

  • The Stayman Convention

  • Jacoby Transfers

  • Strong Opening Bids: 2C and 2NT

  • Slam Bidding including Blackwood and Gerber

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Introduction to the Stayman and Jacoby Transfer Conventions

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Stayman and Jacoby transfers are the most popular and widely used conventions in modern bridge bidding. They are used by the responder primarily after your partner opens 1NT to look for a fit in a major suit, hearts or spades. Often a contract in a major suit returns a better score than a notrump contract.

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There are two sessions in this course:

  • Stayman convention​​

  • Jacoby transfer convention​​

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At the end of this course, you will have the primary tools for the auction after a notrump open.

Play of a Notrump Contract​

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This course will give you a good foundation for playing a notrump contract. You will learn about planning, identifying which suits are good sources of tricks and techniques for developing winners. What you learn here carries over into the play of a suit contract. Understanding declarer play helps your hand evaluation, bidding and defense. The play is the thing!

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There are four sessions in this course.

  • The Thought Process

  • Splits and Counting

  • More Suit Establishment

  • Unblocking and Overtaking

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At the end of this course, you will be excited to play a notrump contract.

Play of a Suit Contract​

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This course will give you a good foundation for playing a suit contract. You will learn about planning by identifying losers, ruffing in dummy, discarding losers on extra winners in dummy, the finesse and whether to draw trumps first or not. Understanding declarer play helps your hand evaluation, bidding and defense. The play is the thing!

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There are four sessions in this course.

  • Planning the play, drawing trumps and looking for entries

  • Finesses

  • Ruffing in Dummy

  • Discarding losers

 

At the end of this course, you will still be excited to play a notrump contract.

Introduction to Defense

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You are on defense for half the hands you play. While declarer can see all 26 cards he has to work with, you can only talk to your partner with the cards you play. 

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Topics covered in this class:

  • Leads vs. Notrump Contract

  • Leads vs. Suit Contract

  • Third Hand Play

  • Second Hand Play

  • Defensive Signals

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At the end of this course, you will have the basic tools for defense.

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