1. Modern Bridge from scratch Philosophy – Bridge is intellectual entertainment, and my audience is de facto intellectual. – Modern bridge bidding benefits from years of study, and can be intimidating to the beginner. My philosophy of bridge teaching is to develop a bidding system from a minimum of principles. This comes later – for the next 4 weeks, just accept the system. What should you be thinking about your hand at each step (beginner-intermediate) What the general principles are for the bidding system (intermediate-advanced) How you determine between various bids available to you (intermediate-advanced). – Teach from scratch the modern 2/1 system used by most North American tournament players.. Today you will learn: – the mechanics of the game – point count, and it's implications – all of the opening bids – how to play a hand – Enough to sit down at a table, bid and play a hand Over the next four weeks you will learn: – A workable 2/1 system, with enough sophistication to handle most situations – Enough to play in the main game, and be competitive at club games around the city

2. Basic Mechanics THE DEAL – Each player gets 13 cards, generally sorts them into suits. THE AUCTION – The goal of the auction is for partners (sitting opposite), to determine the number of tricks their side can take, and an appropriate trump suit (the contract), using a restricted language. – Starting with the dealer and going clockwise, each player can pass, double, redouble, or bid (naming a number of tricks and a suit) – These calls communicate the strength and shape of their hand to the other players. – Each bid must outrank the previous bid, either in number or rank of suit C<D<H<S<NT. (ie 1C<1D<1H<1S<1NT<2C etc) – The auction ends with three passes (or PPPP) – The final bid determines the contract, specifying the number of tricks (n+6), the trump suit, and the declaring and defending sides. – Declarer is the first person on the declaring side to bid the contract suit.

3. Basic Mechanics THE OPENING LEAD – Opening leader is the player on declarer’s left, selects an opening lead, places it face down on the table to allow the non-leader to ask any questions. The lead is then faced, and dummy (declarer's partner) places all 13 cards face up on the table. Dummy plays the cards as directed by declarer. THE PLAY – Play goes clockwise with one card from each player, each player must follow suit if possible, and the highest ranking card or the lead suit wins the trick unless a trump is played. – If a player cannot follow suit, any other card may be played. If the card played is in the trump suit, the highest ranking trump played to the trick wins the trick. – The hand that wins the trick plays first to the subsequent trick. – At the end of the trick, each player points the card towards the player who won the trick to keep a running tally of tricks won. – Play continues until all cards are exhausted or a claim is made (the result is obvious and further play is futile)

4. Counting points – a universally accepted shorthand A simple, but internationally accepted, measure for evaluating a hand. A=4 K=3 Q=2 J=1 40 points in the deck (4*(4+3+2+1)=40) 10 = average for one hand 13 = slightly above average for one hand (an opening hand) 26 = nicely above average for two combined hands (combined game) 33 = sweet (small slammish) 37 = very sweet (grand slammish) ----------------------------------------------- Point counting system is reasonably accurate for 2 balanced hands, accuracy decays rapidly with decreasing “balanced-ness” of the hands Long suits (6+) take more tricks, and should be awarded points Short suits provide control, and should not be awarded points initially

5. Opening Bids in Bid Order Warning – this is simplified for beginners, but 98% correct. Pass (is often an overlooked option) 1CD (minors)= 4 cards in that minor 13-21 points 1HS (major) = 5 cards in that major 13-21 points 1NT = balanced 15-17 points 2C = any big hand 22+ points or 8.5 playing tricks 2DHS = less than opening (ie 13 points) with a 6 card suit 2N = 20-21 balanced 3CDHS = less than opening (ie 13 points) with a 7 card suit 3N = gambling (later) 4CDHS = an 8 card suit with no slam interest 5CD = a 9 card suit The other bids you need to discuss within a serious partnership.

6. Opening Bids in Points Order If your hand is <13 points and you don't have a long suit, PASS! Do I have a monster hand (22+ or 8.5 tricks)> open 2C Do I have 20-21 balanced > open 2NT Do I have 13-21 points? > open 1 of something: – Am I balanced? 15-17 > open 1NT 12-14/18-19 > open and rebid 1NT/2NT See unbalanced for what to open – Am I unbalanced? Do I have 5+ hearts or spades? > Bid 1 of longest major (H/S) Do I have longer C or D, open 1 of the longer suit Do I have < 13 points and a 6+ card (non-club if 6) suit? – If length of suit is n, consider opening (n+2) CDHS as a “preempt”, but not 2C – Otherwise, pass damnit and fast

7. General Bidding Goals – Level/Strain/Controls Level = game: - if you have 26-32 points between 2 hands, bid 3NT, 4H or 4S if possible. Level = slam: - if you have 32+ consider slam (33 = 6something), (37=7something) Level = partscore: - if you *know* you have less than 26, stop as soon as bridge-dly possible Strain: If you have an 8 card fit between you and partner in hearts or spades (the majors), try to play in H or S. Strain: If you have “stoppers” play in NT - between both hands, at least Axx/Kxx/Qxx in all threatening suits. Strain: If you have enough points and must, play 5C or 5D Strain: If you are not going to make your contract it doesn’t matter what you play – the price is the same, play in your best fit. This is a “sacrifice”. Controls: In the slam zone (33+), establish controls (As Ks, singletons and voids), either by cuebidding or using Blackwood. Goal: Communicate by bidding effectively and efficiently to establish level and strain, and stop quickly (or preempt effectively) when you can, and use space efficiently when you need to explore.

8. Responding to partners NT (First think level: Partscore, game or slam) Partner bids 1NT and you are balanced Bids to play: 3NT (26), 6NT (33), 7NT (37) Bids to invite: 2NT->3, 4NT->6, 5NT->7 As responder you know how high you should be: – I have: We have: Limit:Bid: – 217-19PartscorePass – 1227-29Game3NT – 1833-35Small Slam6NT – 2338-40Grand Slam7NT – 924-26maybe game2NT – 1732-34maybe small slam4NT – 2136-38maybe grand slam5NT

9. Opening bids - balanced Balanced? (5332, 4332, 4333) – 13-14 -> open 1suit and plan to rebid 1NT – 15-17 -> bid 1NT – 18-19 -> open 1suit and plan to rebid 2NT – 20-21 -> bid 2NT – 22-24 -> bid 2C (artificial) and plan to rebid 2NT – 25+ -> bid 2C (artificial) and plan to rebid 3NT – With 13-14 or 18-19 follow the suit bid guidelines and bid 1 of the appropriate suit, and plan to bid 1NT or 2NT next time.

10. Opening Bids – above 1 level Big hands: – 2NT – 20-21 balanced – 2C – 22+ balanced, or any 8 trick hand (this is the strongest opening bid) Bad hands with long suits (preempts): – 2D/H/S - a good six card suit with 4-10 points – 3C/D/H/S – a good 7 card suit with 4-10 points – (See section on preempts for more on opening 2 or 3)

11. 1 suit openers – bid your suit! 1S and 1H – need a 5+ card suit – show 5 card suits, 13-21 points. Prefer to bid 1NT with 15-17 bal but bid your longest suit otherwise. 1D – 4+ card suit unless SHDC=4432 – Shows 13-21 points, diamonds longest suit – Unless – 12-14/18-19 balanced and 44 in the majors – xx45 = 5C, 4D and 12-16 points, bid 1D and rebid 2C 1C – 4+ card suit. 3 cards when SHDC=4333. – Shows 13-21 points, clubs longest suit – Unless – 12-14/18-19 balanced and no 5 card major or 4 card diamond suit

12. 1 suit openers must plan a rebid Plan to rebid 1NT (12-14 bal) Plan to rebid 2NT (18-19 bal) Plan to rebid a 6 card suit at 2 level (min) Plan to rebid a 6 card suit at 3 level (inv) Plan to rebid a 7 card suit at 4 level (game) Plan to reverse (bid a higher new suit at the 2 level) = FORCING FOR ONE ROUND Plan to jump shift (bid a new suit at the 3 level game forcing 19+) = FORCING TO GAME Plan to bid another suit at the 1 level Plan to bid a cheaper new suit at the 2 level Plan to tell the least offensive (usually cheapest) lie

13. Available Contracts – scoring is complex Until you know better, regard as axiomatic 26-33-37. Partscores (1C-3S) worth 70-140 points, need < 26 points, 7-9 tricks Games (3NT, 4HS, 5CD) 300/500 bonus points, need 26-32 points, 9/10/11 tricks Small slams (6x) 800/1250 bonus points, need 33-36 points, 12 tricks Grand slams (7x) 1300/2000 bonuspoints 37+ Takeaway: Bidding game or slam pays off big. Otherwise get out as low as possible.

14. Bidding principles – Communicating to the right contract What do I want to communicate? (Bid your hand for as long as you have something to say) What have I communicated? (Bid your hand once unless you are forced to bid) Have I been forced to bid? (Has my partner (or have I) made a forcing bid?) Have I been I asked a question? (Did my partner make a bid that asks me a question?) Is game or slam a possibility within the context of the auction (assuming partner has bid correctly)? Have I told my story? (Can I pass, and should I?) What are my options within the context of the questions above, and what would each bid mean? (What in my hand have I not told my partner, and what would that bid mean?) These questions will narrow you down to 1-3 reasonable calls, and you will use you bidding judgment to make the final decision.

15. Definitions: Void, Singleton, Doubleton, Forcing, Game Forcing, non-forcing X = random card from 2->9 A Void – I have no cards in this suit: – S:-H: AKxx D: AKxxxx C: xxxSpade Void A singleton: – S:5H: AKxx D: AKxxxxx C: xS/C singleton Doubleton – S:xxH: AKxD: AKxxxC: xxxS doubleton Forcing bids – if partner makes one you have to bid something Game forcing bids – if partner makes one, you keep bidding to 3NT, 4H, 4S, 5C, or 5D Non-forcing bids – you are allowed to pass

16. Balanced hands vs Unbalanced Balanced: 5332, 4432, 4333 (50% of hands) (Semi-balanced 6322, 5422, 7222) Unbalanced: 4441 (10%), other hands with 1 or 0 of some suit. 1-suiters: 7321 2-suiters: 5521, 5530, 6511, 6520 3 suiters: 5440 Freaks: 7600 (<0.1%, not covered by bidding systems)