Sale Bridge Club Crash Course 2021

Thank you for completing the One Day Bridge Crash Course with the Sale Bridge Club. You have now seen the tip of the ice berg and it's time to start seeing what is under the surface. Here are some videos to help you on your way to becoming a great bridge player.

Kind regards,
Laura Ginnan
laura@realdealbridge.com

Learn to play bridge (42 mins)

Playing bridge online with bridgebase.com

www.bridgebase.com

Directions:
go to www. bridgebase.com
Then click just play bridge
and/or
download the learn to play bridge software by clicking on the bottom left under "More stuff"

BBO Counting game

Improves your ability to count distributions. You are given the count (number) of cards in 3 suits and need to fill in the 4th. Try 10 problems and see how you score. Reset your score and try again. Play the counting game for 5 minutes each day and see how your pattern recognition improves.

Card play tips

Drawing trumps

Drawing trumps is a card play technique used by the declarer. It is sometimes used during the play of a bridge hand to ensure that the defenders are not able to trump tricks that you would normally win.

The direct finesse

The direct finesse is a card play technique that allows you to win a trick with a cheaper card than you deserve to win with.

Bidding tips

Responding without a fit

When the responder doesn't have a fit with the opener's first suit, they want to continue the bidding conversation and try to find another fit. Their first criteria is needing 6+ points if they want to make any bid (otherwise they should pass). Then they will generally bid a new 4+ card suit, suggesting that suit as trumps. The responder does need to be aware of "the catch". This is that they must have 10+ points if they want to make a call at the two level. With only 6-9 points they can only call at the one level.

The levels of the bidding

The bidding is like any other auction. There is a reserve and all bids must beat previous bids. The bet is for choosing trumps and how many tricks that you are trying to take. Unlike a standard auction the bidding proceeds in rounds and you can only call when it is your turn. The auction finishes when there are three passes in a row.

Choosing an opening bid

The opening bid is the first bid in an auction other than pass. The opening bid aims to start the bidding conversation.

Raising a suit opening

The responder is the partner of the opener. Their first priority is to raise their partner if they have a fit and 6+ points. They must choose the correct level to raise to in order to convey the number of points they hold.

The science of thinking

This is the video clip that was shown in the lesson by the You Tuber Veritasium. He has some interesting clips at https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium if you wanted to see more.

How the game works

Following suit

Following suit is the most important rule in the card play of bridge. Once a trick has been led to you must play a card of that same suit if you can. If you can't play a card of that suit you can discard or trump (if there is a trump suit). Failing to follow suit is called a revoke. If you revoke the Director (bridge umpire) is called to your table and you might have to give the opponents extra tricks!

How the card play works

The card play is the second stage of bridge after the bidding. 13 tricks are played. The play may have a trump suit (boss suit) which is better than any other suit or may be played in no trumps where there is no boss suit and you can only win a trick if you can follow suit.

Counting high card points

High card points are used as a numeric measurement which looks at how many tricks a hand is likely to take during the card play. They are not only used as a guide of the number of tricks to be taken but are also used in the bidding of every hand of bridge as a guide to whether or not you should make a bid. Counting HCP are added for each card in your hand of honour rank: each Ace=4, each King=3, each Queen=2, each Jack=1.