Here we go again with a long minor suit, but this time after partner opens in a major suit we as responder not only do not have a fit but on many hands we do not have 10 or more playing points (High Card Points plus effective distribution points for a promotable suit with useful honors).    I’m sure some of our readers are tempted to “just do it” and make a 2 level call in their 5+ card minor suit despite not holding the required 10+ points.  Yet that kind of anti-partnership trouble can get you in trouble with both your partner as well winding up bidding too high in an unattainable contract.

And the alternative?  Yeah, responding with a 1 Notrump bid despite having an unbalanced hand.  True, with something like a 6-3-3-1 shape including a singleton in partner’s major suit may present challenges.  Yet with no better bid, sometimes we are forced to choose the “least evil” action and hope for the best.

In this lesson we will focus on declarer play, with special attention to promoting a suit with entries, Entries, and ENTRIES!   And as always, we will entertain you with hand variations to underscore valuation with illustrative bidding examples with lots variations including animated card play and commentary.  Of course here at BridgeHands, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and as always you’ll see lots of action playing hands at the table!

So sit right up and tune in to our BridgeHands videos!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Social Part 2 lesson.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Part 1 – Basics of responder’s bidding with no partnership fit & less than 10 playing points  – for all audiences – click here to view 24 minutes of video

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 2 with 6 hands and 34 minutes of video

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

 

The plot thickens, responder with 10 or more valuation points yet the players seem to have misfitting hands.  What’s a bidder to do: persist onward – full speed ahead, yield to partner’s suit with a singleton, head for Notrump, Pass or… ?

As we learned in our prior session, when responder makes a 2 level bid in a new suit the call is 100 percent forcing, regardless of whether your side has a part score in a Rubber Bridge game!  And responder also promises a rebid except when opener makes a weak bid (showing 12-13 points), such as rebidding 2 Notrump or rebidding responders suit at the 3 level.   Okay, so far so good but what happens next – enter the mysterious land of responder and opener rebids.

In this lesson we will use a sharp eye to closely examine some of the subtleties of hand evaluation, bidding and just plain old common sense.  And as always, we will entertain you with hand variations to underscore valuation with illustrative bidding examples.  Of course here at BridgeHands, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and as always you’ll see lots of action playing hands at the table!

So sit right up and tune in to our BridgeHands videos!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Social Part 2 lesson.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Part 1 – The ins-and-outs behind forcing bids and illustrative examples – for all audiences – click here to view 22 minutes of video

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 2 with 5 hands and 27 minutes of video

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 3  with several more hands and 25 minutes of video

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Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

 

Okay, it’s time to step up responders bidding a bit.   Playing the Standard American system, after opener begins bidding in a major suit, with 10+ points for responder its paramount to find the best bid.  Of course, the fun is just getting started.  Now both the opener and responder must be on their proverbial toes to succinctly and accurately describe their hand with the ensuing rebids.

After responders two-level response, almost all opener bids are forcing.  Not only will we entertain you with lots of bidding examples, but in this video lesson we will also have the opportunity to actually play an assortment of hand – some with straight forward play, others not so much.  In fact, here at BridgeHands some of the hands we have prepared might make you pause and take a second look before bidding.   But the good news is that if you can master bidding and play of our hands, you will be well equipped for real Bridge at the table.   Tip – in addition to going for the obvious finesse and side-suit ruffs, be aware of opponents suit distribution and entries when trying to promote the dummy’s side suit.  Oh yeah, also be on the lookout for the situation when a suit does not break favorably!

So sit right up and tune in to our BridgeHands videos!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Social Part 2 lesson.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

General Audiences – click here to view our Teaser

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 1 with 34 minutes of video

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 2 (play at the table) with 32 minutes of video

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Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

 

In this episode, responder correctly invites a major suit game (3 level jump with 10-12 HCP) and smartly avoids initially wandering to another suit (i.e., 1 Heart – 1 Spade…)  Okay, so far so good and when opener has more than a minimum 12-14 point hand, its time to bid game with a combined 25+ points.  In fact after responder tables a handsome dummy with four trump including a top honor plus a few more primary honors in side suits, the sweet smell of a major suit game bonus is right around the corner.

Yet when missing the Queen-Jack and two small in trump, perhaps the declarer should pause for a moment to consider the best line of play should the trumps split badly.   Sure, plunking down the Ace and King of trump seems automatic but as we will soon discover when trumps split 4-0 with the opponents, there’s a time and place to consider making a safety play.  In our first play scenario we witness our declarer getting a bit lax.  Hopefully, using a fall-back tactic will help our optimistic declarer bring home a game contract.  As Winston Churchill espoused, “We will fight in the …, we will never surrender!”  At our BridgeHands virtual table, we will tweak the opponents trump distribution and try different lines of play, followed with a critique.   So sit right up and tune in to our BridgeHands videos!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Advanced Part 2 lesson on Freebids.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

General Audiences – click here to view Part 1 of our Teaser

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 1 with 21 minutes of video

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Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

 

So when we can support partner’s 1 Heart opener yet we have a handful of Spades, should we make a temporizing 1 Spade call and belated support pard’s Heart suit?   Aha, inquiring minds simply MUST know!   While the response to many Bridge bidding situations is, “it depends…” as we will see in this lesson, there are some perils even when discovering a beloved double-fit in the majors with partner.

Here’s the rub – if WE have a double-fit, then astute opponents will immediately realize its highly likely that THEY will also have a double-fit.  No problem you say, “Major suit bids win over the minors.”   So one factor in the “it depends” is – what is the vulnerability.  Especially when they have favorable vulnerability, be aware that should responder make a pokey 1 Spade response it’s entirely possibly the intervening opponent (in the so-called “sandwich seat”) could quickly make a mess of your tidy auction.   True, in many situations we do advocate a “temporizing” a 2 level call in a minor suit when responder has 10+ points and 3+ card support of partner’s major.   However in this circumstance responder is promising a rebid unless opener rebids 2 Notrump (many Standard American system folks play opener’s 2 Notrump rebid as non-forcing).  On the other hand, when responder bids 1 Spade there’s no assurance of more than 5-6 points nor a promise to rebid.  So after a 1 Heart and a 1 Spade call seems like a reasonable temporizing bid with belated Heart support, often a better approach with invitational or game-going values would be a 3 Hearts invite, or perhaps made a 2 Notrump game forcing call (Jacoby 2 Notrump for some).  If nothing else, this approach makes it more difficult for the intervening opponent to compete with a single or double-suited hand.

Of course as always, you can count on BridgeHands  to incorporate Losing Trick Count and Cover Card hand valuation can help propel us to game when traditional HCP hand valuation falls short.     So sit right up and tune in to our BridgeHands videos!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Advanced Part 2 lesson on Freebids.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

General Audiences – click here to view Part 1 of our Teaser

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 1 with 32 minutes of video

This will be a 2 session episode so stay tuned for Part 2 where we will have a good workout bidding and playing an assortment of hands.  And yes, we promise to offer interesting challenges with lessons learned during the play of the hand.

 

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Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Once again, after opener opens in a major suit with 12-21 points and a 5 card suit, with 6 points and a 3+ card suit it’s time for responder either make a signoff 2 level bid, invite game with a 3 level bid or drive to a 4 level major suit game.  Fair enough, yet even when responder makes a minimum call, opener may have extras – either a medium or maximum hand, and push onward toward game.  We normally define openers minimum/medium/maximum hand as 12-14 HCP, 15-17 HCP or a good 18-21 High Card Point hand.  Better yet, in this episode we will see how Losing Trick Count hand valuation can help propel us to game when traditional HCP hand valuation falls short.    But wait, there’s more!  Both the declarer and defenders will have their work cut out for themselves doing their level best to make or defeat the declarer’s auction.   So sit right up and tune in to our BridgeHands videos!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Advanced Part 2 lesson on Freebids.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

General Audiences – click here to view Part 1 of our Teaser

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 1 with 31 minute of video

In session 1 of our Social Lesson, opener aggressively jumped directly to a major suit game with what some would call a “medium hand” with 15-17 High Card Points. How so?  Using Losing Trick Count and only 5 losers, of course.  So far – so good, but now the proof of the pudding is in the eating and its time prove our meddle during declarer and defender play.  We will include three play variations, identifying the good, bad, and the ugg!

General Audiences – click here to view Part 2 of our Teaser

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to Part 2 with 23 minutes of video

In this lesson we will cover Losing Trick Count and Cover Card hand valuation, the perils of not covering an honor with an honor (most of the time), ensuring transportation and entries to promotable suit, avoiding giving declarer a ruff and sluff, preventing a “dangerous” opponent from gaining the lead, planning a contingency plan when defender’s trump break 4-1, listening to the opponents bidding before blindly trying a finesse and more.

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Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Continuing our journey navigating major suit raises, opener again starts the auction bids 1 Heart or 1 Spade promising at least a 5 card suit.  When responder has a good 12+ distribution points, the bidding typically continues with responder making a “temporizing” response of 2 Clubs or 2 Diamonds (perhaps responding with a Jacoby 2 Notrump conventional bid with 4+ trump and interest in slam, or immediately responding with a Blackwood 4 Notrump ace-asking call).   On the other hand, when responder has a very weak hand with lucky 5+ in partner’s major suit then responder should consider making an immediate response with 4 of opener’s major suit – a preemptive bid.  But that’s just the start – tune in to our video for 43 minutes of enlightening and entertaining instruction at BridgeHands!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Advanced Part 2 lesson on Freebids.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Click here to view Teaser – Hand 1 of 7

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view entire 43 minute video

In this lesson we will learn to differentiate useful short side suits to help partner develop extra tricks through ruffing, as opposed to honor heavy trump which can result in double counting.  Additionally, we will illustrate the perils of crashing honors with partner, the importance of unblocking the “short side” to promote a long suit in the other hand, the joys of “tapping” declarer’s trump suit as well as touch on how a squeeze play can generate extra tricks.

Even if you understand the basics, be sure to check out our topics on how counting can influence which way to take a finesse, suit quality, losing trick count, cover cards and more.
We hope you enjoy the show!

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Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Continuing our journey navigating major suit raises, this time the opener begins bidding 1 Heart or 1 Spade promising at least a 5 card suit.  On a good day Responder will support the suit and perhaps even make an invitation 3 level raise with 10-12 distributional suit.  On other days, Responder will not have 3+card support and rummage up another bid.  Still, not all is lost and Opener may rebid the major suit with a 6 card suit.   But that’s just the start – tune in to our video for 43 minutes of enlightening and entertaining instruction at BridgeHands!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Advanced Part 2 lesson on Freebids.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Click here to view Teaser – Hand 1 of 6

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view entire 43 minute video

In this lesson we will learn to appreciate the value of dummy side suit shortage points, useful for declarer to make extra tricks by ruffing losers in the dummy.  And when those pesky opponents immediately pull trump and deplete the dummy’s trump, we’ll go to the proverbial “Plan B,” giving it the good old college try and take our luck at promoting the dummy’s side suit.

Even if you understand the basics, be sure to check out our topics on how counting can influence which way to take a finesse, suit quality, losing trick count, cover cards and more.
We hope you enjoy the show!

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Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

As promised, we are beginning the new year with shorter, more frequent lessons for the social and advanced players.  Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments.

Click here to view Teaser

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view entire 35 minute video

In our social lesson, we discuss some of the nuances associated with major suit raises for our social contract Bridge players.  As you will recall, most opener and responder hands come in one of three sizes:  Minimum, Medium and Maximum.  Assuming the partnership at least a 5-3 or 4-4 fit between the opener and responder then…

Opener
Minimum: 12-15 points, Medium: 15-17 points, Maximum: 18/19-21 points

Responder
Minimum: 5/6-9 points, Medium: 10-12 points, Maximum 13+ points

Bidding generally goes:

Minimum + Minimum = stop in 2 of the major suit
Medium + Minimum = invite to 3 of the major suit but do not accept a 4 level game
Maximum + Maximum = force to at least 4 level major suit game

Even if you understand the basics, be sure to check out our topics on how counting can influence which way to take a finesse, suit quality, losing trick count, cover cards and more.
We hope you enjoy the show!

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Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Free subscriptions to our eMagazine newsletter are available here.

On our upcoming series of Newcomer-Novice newsletter articles, we will explore the exciting world of transportation – at least at the Bridge table.  Being blocked, stranded, stymied, stuck, snookered, obstructed or whatever you choose to call it, the result can be a bewildering moment.

The same can be true for our poor declarer, wanting to play a card from the other hand, typically the dummy yet lacking an entry card to long lonely suit.

Come to think about it, leading from the top of a sequence serves the same purpose, promoting a long suit. Enter the world of Bridge transportation – having the ability to play up to a winner in your partner’s hand.  Of course, there’s always more to an iceberg than meets the eye so expect some twists and turns for the defenders, too.

If you wish to view an online version of our newsletter, please view our  web-based copy or Adobe Acrobat PDF file suitable for printing.

Regular subscribers receive our eMag Newsletters before they are indexed and linked on the BridgeHandssigning up here for your own free subscription. website, so encourage your friends to join our “no strings” free subscription by

We hope you are enjoying the BridgeHands website and eMag Newsletters. As always, we look forward to hearing from you with your comments and suggestions.

Happy Trails,