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WBU NEWSLETTER MARCH 2024

WBU NewsLetter – The WBU have now re-launched a fresh edition of the Newsletter, expertly edited by Paul Lamford. This will be published three times per year, with the focus on people and bridge, and with news and photographs of recent winners. Paul will be most grateful for any contributions (wbunewsletter@gmail.com). The first edition can be viewed at Newsletter
23.3.24

ONLINE BRIDGE REGULATIONS

Summary Of Online Regulations

Playing Bridge On BBO

Beginners Lessons

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Bridge Lessons
Bridge Lessons 2016-2017

Bridgend Bridge Club – Beginners Course

Classes started in September and we have learnt to play Mini-Bridge and have been practising playing contracts in No Trumps. In November we will start to look at the bidding, concentrating at first on bidding balanced hands.

Tip 1 Basic Signalling: High-Low

Try to help partner as much as possible.  If you have an agreed order in which you play your cards, it can impart useful, and perfectly legal information.  To start with a simple example.  When partner (or declarer) leads a suit, if you only have two of them, most people play the higher card first, which suggests an even number.  If partner leads an Ace, followed by a King, and you play the eight, followed by the 4, there is a strong indication to partner that you started with only two (what she can see in her own hand and in the dummy will help to confirm this).  If you are playing in a suit contract, partner can now give you a ruff, so this is a very useful signal to use.  

Tip 2. More on signalling

 While it is illegal to kick partner under the table, hum "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," or scratch your right ear when you want partner to lead a spade, it is perfectly legal to have an understanding with partner ( which you must reveal to you friendly opponents, should they politely enquire) about what the play of certain cards implies.  As we saw in tip one below, playing a high card in a suit, followed by a low card, indicates an even number, probably two, so that you are looking to trump the next card in that suit when/if it is played.  You hope partner has noticed, so that she will play a third card in that suit and you can enjoy trumping in.  It is therefore important that, having agreed what your signals and discards mean, that you watch what partner plays very carefully, as partner will get quite frustrated if she has been diligently signalling and you have not noticed.  When partner leads a suit, she will want to know whether she should continue or switch to a different suit when she is next on lead.  Sometimes this will be obvious from looking at dummy or from what declarer plays, but you can help.  

Most people agree that playing a high card on partner's lead says you like her suit, and a low card that you dislike it.  So, if partner leads A , and you hold Q92 , you will play 9♥, encouraging her to continue with the King and another heart so that you can take your Q before declarer can get rid of his third heart on a long suit.  But wait, I hear you ask, doesn't the play of 9 followed by 2 show an even number of cards?  Yes, technically it does, but it also says that you like hearts - you will either be trumping them, or winning your Queen on the third trick.  So.....a high card in a suit is encouraging, but it could mean more than one thing.  You may have two, and want a ruff, or you may want to establish a winner in the suit.  Either way, you will play high first.  Suppose you hold Q32?  Life is not perfect! You just have to hope that partner recognises 3 as a high card!  You certainly can't plonk down Q as an encouraging card as you will be giving away a trick.  

Whatever system of signals and discards you agree with partner, there will be times when you don't have the right cards to play, but this will not happen as often as you will have the chance to give partner some potentially useful information.  Remember that negative information can be as useful as positive.  If partner leads a suit and you have four small ones and don't want her to continue, play your lowest card, discouraging, and she may switch to the suit you really want her to play.  It is true that you are not giving her the correct count (you should technically play a high card to show an even number - in this case 4, which might be useful in a NT contract)) but you don't want her to think you have only two and want a ruff - you want her to switch to a better suit asap., so play low.  This is called an attitude signal (whether you like or hate a suit) as opposed to a count signal (showing how many you have).  On the whole, most players use attitude signals on partner's lead, though some experts prefer to have count, as they can then work out the distribution of the hand, but that is something to worry about a little further down the line.  Having looked at what cards you might play on partner's lead, we'll look next time at your own lead, and what information you might convey to partner by the cards you lead.