Richmond Bridge Club
Beginners’ Lesson Syllabus
BEGINNERS SYLLABUS

The Beginner’s Syllabus is designed for those who wish to learn the game from scratch, with no prior knowledge assumed.  We closely follow the English Bridge Union recommended path to learning, starting with Minibridge. After 3 or 4 terms, students should be ready to join one of the Supervised Play sessions, and after 4 terms the Gentle Duplicate sessions are available to those who are ready to start some (gently) competitive bridge.  The lesson schedule is shown below:

 

Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4
1. Getting started with minibridge. 11. New suit responses and NT rebid 21. Recap on bidding and play 31. 2NT openings and responses
2. Playing with trumps 12. Opener's rebid with a weak hand 22. Suit overcalls and responses 32. 2C openings and responses
3. Introducing declarer play 13. Opener's rebid with a strong hand 23.Take out doubles and responses 33. Slam bidding
4. Introducing defence 14. One-of-a-suit openings and NT rebids 24. 1NT overcalls and responses 34. 3 level openings & intro to vunerabilty and duplicate tactics
5. Playing lesson 15. Revise opening bids & rebids 25. Practice session:  competitive auctions 35. Weak twos in 3 suits
6. Opening 1NT 16. Competition: 8 hands 26. 4-4-4-1 hands 36. Defence against pre-empts and weak twos
7. Responses to 1NT 17. Declarer play techniques 27. Stayman and responses 37. Practice session: pre-empts and weak twos
8. Playing lesson 18. Declarer play in NT 28. Defence - leads 38. Duplicate session on competitive bidding
9. One-of-a-suit openings and limit raises 19. Declarer play with trumps 29. Defence- techniques 39. Defence
10. Playing lesson 20. Practice session: declarer play 30. Practice session:  defence 40. Duplicate session on a variety of hands