At the Golden Clam I/N Regional and the Seaside Sectional Bridge Tournament
2pm on Saturday April 30 before the second session

A Zoom Presentation on the Big Screen at the Seaside Convention Center
A Special Lesson by Dave Brower

Conventions and bidding are fun, and it can be so satisfying to have a successful auction to get to a great contract. However, no matter what convention you are talking about, none of them come up all that frequently. Statistically speaking you can expect to hold 15-17 HCP about 10% of the time. Since you are only balanced about half of the time, you should expect to open 1NT only on about 1 hand in 20. So how often can you expect to use a convention as foundational as Stayman? However, you will likely defend about 50% of the time or 10 hands in 20. If you can improve your defence, not only will you get to use that skill frequently, you can even learn to make that your favorite part of the game. After all, I like to play bridge because I get to have a partner, and when I am defending I am getting to play the game with my partner as well.

Dave Brower is Co owner of the Portland Bridge Club since 2015. Dave has been teaching in the Portland area since at least 2010 and enjoyed it so much that he gave up his day job to devote himself to that. Dave has had a lot of success at the tables (including being on the Canadian Junior team in 1999), but his true passion is introducing new players to this endlessly fascinating game. Even after 38 years of bridge, he still finds something new to learn every time he plays.