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Conventions

During this dormant period, I'm posting a number of new 'Convention' and 'Tips' on the site. I've recently posted 'Landy', 'Responses to 2NT', Roman Keycard Blackwood (updated) - you may be interested. More to follow.

Tony
 

Tutorials
BRIDGE TUTORIALS
 

Winning at bridge is not about the clever bids or outlandish plays as typified by the various news columns (although these can help). It’s primarily about not making mistakes, and you and your partner having a clear understanding of your system. Memory does help, but if you have a muddled system it can be like building a house on quicksand.

 

The following tutorials are not just for beginners to the game; if you are regularly coming below average in the club, players of any standard would benefit from ‘refresher’ lessons. The tutorials are not a substitute for personal tuition, but recognising that good quality teaching is not always readily available, they go some way towards bringing new players into the game.

 

There are many systems adopted throughout the world, some better than others. If you are American, Standard American (yellow card) rules – many of them haven’t heard of Acol. But in the UK, Acol is king. Whatever the system, it's only as good as the player, and a disciplined approach to applying the system is vital.

 

The basic system approach within these tutorials is Acol with 5-card majors, and a weak no-trump. Why 5-card? (an integral part of Standard American) – it’s my personal preference, I think it’s easier to teach and learn, and I think it’s slightly better. Why weak no-trump? (unlike Standard American) – again my personal preference, it’s more pre-emptive, and it’s played by most players in the UK. (However I do include the equivalent 4-card major tutorials for those devotees). All tutorials include numerous exercises.

 

At this stage all tutorials are based on the 'auction' (except a discussion of opening leads is given in Tutorial 12). In time, tutorials on basic play situations will be posted.

 

It is assumed that players have some knowledge of Bridge procedure, i.e. the sequence of suits, the number of tricks required to make a contract, the concept of vulnerability, basic scoring (a more detailed appreciation of Scoring can be found in the Appendix 1), etc.


(Web pages can sometimes be difficult to print, so for all tutorials I include a formal PRINT button, to give a more natural print-out)

 

Fundamentals and Procedures  

Tutorial 1 - Opening Bids At The One Level  

(Tutorial 1a - Opening Bids At The One Level - 4 Card Majors)   

Tutorial 2 - Responding To One Level Opening Bids   

Tutorial 2a - Responding To One Level Opening Bids - 4 Card Majors)   

Tutorial 3 - Responding To One No Trump (Incl Transfers)   

Tutorial 4 - Opener's Rebid After Suit Opening   

(Tutorial 4a - Opener's Rebid After Suit Opening (4 Card Majors)   

Tutorial 5 - Overcalls  

Tutorial 6 - Take-Out Doubles  

Tutorial 7 - Two No Trump Opening Bid And Responses   

Tutorial 8 - Strong Twos  

Tutorial 9 - Two Club Opening  

Tutorial 10 - Opening Three Bids  

Tutorial 11 - Slam Bidding  

Tutorial 12 - Opening Leads  

Summary - No-Trump Bids  

When you are confident with the basics, you should consider as a priority:

Supplementary Tutorial 13 - Transfers Over 1NT (Red Suit)   

Supplementary Tutorial 14 - Reverse Bidding   

Supplementary Tutorial 15 - Signalling In Defence   

Supplementary Tutorial 16 - Benjaminised Acol  

Supplementary Tutorial 17 - Negative Doubles  

Appendix 1 - Basic Scoring PRINT