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Learning to play duplicate bridge

1. Pre-Bridge Basics - Tricks and trumps (optional - before the day)

• The pack of cards, suits, aces high
• Hand & dealer
• Leads & tricks
• Following suit & discarding
• Trumps & trumping or ruffing
• Partners
• Play whist

2. Bridge: What makes it different (9.10-9.50am)

• Starting point: whist with partners (no bowers, joker, misere)
• Bidding to determine trump suit
  • Suit order & No Trumps
  • "Book plus" bidding ie 1S = 7 tricks
• Scoring
  • Below the line vs above the line
  • Minors 20pts
  • Majors 30pts
  • No Trumps 40 & then 30pts
  • Game = 100pts below the line, ie 5 minor, 4 major, 3NT
  • 2 games = 1 rubber, "vulnerable" vs "non-vulnerable"
  • "Contract" bridge vs "Auction" bridge
• Dummy
  • What, who and when - vs declarer & defenders
  • Impact: more precise play, making more tricks
  • Impact: can bid to higher levels & need to know more during bidding

3. Bridge Bidding: Hand evaluation (10-10.30am)

• Conventions for evaluating hands
  • High card points (HCP): A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1
  • Points for game, suit fit
  • Revaluing hands
  • Balanced (no voids or singletons & no more than 1 doubleton) vs unbalanced
  • Distribution points
  • Playing tricks
  • Loser count

4. Bridge Bidding: Standard American opening bids (10.30-11am)

• Conventions for bidding
  • Natural vs Standard American vs other systems
• Standard American openings (simple) with Benjamin twos)
• 1 major=12-20, 5+; 1D=12-20, 4+; 1C=12-20, 2+
• 1NT=16-18, bal; 2NT=22-24, bal; if 19-21, bal then 1 suit and jump in NT
• 2C=8PT (19-21), 2D=9PT (22+)
• 2 major=6-10HCP, 6+

5. Bridge Bidding: Responses (11.15-12 noon)

• After 1 suit: 1. point range & barrier, 2. major fit, 3. new suits up the line, 4. No Trumps
• After 1NT (or 2NT)::
• After 2C/2D:
• After 2H/2S:

6. Bridge Bidding: Competitive bidding (12.15-12.45pm)

• Overcalls
• Doubles & take out doubles
• Advancing
• How far - Law of Total Tricks
• System cards

7. Bridge Card Play (1.15-2.15pm)

• As declarer
  • Evaluating the hand
    • Your winners and losers
    • Opponents bidding or lack of it
    • Opponent's lead
  • Strategy - scoring and hand evaluation
  • Developing more winners
    • Ruffing with short trumps
    • Making long suits
    • Finessing
    • Letting opponent's lead a suit to you
  • Avoiding nasty surprises
    • Pulling trumps
    • Preserving entries
    • Other safety play
• As defender
  • Evaluate the hand
  • Remember your target
  • Work out declarer's strategy
  • Active vs passive
• As dummy
  • Practice working out strategy
  • Practice counting and inference

5. Duplicate Practices (2.30-3.15pm)

• Removing most of the luck of the cards
• Boards- predealt and shuffled
• NSEW, dealer, vulnerability and adjusted scoring
• Scoring sheets
• Pair numbers and table numbers
• Bidding pads/boxes, name sheets
• Pair movements - Mitchell: two fields, skips and sitouts & Howell: one field, change positions
• Pairs scoring
• Teams & team scoring
• Expected etiquette
  • Director's role, and calls for director
  • Unfair information
  • Alerting conventional bids - up to 3NT, unless self-alerting
  • Hesitation
  • Leads/bids out of turn
  • System cards
  • NS responsible for cards/scoring/table

Last updated:16/5/07

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