You are here: Home

Social Lesson 20, Counting Opps length & strength

March 26, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Welcome Bridge Friends!

At long last we had our first online, real time, live-streaming webinar! What makes this format come to life is the opportunity for us to interactively “chat” as the lesson progresses as your typed questions are asked.  And to be sure, we also ask students for their views on what to do next…

On our March 24, 2020 first call we had several hundred live folks attend on YouTube and Facebook.  Thank you all for your support and attending our kickoff episode!

So counting our HCP/points and long suits is easy enough.  That said, in this lesson we are on the hunt to begin evaluating their points and length.  So let’s start paying attention to the bidding, final contract, opening lead and play of the hand.  

Part 1 – Introduction, two-way communication using chat and etiquette (38 minutes)
Part 2 – Talking about the strategy and tactics to use a personalized approach (27 minutes)
Part 3 – Going to the Virtual Bridge Table and practice our counting skills during bidding and play (42 minutes)

BridgeHands Members, here are our links to peruse through our hundreds of videos:  
Hands Of The Week, 
Social, 
Advanced and 
Polling You.

Here at BridgeHands all of our Bridge hands are full of commentary (regardless of who is the declarer and defender) and analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play.   As always, our hand discussion offers a refreshingly rare glimpse of Bridge inside the minds of all four players at the table as play progresses, bid by bid, card by card. 

Normally Visitors are welcome to view the Part 1 series of our video lesson with nuances that will lead to quick and sound bidding without guesswork.  Those with the BridgeHands Free membership may also watch Part 2 where we play more hands with provocative play tips and strategies, as well as way to improve skills by critiquing student players. As a Premium and ULTRA member, you are welcome to enjoy the entire five-part lesson segments with lots of hands, plus an opportunity to view future shows during your membership subscription period.   And as always, be sure to check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive that is growing by leaps and bounds, by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Social Lesson 20 – Part 1

Social Lesson 20 – Part 2

Social Lesson 20 – Part 3


Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Filed Under: .Social, Social Bidding, Social Play

Advanced Lesson 28, Bridge Leads versus Suit Contracts

June 26, 2020 By Leave a Comment

At long last (for now at least), this will end our series on Opening leads as we complete our series on opening leads versus Suit Contracts.

And yes, our “CIA” (Counting, Inferences and Analysis) judgment is still very much “the game” as we consider making an Active or a Passive lead. So one more time, let’s try our hand playing Bridge hands at BridgeHands…

Part 1 – warmup drills, chalk talk and Hand 1 – 36 minutes
Part 2 – Hands 2 – 3 (multiple variations), 37 minutes

Part 3 – Hands 4-8, more bidding/play scenarios – 44 minutes

As always, we here at BridgeHands have Bridge hands complete with narration and animated card play for everyone (regardless of who is the declarer and defender). Our emphasis is to get inside the minds of the “Big Why,” the rationale behind everyone’s bid or play, including an analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play. As a Premium and ULTRA member, you are welcome to enjoy the entire three-part lesson segments with lots of hands, plus an opportunity to view future shows during your membership subscription period.   And as always, be sure to check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive that is growing by leaps and bounds, by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Advanced Lesson 28 – Part 1

Advanced Lesson 28 – Part 2

Advanced Lesson 28 – Part 3

Thank you for supporting BridgeHands – over the last 10 years, you have helped to make us what we are today!

Filed Under: Advanced, Advanced Play

Advanced Lesson 27, Part 4

June 16, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Okay, it’s time to pivot away from Notrump contacts and tackle leads when the opponents are in a suit contract – enter the world of trumps! Regardless, either way we are still pondering whether the “CIA” (Counting, Inferences and Analysis) calls for an Active or a Passive lead. So let’s try our hand playing Bridge hands at BridgeHands…

Part 1 – 10 illustrative bidding scenarios to practice our leads – 37 minutes

Part 2 – Hands 1-3 and multiple bidding and play scenarios – 27 minutes

Part 4 – Hands 4-5 with more bidding and play scenarios – 27 minutes

Part 4 – Hands 6-7 with more bidding and play scenarios – 31 minutes

As always, we here at BridgeHands have Bridge hands complete with narration and animated card play for everyone (regardless of who is the declarer and defender). Our emphasis is to get inside the minds of the “Big Why,” the rationale behind everyone’s bid or play, including an analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play.  

As a Premium and ULTRA member, you are welcome to enjoy the entire three-part lesson segments with lots of hands, plus an opportunity to view future shows during your membership subscription period.   And as always, be sure to check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive that is growing by leaps and bounds, by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Advanced Lesson 27 – Part 1

Advanced Lesson 27 – Part 2

Advanced Lesson 27 – Part 3

Advanced Lesson 27 – Part 4

Thank you for supporting BridgeHands – over the last 10 years, you have helped to make us what we are today!

Filed Under: Advanced, Advanced Bidding, Advanced Play

Social Bidding and Play 23 – Confidence at the Bridge Table

June 9, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Welcome Bridge Friends!

Confidence at the Bridge table – sometimes easier said than done!

First off, let’s reflect on the Dallas Aces 7 Deadly Sins:

•1. Bidding without values
•2. System violations
•3. Unilateral actions
•4. No-win Declarer plays
•5. No-win Defensive plays
•6. Impulsive plays
•7. Mechanics

To this, let’s add #8 which includes:
•Being Street Smart,
•Awareness,
•Partnership Vibes,
•Concentration/Attention/Mindfulness,
•Confidence/Anchoring/Choking,
•Fitness,
•Study (including Laws, etc),
•Time on your Side,
•Arbitrage (Vulnerability risk/reward)

Being confident “In Your Wheelhouse” is important, too, including:
ABILITY:  An ability is a repeatable action which you enjoy because you do it well.
DRIVE:  A drive is something within you that motivates action.  Drives are like internal fuel moving you to make a difference in the world.
NEED:  A need is any issue in want of a solution or response (pain mitigation).

In this lesson, we’ll address your Adrenaline & Cortisol, your breathing, positive/negative attitude factors, stress, fatigue, etc.

Confidence, Part 1, All about you/partner/emotions (31 min)

Confidence Part 2, Hands 1-4 (46 min)

Confidence, Part 3, Hand 5-9 (50 min)

BridgeHands Members, here are our links to peruse through our hundreds of videos:
Hands Of The Week,
Social,
Advanced,
Polling You and
now our exciting BridgeHands Live Streaming videos!

Here at BridgeHands all of our Bridge hands are full of commentary (regardless of who is the declarer and defender) and analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play. As always, our hand discussion offers a refreshingly rare glimpse of Bridge inside the minds of all four players at the table as play progresses, bid by bid, card by card.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Social Lesson 23 – Part 1
Social Lesson 23 – Part 2
Social Lesson 23 – Part 3

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Filed Under: .Social, Advanced, Advanced Bidding, Advanced Play, Social Bidding, Social Play Tagged With: , , ,

Advanced Lesson 26, Opening Leads Part 3

June 9, 2020 By 1 Comment

Here we go again with more hands for us to discover the best opening lead playing against Notrump contracts. Of course, going beyond viewing our cards to listening carefully to the auction is a start. Then comes the “CIA” – Counting, Inferences and Analysis of what was said, what wasn’t said, considering everyone’s assets (length, strength and honors). Whew, while all this may sound daunting, it’s also fun to play Sherlock Homes so off we go!

Part 1 – Hands 1-2, 30 minutes
Part 2, Hand 3-4, 34 minutes
Part 3, Hands 5-8, 41 minutes

As always, we here at BridgeHands have Bridge hands complete with narration and animated card play for everyone (regardless of who is the declarer and defender). Our emphasis is to get inside the minds of the “Big Why,” the rationale behind everyone’s bid or play, including an analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play.  

As a Premium and ULTRA member, you are welcome to enjoy the entire three-part lesson segments with lots of hands, plus an opportunity to view future shows during your membership subscription period.   And as always, be sure to check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive that is growing by leaps and bounds, by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Advanced Lesson 25 – Part 1

Advanced Lesson 25 – Part 2

Advanced Lesson 25 – Part 3

As always and until our next show, Happy Trails until we meet again!

Filed Under: Advanced, Advanced Play Tagged With: , ,

Social Lesson 22 #2, Negative Double, Opener Rebids

May 29, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Welcome Bridge Friends!

Negative Doubles, redux – Part 2 is here, Opener’s time to rebid after partner responded with a Double. As we learned in Part 1, our agreements include:
1C – (1D) – X promises exactly 4-4 in the Major suits and 6+ points.
1C – (1H/1S) – X promises exactly cards in the other Major and 6+ points.
1C/1D – (1H) – X promises exactly 4 Spades and 6+ points.
1C/1D/1S – (1S) – X promises exactly 4 Hearts and 6+ points.
1y – (1z) – 2a promises 10+ points and a 5 card suit

So in this lesson we will try our hand rebidding opener’s hand with minimum, medium and maximum hands.

Negative Doubles #2, Part 1, Hands 1-2 (30 min)

Negative Doubles #2, Part 2, Hands 3-6 (37 min)

Negative Doubles #2, Part 3, Hand 7-9 & other bids (39 min)

BridgeHands Members, here are our links to peruse through our hundreds of videos:
Hands Of The Week,
Social,
Advanced,
Polling You and
now our exciting BridgeHands Live Streaming videos!

Here at BridgeHands all of our Bridge hands are full of commentary (regardless of who is the declarer and defender) and analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play. As always, our hand discussion offers a refreshingly rare glimpse of Bridge inside the minds of all four players at the table as play progresses, bid by bid, card by card.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Social Lesson 22 – Part 1
Social Lesson 22 – Part 2
Social Lesson 22 – Part 3

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Filed Under: .Social, Social Bidding

Social Lesson 21, Negative Doubles – Part 1, Responder Bids

May 22, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Welcome Bridge Friends!

Negative Doubles our partner asks? Oh sure, just like Takeout Doubles, right partner? Woah, wait a second – many aspects of Negative Doubles are exactly opposite our bidding strategy and requirement of the Takeout Double. Well, okay sure, in the case of the overcaller making a Takeout Double, yes, we definitely need more points, granted. But it gets a bit tougher when in some situations we promise both majors when making a Negative Double, in some circumstances with 4-3 in the majors, in some situations we may only have ONE 5+ card suit but less than 10 HCP and the beat goes on!

So in this lesson we will learn when to overcall at the 1 level, when to make a Negative Doubles, and a bit more on our possible Responder rebids.

Part 1 – Slide i.e., “Chalk Talk” learning essential req’s (35 minutes)
Part 2 – Hands 1-4 (47 minutes)
Part 3 – Hand 5 bidding AND declarer/defense play (30 minutes)

BridgeHands Members, here are our links to peruse through our hundreds of videos:
Hands Of The Week,
Social,
Advanced,
Polling You and
now our exciting BridgeHands Live Streaming videos!

Here at BridgeHands all of our Bridge hands are full of commentary (regardless of who is the declarer and defender) and analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play. As always, our hand discussion offers a refreshingly rare glimpse of Bridge inside the minds of all four players at the table as play progresses, bid by bid, card by card.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Social Lesson 21 – Part 1
Social Lesson 21 – Part 2
Social Lesson 21 – Part 3

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Filed Under: .Social, Social Bidding

Advanced Lesson 25 – Hands of the Week

May 15, 2020 By Leave a Comment

This week it’s time for a Bridge brush-up to practice and reinforce our skills and put our knowledge to work with a variety of hand. Better yet, we will have several bidding and play variations of these hands to reinforce the Good, the Bad and the Ugg!

Part 1 – Hands 1-2, 43 minutes
Part 2, Hand 3-5, 30 minutes
Part 3, Hands 6-7, 35 minutes

As always, we here at BridgeHands have Bridge hands complete with narration and animated card play for everyone (regardless of who is the declarer and defender). Our emphasis is to get inside the minds of the “Big Why,” the rationale behind everyone’s bid or play, including an analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play.  

As a Premium and ULTRA member, you are welcome to enjoy the entire three-part lesson segments with lots of hands, plus an opportunity to view future shows during your membership subscription period.   And as always, be sure to check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive that is growing by leaps and bounds, by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Advanced Lesson 25 – Part 1

Advanced Lesson 25 – Part 2

Advanced Lesson 25 – Part 3

As always and until our next show, Happy Trails until we meet again!

Filed Under: Advanced, Advanced Bidding, Advanced Play

Advanced Lesson 24 – Leads vs NT Contract, Part 2

May 9, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Advanced Lesson 24 – Opening Leads vs NT Contract, Part 2

We are at it again with more not-so-glorious hands where the opponents are in a game or slam contract – boring, eh? Well, in most all cases on this lessons it’s up to the opening lead whether or not you and partner can set the contract.

Part 1 – 36 minutes: Let Counting, Inferences, Analysis Be Your Friend
Part 2 – 34 minutes
Part 3 – 33 minutes

If you like commentary, great! Here at BridgeHands all of our Bridge hands are full of narration for all players (regardless of who is the declarer and defender). So we will get inside the mind of each player, explain why each bid or play was made, including an analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play.  

As a Premium and ULTRA member, you are welcome to enjoy the entire four-part lesson segments with lots of hands, plus an opportunity to view future shows during your membership subscription period.   And as always, be sure to check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive that is growing by leaps and bounds, by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Advanced Lesson 24 – Part 1

Advanced Lesson 24 – Part 2

Advanced Lesson 24 – Part 3

As always and until our next show, Happy Trails until we meet again!

Filed Under: Advanced, Advanced Play

Advanced Lesson 23 – Opening Leads vs NT Contract

May 1, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Advanced Lesson 23 – Opening Leads vs NT Contract

You pick up your lackluster hand and the bidding takes off with the opponents winning the contract. So you’re on lead opposite a Notrump contract, now what? Do you lead your long suit, maybe a short suit in hopes to help your partner, a safe passive lead, an active lead, a sequence suit lead? Geesh, maybe this Bridge play isn’t so easy after all. No problemo, let’s play some hand, listen to the commentary and we’ll soon have the hang of this! The following is from our new Livestreaming “webinar” show! In addition to the 10 hands we also will play several variations to illustrate The Good, The Bad, and The UGG!

Part 1 – 27 minutes: Essential Strategies – Counting, Inferences, Analysis
Part 2 – 36 minutes: Hand 1-5
Part 3 – 16 minutes: Hand 6-8
Part 4 – 25 minutes: Hand 9-10

Here at BridgeHands all of our Bridge hands are full of commentary (regardless of who is the declarer and defender) and analysis on hand evaluation, bidding and animated card play.   As always, our hand discussion offers a refreshingly rare glimpse of Bridge inside the minds of all four players at the table as play progresses, bid by bid, card by card.  

As a Premium and ULTRA member, you are welcome to enjoy the entire four-part lesson segments with lots of hands, plus an opportunity to view future shows during your membership subscription period.   And as always, be sure to check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive that is growing by leaps and bounds, by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Bridge Teachers – you may download your personal copy of our copyrighted video lesson here:

Advanced Lesson 23 – Part 1

Advanced Lesson 23 – Part 2

Advanced Lesson 23 – Part 3

Advanced Lesson 23 – Part 4

As always and until our next show, Happy Trails until we meet again!

Filed Under: .Social, Advanced, Advanced Play, Polling You, Social Play

Social Lesson 20, Part 2 – Counting

March 31, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Counting. Sounds simple enough, right? 
 
But as any emerging Bridge player will attest, it’s not quite so easy in the swirl of bidding and related inferences, leads, play strategies, signals and yes, surprises that frequently arise before the dust settles. 
 
We begin with a quick review of helpful analysis of the odds of suit splits, common percentages associated with common Bridge holdings and even offer some tips on how to be a good partner.  Then it’s off to the Bridge tournament and it’s time to start tossing cards… after careful thought, of course!
 
BridgeHands Premium and ULTRA Members, here are the  links to watch over two hours and 14 hands helpful to improve your counting skills…

Bridge Teachers, you may download a copy of our videos here for lessons with your local students:

Part 2.1
Part 2.2
Part 2.3
Part 2.4
Powerpoint and Slides

Many thanks for supporting BridgeHands with lots more online recorded and now Livestreaming real-time webinars coming to you – wherever you are, we will be there!

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Filed Under: .Social, Advanced, Advanced Bidding, Advanced Play, Social Bidding, Social Play Tagged With: , , , , ,
« Older Posts