Once again, after opener opens in a major suit with 12-21 points and a 5 card suit, with 6 points and a 3+ card suit it’s time for responder either make a signoff 2 level bid, invite game with a 3 level bid or drive to a 4 level major suit game.  Fair enough, yet even when responder makes a minimum call, opener may have extras – either a medium or maximum hand, and push onward toward game.  We normally define openers minimum/medium/maximum hand as 12-14 HCP, 15-17 HCP or a good 18-21 High Card Point hand.  Better yet, in this episode we will see how Losing Trick Count hand valuation can help propel us to game when traditional HCP hand valuation falls short.    But wait, there’s more!  Both the declarer and defenders will have their work cut out for themselves doing their level best to make or defeat the declarer’s auction.   So sit right up and tune in to our BridgeHands videos!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Advanced Part 2 lesson on Freebids.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

General Audiences – click here to view Part 1 of our Teaser

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 1 with 31 minute of video

In session 1 of our Social Lesson, opener aggressively jumped directly to a major suit game with what some would call a “medium hand” with 15-17 High Card Points. How so?  Using Losing Trick Count and only 5 losers, of course.  So far – so good, but now the proof of the pudding is in the eating and its time prove our meddle during declarer and defender play.  We will include three play variations, identifying the good, bad, and the ugg!

General Audiences – click here to view Part 2 of our Teaser

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to Part 2 with 23 minutes of video

In this lesson we will cover Losing Trick Count and Cover Card hand valuation, the perils of not covering an honor with an honor (most of the time), ensuring transportation and entries to promotable suit, avoiding giving declarer a ruff and sluff, preventing a “dangerous” opponent from gaining the lead, planning a contingency plan when defender’s trump break 4-1, listening to the opponents bidding before blindly trying a finesse and more.

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Continuing our journey navigating major suit raises, opener again starts the auction bids 1 Heart or 1 Spade promising at least a 5 card suit.  When responder has a good 12+ distribution points, the bidding typically continues with responder making a “temporizing” response of 2 Clubs or 2 Diamonds (perhaps responding with a Jacoby 2 Notrump conventional bid with 4+ trump and interest in slam, or immediately responding with a Blackwood 4 Notrump ace-asking call).   On the other hand, when responder has a very weak hand with lucky 5+ in partner’s major suit then responder should consider making an immediate response with 4 of opener’s major suit – a preemptive bid.  But that’s just the start – tune in to our video for 43 minutes of enlightening and entertaining instruction at BridgeHands!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Advanced Part 2 lesson on Freebids.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Click here to view Teaser – Hand 1 of 7

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view entire 43 minute video

In this lesson we will learn to differentiate useful short side suits to help partner develop extra tricks through ruffing, as opposed to honor heavy trump which can result in double counting.  Additionally, we will illustrate the perils of crashing honors with partner, the importance of unblocking the “short side” to promote a long suit in the other hand, the joys of “tapping” declarer’s trump suit as well as touch on how a squeeze play can generate extra tricks.

Even if you understand the basics, be sure to check out our topics on how counting can influence which way to take a finesse, suit quality, losing trick count, cover cards and more.
We hope you enjoy the show!

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

Continuing our journey navigating major suit raises, this time the opener begins bidding 1 Heart or 1 Spade promising at least a 5 card suit.  On a good day Responder will support the suit and perhaps even make an invitation 3 level raise with 10-12 distributional suit.  On other days, Responder will not have 3+card support and rummage up another bid.  Still, not all is lost and Opener may rebid the major suit with a 6 card suit.   But that’s just the start – tune in to our video for 43 minutes of enlightening and entertaining instruction at BridgeHands!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments as well as the Advanced Part 2 lesson on Freebids.  Better yet, check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Click here to view Teaser – Hand 1 of 6

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view entire 43 minute video

In this lesson we will learn to appreciate the value of dummy side suit shortage points, useful for declarer to make extra tricks by ruffing losers in the dummy.  And when those pesky opponents immediately pull trump and deplete the dummy’s trump, we’ll go to the proverbial “Plan B,” giving it the good old college try and take our luck at promoting the dummy’s side suit.

Even if you understand the basics, be sure to check out our topics on how counting can influence which way to take a finesse, suit quality, losing trick count, cover cards and more.
We hope you enjoy the show!

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands

As promised, we are beginning the new year with shorter, more frequent lessons for the social and advanced players.  Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy both lesson segments.

Click here to view Teaser

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view entire 35 minute video

In our social lesson, we discuss some of the nuances associated with major suit raises for our social contract Bridge players.  As you will recall, most opener and responder hands come in one of three sizes:  Minimum, Medium and Maximum.  Assuming the partnership at least a 5-3 or 4-4 fit between the opener and responder then…

Opener
Minimum: 12-15 points, Medium: 15-17 points, Maximum: 18/19-21 points

Responder
Minimum: 5/6-9 points, Medium: 10-12 points, Maximum 13+ points

Bidding generally goes:

Minimum + Minimum = stop in 2 of the major suit
Medium + Minimum = invite to 3 of the major suit but do not accept a 4 level game
Maximum + Maximum = force to at least 4 level major suit game

Even if you understand the basics, be sure to check out our topics on how counting can influence which way to take a finesse, suit quality, losing trick count, cover cards and more.
We hope you enjoy the show!

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands