Social Lesson 3 – Opener in Major, Responder Bids Game

Source: www.bridgehands.com – By BridgeHands – Free Membership & Paid Memberships available

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.

Click here to view Teaser – Hand 1 of 7

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.

Social Lesson 2 – Open in Major, Responder Invites Game

Source: www.bridgehands.com – By 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!

Click here to view Teaser – Hand 1 of 6

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.

Social Lesson 1 – Major Suit Raises in Contract Bridge

Source:  http://www.bridgehands.com – By BridgeHands – Free & Paid Memberships Available at this site.

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

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.