Hand of the Week #15 (Solution) ♠
N E S W 1♠ P 4♥* X 4NT P 5♦ P 5♥ P 6♠ P P P West's lead of the ♥A isn't surprising but doesn't help us unfortunately. As discussed previously, the suit we need to focus on is diamonds and it would appear that
Hand of the Week #15 ♠
N E S W 1♠ P 4♥* X 4NT P 5♦ P 5♥ P 6♠ P P P South starts the bidding with 1♠, West passes and North double jumps to 4♥* which is a splinter bid showing at least a game going hand, a fit for
Re-Opening Doubles ♥
In this video lesson we take a look at a specific kind of takeout double - one made by the opening bidder. A 're-opening double' is known as such because it is the opener, bidding once more but with a double of the opponents' overcall rather than with a
Splinters ♥
Splinters are an artificial convention used by the opening side to describe a particular hand that wants to support their partner's last bid suit. The type of hands that a splinter bid are applicable for are distributional hands with a singleton or a void in a side suit and
Hand of the Week #14 (Solution) ♦
N E S W 1♥ P 2♣ P 2NT P 4NT P 6NT P P P P With 10 top tricks the only chance to make this contract is if we can make extra tricks from our club suit in the dummy. We are missing the ♣KQ
Hand of the Week #14 ♦
N E S W 1♥ P 2♣ P 2NT P 4NT P 6NT P P P P East follows the two-bid pattern with a strong balanced hand by opening their longest suit at the 1 level and then rebidding 2NT. West has a 15 count, so to
The Forcing Defence ♦
This lesson sees us learn about a defensive technique known as 'forcing'. This is when you look to make or 'force' declarer to ruff in their long trump holding in an attempt to shorten their trumps. With shortened trumps declarer may well lose control of the trump suit, especially
Fouth Suit Forcing ♥
Fourth Suit Forcing is an artificial convention that is used by the opening side to force their partner to bid again. It is used to signify uncertainty in the final contract and requests more information from their partner. Given its name, to bid Fourth Suit Forcing you need to
Hand of the Week #13 (Solution) ♣
N E S W 1♦ X P 2NT P 3NT P P P North's expected lead of a diamond has given given us a certain trick there, which works out as our 6th top trick. We currently have 3 spade tricks, 2 club tricks and 1 diamond
Hand of the Week #13 ♣
N E S W 1♦ X P 2NT P 3NT P P P North's 1♦ opening is doubled by East for takeout and West decides to jump to 2NT in response to their partner's double. This 2NT bid shows 10-12 points with a diamond stopper and a