More about the bidding! ♣
As discussed before, the main reason behind bidding is to get to a game contract. These are 3NT, 4♠, 4♥, 5♦ and 5C. As you can see it is 1 trick easier to make game in a major (hearts and spades) than it is a minor (clubs and diamonds).
Introduction to bidding ♣
The bidding is the first half of the game, and it is used to decide who is the declare, who is the dummy and who are the defenders. It is also used to decide how many tricks the declarer needs to succeed in their contract (depending on how much
The intricacies of leading against NTs ♠
The idea against no trump contracts is to establish your suit and get it ‘running’ before your opponents do; this is known as ‘tempo’. Often the saying of ‘fourth down of your longest and strongest’ is a great rule to stick with for two reasons. One, according to the
3rd in Hand Light Openers ♥
A 3rd in hand opening is possible when your partner is dealer and both your partner and your right-hand opponent pass. This is a situation where you want to be aggressive with your bidding as there is only one person who has undisclosed strength and it is an opponent.
The Importance of Pips ♦
Assume the suits being identified are trumps hence they won’t be ruffed, and where relevant, that there is no other information available i.e. bidding from opponents etc. Often the intermediate cards in a suit or, ‘pips’, are undervalued, especially by the Milton point count system. This is often where
Roman Key Card Blackwood ♠
In this lesson we take a look at Roman Key Card Blackwood. This convention is an adaptation of the 4NT bid, used for exploring slams. RKCB (as it is known in short) is a more accurate version of Blackwood, albeit more complex!
Stayman ♦
In this lesson we take a look at the Stayman convention, named after American player, Sam Stayman. This conventional bid is used to discover 4-4 major fits after your partnership opens 1NT or 2NT.
Defence against an opening 1NT ♥
Here we look into defending against an opening 1NT by the opponents. We cover when to overcall a suit, when to double and also a conventional defence known as Asptro.
Weak 2s ♦
In this lesson we learn about the widely used convention Weak 2s and how to respond to them. These bids are a style of pre-emptive bid that make your opponent's lives very awkward!