Beginners Course Sample

INTRODUCTION - PLAYING THE GAME

Let us suppose we are now ready to play. We have four people and they have decided by whatever means who will be North, who will be South, who will be East, and who will be West. If there are just four of you playing at one table then traditionally, the person sitting North will deal the first hand using one of 2 packs of cards. The cards will have been shuffled by the person sitting to the left of the dealer (East) and then they are cut by the person sitting to the right of the dealer (West). North will then deal the cards with the first card being dealt to East and the last card to themselves.

All cards are dealt face down, and when they have all been dealt all players pick up their cards and examine them. It is easiest to sort your cards into suits with the highest card in each suit to the extreme right or extreme left as you choose. When you have the cards in order (when you are more experienced you might wish to put your cards into some other order) you start to look at your cards and the game of bridge has begun.

I will take you through what has to be done next in the 15 lessons. What I want to impress on you at this introductory stage is that there are a number of different systems in bridge, and that there are endless variations on the main systems. You do not need to think about these variations at all while you are learning. They will come into view when you become more experienced.

I will finish by giving you another IMPORTANT POINT - There are lots of conventions in bridge, and lots of ‘experts’, but rules can be bent and no one system or view is necessarily the best in any particular situation. My advice is - learn how to play the game, and then decide with your partner whether you wish to change and/or extend your system - don’t be pressurised into anything. There are many sources, such as the bridge articles in national and local newspapers from which you will be able to learn more, but the practical experience which you can get from actually playing the game is the best teacher, in my opinion.

This is my introduction to the game of bridge. I hope it has whetted your appetite and that you will join me for the next 15 lessons. Remember, bridge is a great game from which you can get much pleasure - GO FOR IT.

Best wishes

David Clement

WELCOME TO LESSON 6

RESPONSE TO AN OPENING BID OF 2 CLUBS

We are moving up the scale now to higher level opening bids. As I have said several times previously, don’t panic, don’t get cautious - bid your hand to its full strength.  OK?

You will remember that 2 Clubs is THE big opening hand in ACOL denoting twenty-three points or more. When partner opens 2 Clubs, then you must respond, on pain of death 

Your response will, once again, depend on how many points you have in your hand. If you have eight points or fewer then you must bid 2 Diamonds, no matter how your hand is made up. 2 Diamonds is termed a negative response, and just to emphasise the point, it means you have eight points or fewer, nothing else.

Bidding the negative 2 Diamonds response enables your partner to go some way towards knowing if there are thirty-two points in your combined hands. You will recall that thirty-two points is the standard requirement to bid a small slam, i.e. that you win twelve out of the thirteen tricks available in the hand. Please note that if you do respond 2 Diamonds to partner’s opening bid of 2 Clubs, your partner will almost certainly bid again, and therefore you will have the opportunity to bid again. DO NOT THINK THAT YOU MUST PASS THIS SECOND TIME BECAUSE YOU HAVE GIVEN AN INITIAL NEGATIVE RESPONSE - YOU CAN AND FREQUENTLY MUST, BID AGAIN AS PARTNER WILL VERY OFTEN WISH YOU TO DESCRIBE YOUR HAND AS BEST YOU CAN.

Now if you have nine points or more when partner opens 2 Clubs, you know that between you there are at least thirty-two points in the combined hands. You therefore know that a small slam contract can be made on the hand. It follows that you must facilitate partner, and keep on bidding as long as it is necessary to ensure that a small slam at least is bid.

So what do you bid? If you have nine points or more, then bid a suit if you have at least five cards in it or no trumps if you do not have a five card suit. As it is important to retain as much flexibility as possible in the bidding, you should make your response at the lowest possible level. This means that if your five card suit is Hearts, you should respond 2 Hearts; if your five card suit is Spades, bid 2 Spades; if your five card suit is Clubs, then bid 3 Clubs, and if your five card suit is Diamonds then you should bid 3 Diamonds. Remember you must not say 2 Diamonds in this context because that is the negative response to 2 Clubs.

Fine? Just note also that if you are responding to partner’ opening bid of 2 Clubs, and you have 2 five card suits in your hand, then you should bid at the lowest possible level first. So bid 2 Hearts before 2 Spades, 2 Spades before 3 Clubs, and 3 Clubs before 3 Diamonds. Got it?

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