BRIDGE TUTORIALS by Tony Haworth – Porthcawl Bridge Club

Winning at bridge is not about the clever bids or outlandish plays as typified by the various news columns (although these can help). It’s primarily about not making mistakes, and you and your partner having a clear understanding of your system. Memory does help, but if you have a muddled system it can be like building a house on quicksand.

The following tutorials are not just for beginners to the game; if you are regularly coming below average in the club, players of any standard would benefit from ‘refresher’ lessons. The tutorials are not a substitute for personal tuition, but recognising good quality teaching is not always readily available, they go some way towards bringing new players into the game.

There are many systems adopted throughout the world, some better than others. If you are American, Standard American (yellow card) rules – many of them haven’t heard of Acol. But in the UK, Acol is king. Whatever the system, it is only as good as the player, and a disciplined approach to applying the system is vital.

The primary basic system approach within these tutorials is Acol with 5-card majors, and a weak no-trump. Why 5-card (an integral part of Standard American)? – it’s my personal preference, I think it’s easier to teach and learn, and I think it’s slightly better. Why weak no-trump (unlike Standard American)? – again my personal preference, it’s more pre-emptive, and it’s played by most players in the UK. (However I do include the equivalent 4-card major tutorials for those devotees). All tutorials include numerous exercises.

At this stage all tutorials are based on the ‘auction’ (except that a discussion of opening leads is given in Tutorial 12). In time tutorials on basic play situations will be posted.

It is assumed that players have some knowledge of Bridge procedure, i.e. the sequence of suits, the number of tricks required to make a contract, the concept of vulnerability, basic scoring (a more detailed appreciation of Scoring can be found in the Appendix 1), etc.

Tutorial 1 – Opening Bids At The One Level TUTORIAL 1 – OPENING BIDS AT THE ONE LEVEL

(or Tutorial 1a – Opening Bids At The One Level (4-Card Majors)) TUTORIAL 1a – OPENING BIDS AT THE ONE LEVEL 4 CARD MAJORS

Tutorial 2 – Responding To One Level Opening Bids TUTORIAL 2 – RESPONDING TO ONE LEVEL OPENING BIDS

(or Tutorial 2a – Responding To One Level Opening Bids (4-Card Majors)) TUTORIAL 2a – RESPONDING TO ONE LEVEL OPENING BIDS 4 CARD MAJORS

Tutorial 3 – Responding To One No Trump Opening Bid TUTORIAL 3 – RESPONDING TO ONE NO-TRUMP OPENING BID

Tutorial 4 – Opener’s Rebid After Suit Opening TUTORIAL 4 – OPENERS REBID AFTER SUIT OPENING

(or Tutorial 4a – Opener’s Rebid After Suit Opening (4-Card Majors)) TUTORIAL 4a – OPENERS REBID AFTER SUIT OPENING 4 CARD MAJORS

Tutorial 5 – Overcalls TUTORIAL 5 – OVERCALLS

Tutorial 6 – Take Out Doubles TUTORIAL 6 – TAKE OUT DOUBLES

Tutorial 7 – Two No Trump Opening Bid And Responses TUTORIAL 7 – 2NT OPENING BID AND RESPONSES

Tutorial 8 – Strong Two’s TUTORIAL 8 – STRONG 2S

Tutorial 9 – Two Club Opening Bid TUTORIAL 9 – 2 CLUB OPENING

Tutorial 10 – Opening Three Bids TUTORIAL 10 – OPENING THREE BIDS

Tutorial 11 – Slam Bidding TUTORIAL 11 – SLAM BIDDING

Tutorial 12 – Opening Leads TUTORIAL 12 – OPENING LEADS

When you are confident with the basics you should consider as a priority:

Supplementary Tutorial 13 – Transfers Over One No Trump TRANSFERS RED SUIT OVER 1NT

Supplememntary Tutorial 14 – Benjaminised Acol BENJAMINISED ACOL

Appendix 1 – Basic Scoring In Duplicate Bridge BASIC SCORING IN DUPLICATE BRIDGE