Play of the Hand
Robert Todd
(564) Improve Your Card Play: Establishing ...
(564) Improve Your Card Play: Establishing Length
Play of the Hand
Robert Todd
(563) Improve Your Card Play: Making Use of an ...

Our first discussion on card play is how to get the most out of the best card in every suit - the Ace! There are a variety of ways for the Ace to help us and here we look at how to get the most out of this important card.


(563) Improve Your Card Play: Making Use of an Ace
Bidding, Competitive Bidding
Robert Todd
(562) NT and Balancing Auctions: Other ...

When our left-hand opponent opens the bidding and the auction passes around to us, we have a big decision to make – should we get into this auction, or should we leave the opponents to play at the 1-level? We have a variety of bidding tools to help us compete in the bidding, but we need to use our judgment about when to compete in the bidding and when to keep quiet.  Here we look at some of the classic bidding situations where we have a difficult decision and then overview some of our bidding tools in these auctions.

(562) NT and Balancing Auctions: Other Balancing Actions
Bidding, Competitive Bidding
Robert Todd
(561) NT and Balancing Auctions: Jump ...

One place that we do not need a jump bid to show a weak hand is in the passout (PO) seat, also known as the balancing seat.  In this seat with a weak hand, say 5-8 HCP, and a long suit, we would not bid; we would simply pass the hand out.  Bidding here with so few HCP may give the opponents a chance to reach a better partscore or game that they may not otherwise reach.  Since we will not bid in the PO seat with a weak hand and we could make a simple overcall with 9-10 HCP and a long suit, then a Jump Overcall in the PO seat is free to be used to describe a different type of hand that can otherwise be difficult to show. 

(561) NT and Balancing Auctions: Jump Overcalls in the Passout Seat
Bidding, Competitive Bidding
Robert Todd
(560) NT and Balancing Auctions: Range Stayman

A balancing 1NT bid can be a wide-ranging action, about 11-15/16 points. This 5-point range is much larger than most notrump bids and leaves partner with a more difficult bidding situation.  Range Stayman is a tool that can help Advancer better determine the values of our hand and if game is a possibility.

(560) NT and Balancing Auctions: Range Stayman

Bidding

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(470) Unusual vs. Unusual and Unusual vs. Michaels

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(470) Unusual vs. Unusual and Unusual vs. Michaels

Here we look at times when we have to deal with the opponents 2-suited attacking bids -- Michaels Cuebids and Unusual NT.  Here we look at some special agreements, Unusual vs Unusual and Unusual vs Michaels, to help us compete in the bidding.  

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(461) Partnership Bidding: Their Major Suit Openings

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(461) Partnership Bidding: Their Major Suit Openings

When the opponents open the bidding with 1-Major then we need to compete in the bidding and do so quickly and accurately. In order to do this week need good agreements with partner, especially about the meaning of cuebidding the opponent's suit. Let's make sure we have good agreements in these situations.