I just had a week of lessons – one a day – from my friend, while we were on holiday, dodging the showers.  Don’t you just love the British summer?

How you respond, depends on the number of points in your own hand and the type of hand you hold.

There are three basic types of responses.  Sign off (partner must not rebid), Invitational (partner can bid again if appropriate), Forcing (partner MUST bid again)

Your hand contains 0 – 10

Your hand is weak – even if partner holds 14 points (the maximum for a 1 NT opening bid) your combined hands will not hold more than 24 points.

Your responding bid has to tell your partner that your combined hands are weak and they MUST NOT bid again.  Your bid will be a Sign off bid (colour coded red below)

• Your hand  is balanced with NO 5 card suit – PASS
• Your hand contains a 5+ card minor suit – bid 2 Diamonds
• Your hand contains a 5+ card major suit – bid the suit – 2 Hearts or 2 Spades

Your hand contain 11 – 12 points

• AND is balanced with no 5 card suit – bid 2NT – invitational
• AND a 5 card minor suit – bid 2 NT – invitational

Your hand contains 13 – 18 points

• AND is balanced with no 5 card suit – bid 3NT – Sign off
• AND a 5 card minor suit – bid 3 NT – Sign off

Your hand contains 11 – 18 points

• AND a 5 card major suit – bid the suit – 3H or 3S – forcing – partner must bid again
• AND a 6+ card major suit – bid the suit – 4H or 4S – Sign off.

What does your bid tell your partner?

A pass or bid of 2 D/H/S tells your partner your hand is weak and between you there are not enough points for game.  Partner must not bid again.

A bid of 2NT  tells your partner that your hand contains 11 or 12 points and is either balanced or contains a 5+ card minor suit.  They can rebid if they want.

A bid of 3H/S tells your partner that you have 11 – 18 points and a strong major suit.  They must bid again – to tell you whether or not they can support your suit.

A bid of 4H/S tells  your partner that you have 11 – 18 points and at least 6 cards in a suit.  They must not bid again.

The first thing we will look at as an opening bid of 1 NT.

Remember the opening bid is made by the first person to have 12 or more points in their hand.

When to open the bidding with 1NT

You should make an opening bid of 1NT when you

a) have 12 – 14 points in your hand AND

b) you have a balanced hand (no void, no singleton and no more than one doubleton)

What does this bid tell your partner

If your partner opens the bidding with 1NT you know that their hand contains 12 – 14 points and is balanced.

4 points for each ace

3 points for each king

2 points for each queen

1 point for each jack

Balanced Hand

Your hand consists of four suits – spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs.

A balanced hand WILL contain cards in all four suits

A balanced hand will NOT contain a void (no cards in a suit)

A balanced hand will NOT contain a singleton – just one card in a suit

A balanced hand CAN contain only ONE doubleton

A balanced hand CAN contain a 5 card suit (in which case your hand will comprise a 5 3 3 2 pattern)

Before you start a game of bridge you decide who will be the dealer.  If you are playing at home, the dealer will deal the cards.  If you are playing in a club you will probably be given a pre-dealt set of hands.

After each round the dealer rotates clockwise.

The dealer is the first person to speak when the bidding starts.  If s/he has less than 12 points in hand, then s/he says “Pass”.  The bidding rotates clockwise until someone has 12 + points in their hand and makes an Opening Bid. This person then become the Opener and their partner becomes the Responder

You can learn with me.

I am using the No Fear Bridge website as my guide.  It is run by a good friend of mine, so she will be checking that what I post here is correct!