What is the Purpose of This Class Teach you the basics of Contract Bridge: Bidding and Play Teach you the logic of playing a hand if you win the contract Understanding the defense. Have FUN! We will use the Standard American Yellow Card System- Adopted by the ACBL in 2006 as the standard for competitive bidding. Teach concepts such as counting your winners, making your opponents help you and executing a plan of play. Learning how to lead, what to lead, signaling to your partner, and how to defeat unstoppable contracts.

How will the Learning Process Work? There will be occasional handouts explaining aspects of the game. There will be lectures on “standard conventions” and bidding. There will be reviews of hands for bidding. All lecture material will be posted on the internet at the website: bridgeattric.pbworks.com The first handout is a brief explanation of the Standard American Yellow Card System. It is your responsibility to “learn” the general rules of the system (ie, five card majors, weak two bids). We will go over various bidding and playing using examples in class. We will ask each class member to present unusual hands whenever they come across them.

How will the Class Work There will be a lecture period at the start of the class. Those who are more advanced will then play - those who need additional guidance will be given more lecture and practice time. In this lesson we will discuss a brief history of the game, how the rules of the game work, the rudimentary concepts of evaluating a hand and the bidding process.

How to evaluate a hand Hands are evaluated on the basis of the number and type of honor cards held (Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack =1) and the distribution of the suits in your hand (a void is 3 points, singleton is 2, doubleton is one). In the bidding process, suits have a ranking: Clubs is the lowest suit, then diamonds (these two suits are referred to as minors), then hearts, then spades (these two suits are called majors). The highest ranking suit is “no trump”, where no suit has special preference.

When do you Open the Bidding The bidding process begins with the Dealer and moves clockwise around the four positions of the bridge table. In most cases, your hand must contain at least 13 high card/distributional points for you to make the first bid. NOTE: This is one of many rules that will be broken at the bridge table. Your position in the bidding sequence will have an impact on whether you make an opening bid. First and Second bidders require “better” point count hands than third and fourth position bidders.

How does the contract process work? The Dealer is the first one to bid. He/she can bid any valid bid or pass. (A valid bid is one that is higher than any previous bid). The bid then goes clockwise to the next player who can either pass or make a bid higher than the previous bid, ie if the dealer opens 1 heart, the next bidder can bid 1 spade, 1 no trump, or 2-7 of any suit or no trump. They cannot bid 1 club or 1 diamond) or double the opponents bid. The bidding continues around the table until three bidders “pass” the bid. The contract is the amount bid by the last bidder, for example 4 spades (except when the last bidder doubles the opponents contract – to be discussed at a latter time). We will discuss this process more thoroughly in class.

Some Bidding Exercises Your Hand: (S) A 5 3 (H) 6 (D) A K J 10 (C) J 9 7 6 5 Your opening bid is: A. one club B. One Diamond C. One No Trump D. Pass

Exercise 2 Your Hand is: (S) 5 (H) K 4 (D) A Q 2 (C) A K Q 7 5 4 2 Your Opening bid is: A. One club B. One Diamond C. One No Trump D. Two Clubs E. Three No Trump Would your bid change if there were three passes to you?

Exercise 3 Your hand is: (S) K (H) A J 5 (D) Q 9 7 6 (C) A J 10 4 3 Your opening bid is: A. one club B. One Diamond C. One No Trump D. Two Clubs

Exercise 4 Your hand is: (S) A J 3 (H) 5 (D) Q 8 4 2 (C) A K 10 9 8 Your opening bid is: A. One Club B. One Diamond C. One No Trump Your Partner responds One Heart- Your Next Bid?

A Logic Question You are sitting East and the bidding has gone: (S) (W) (N) (E) 1C Pass 1NT Pass 2NT Pass Pass Pass How Many Points does South Have? How Many Points does North Have? What do you lead from this holding? (S) K J 5 2 (H) 9 8 7 5 2 (D) J 3 (C) A 8