OR Landing Set 4 - 341

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Opener’s Rebids: Strong Unbalanced 2-suited Opening Hands

As Opener, when we have a strong 2-suited hand then we communicate both our shape and strength to partner. We do so by making a strong jump shift or a reverse. Let's see how we use these bidding tools to show our strong 2-suited opening hands.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 341.

OR Landing Set 5 - 342

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Opener’s Rebids: After Responder’s Freebid (set 5 of 8)

As Opener, when we open the bidding with a suit, LHO makes an overcall of a suit, and Responder freely bids a new suit then we are forced to make a rebid. Here we look at our rebid options in detail and discuss what each of these bids show in both shape and strength. Most importantly we discuss which bids are forcing and which can be passed.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 342.

OR Landing Set 6 - 343

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Opener’s Rebids: After a Negative Double (set 6 of 8)

As Opener, when we open the bidding with a suit, LHO makes an overcall of a suit, and Responder uses a negative double, we are forced to make a rebid. Here we look at our rebid options in detail and discuss what each of these bids show in both shape and strength. Most importantly we discuss which bids are forcing and which can be passed.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 343.

OR Landing Set 7 - 344

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Opener’s Rebids: After RHO Overcalls (set 7 of 8)

As Opener, when we open the bidding with a suit, partner responders, and RHO overcalls, the we have a lot of rebidding options. Here we look at those rebid options and the inference available for what they show.


You (and your partners) can become a member of Robert Todd's Adventures in Bridge (www.advinbridge.com) or sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup . This set of hands accompanies TWiB 344.

OR Landing Set 8 - 345

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Openers Rebids: After Partner Raises
(set 8 of 8)

When we open the bidding with a suit and partner raises our suit, we have accomplished one of our major goals of the auction - finding a fit. Here we look at how we now use further bids in a variety of different auctions.


You (and your partners) can become a member of Robert Todd's Adventures in Bridge (www.advinbridge.com) or sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 345.

Hand Evaluation Set 1 - 329

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Hand Evaluation: Before the Auction Begins (Set 1 of 8)

Evaluating our hand is a bit of an art form. There are many things to take into consideration. Before we the auction begins, we only have the information about the board (position and vulnerability) as well as our cards to help us make a decision. We begin with HCP and then make adjustments to our values for location of honors and distribution. Here we look at our considerations and how to calculate our values.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 329.

HE Landing Set 2 - 330

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Hand Evaluation: Counting Points - After Partner Bids
(set 2 of 8)

Before the auction begins, we evaluate our hand with HCP and adjustments (length point upgrades and short honor downgrades). After this, when we hear partner bid, we need to make use of this information to re-evaluate our hand. We upgrade for "fits and fitting honors" and downgrade for "misfits". Let's take a look at some examples of how this can affect our subsequent bidding.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 330.

HE Landing Set 3 - 331

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Hand Evaluation: Counting Points - When the Opponent’s Bid
(set 3 of 8)

When the opponents bid, we have extremely valuable additional information that we can use to help us re-evaluating our hand. Location of our honors and types of holdings we have (tenaces in good or bad locations) dramatically affect the playing strength of our hand. Let's look at how we incorporate that information into our bidding.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 331.

HE Landing Set 4 - 332

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Hand Evaluation: Evaluation and Re-Evaluate (set 4 of 8)

Hand Evaluation is something we do all throughout the auction. We start evaluating and keep re-evaluating as we get more information from both partner and the opponents. This means that the value we assign to our hand (number of points) constantly changes during the auction. Let's make sure that we fluidly evaluate our hand and actively make use of the information that becomes available to us.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 332.

HE Landing Set 5 - 333

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Hand Evaluation: Law of Total Tricks (set 5 of 8)

When we have a large fit, one of our most valuable tools for determining how much to bid is the Law of Total Tricks. The simple version of this bidding guideline is to bid to the size of our fit. This is particularly valuable in helping us know how much to bid in competitive auctions. Get some practice in using this tool to help you evaluate the playing strength of your hand.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 333.

HE Landing Set 6 - 334

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Hand Evaluation: Double Fits and Misfits (set 6 of 8)

When we discover that we have two large fits (at least 8 cards in both suits) then we can often take a lot of tricks without too many HCP. Similarly, when we discover that the hand is a misfit (we are short in partner's long suit and partner is short in our long suit), then it may be difficult to take tricks. Let's take a look at some of these hands and see how we upgrade and downgrade respectively in these different situations.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 334.

HE Landing Set 7 - 335

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Hand Evaluation: Fitting Honors and Wasted Values (set 7 of 8)

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When it comes to evaluating our hand, the location of our honors is often more important than how many points we hold. Honors that fit together with partner's long suits are extremely valuable, while honors that are opposite partner's shortness are often wasted. Let's take a look at how we re-evaluate the quality of our honor holdings, upgrading for fitting cards and downgrading for wasted values.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 335.

Hand Evaluation Set 8 - 336

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Hand Evaluation: Losers and Covers (Set 8 of 8)

Losing Trick Count is powerful hand evaluation tool when used properly. The concept is that once we know that we are going to play in a suit contract (for example, find a Major suit fit), then we know that we will count losers (not winners) in the play. But before we get to the auction, we can count our losers and by approximating how many useful cards partner may provide (how many “cover cards”) and determine what contract we can likely make. Let’s take a look at some examples and see how this works.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 336.

Overcalls Set 1 - 320

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

1-Level Simple Overcalls (Set 1 of 8)

A simple overcall at the 1-level is one of our most common competitive bidding tools, but that does not make it an easy one to use. It can often create confusion for partner (as well as the opponents). Let's take a look at some hands and see if we can use good judgment about when to make a simple overcall at the 1-level.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 320.

Overcalls Set 2 - 321

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

2-Level Simple Overcalls (Set 2 of 8)

A simple overcall at the 2-level shows a substantially better hand than one we might bid with at the 1-level. When we come into the bidding at this level we need both a good suit and a good hand. Let's work on our judgment in these situations.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 321.

Overcalls Set 3 - 322

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

2-Level Jump Overcalls (Set 3 of 8)

When our right hand opponent opens the bidding and we have a long suit, we often want to make destruction actions instead of constructive ones. Jumping to the 2-level in our long suit can be a good way to disrupt the opponents. Let's work on our judgment about when to do this and when to try other tactics.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 322.

Overcalls Set 4 - 323

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

2-Suited Overcalls (Set 4 of 8)

Competing in the bidding with a 2-suited hand is something of an art form. We need to show partner our suits as well as try to communicate our values. Let's take a look at ways of accomplishing this.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free on the Adventures in Bridge website at TWiB Signup. This set accompanies TWiB 323.

Overcalls Set 5 - 324

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Overcalls in the Sandwich Seat (Set 5 of 8)

When LHO opens the bidding, partner passes, and RHO responds we are in the sandwich seat. There are many options for how to describe our hand. Let's look at some examples and make sure we know how to make use of all the options.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 324.

Overcalls Set 6 - 325

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Overcalls in the Balancing Seat (Set 6 of 8)

When LHO opens the bidding and the auction passes around to us, then we are in the balancing seat.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 325.

Overcalls Set 7 - 326

This Week in Bridge Practice Hands

Notrump Overcalls (Set 7 of 8)

When we have a good hand and the opponents open a suit where we hold both length and strength, we consider playing in notrump. Here we look at hands where we may want to overcall 1NT and consider our other options as well.


You (and your partners) can sign up for Robert Todd's This Week in Bridge (TWiB) lesson emails for free at https://www.advinbridge.com/twib-signup This set accompanies TWiB 326.