2/5/23 (60 min)
In the balancing seat we usually “borrow a king” from our partner. Since NT bids are precisely defined this point change to our hand dramatically affects our bidding. Here we look at our balancing NT bids and the followup bidding that partner makes.
12/5/22 (65 min)
The modern system for bidding when we have a fit for partner's minor, called inverted minors, works on improving our ability to look for game or slam in a minor suit -- which is the most common time we want to support a minor suit. Make sure you and partner have a good grasp of these methods, both for playing them and playing against them.
12/12/22 (66 min)
One of the most powerful tools we have in competitive bidding is the preemptive raise. When we have a minor suit fit the opponents will often have a major suit fit. We want to make it as difficult as possible for them to find that fit and using preemptive raises is one the best ways to make their life difficult.
12/19/22 (69 min)
There are certain minor suit hands that can play extremely well in NT contracts. If evaluated correctly these hands can be bid in a way that makes the auction relatively simple. Let's make sure that you do not torture your partner with these hands when you could keep it simple and get to the right contract.
12/27/22 (63 min)
When we have a good hand and a minor suit fit then we may want to explore a minor suit slam. Part of the art form of minor suit slam bidding is using tools to explore slam while keeping a NT contract in the picture. Here we look at how to use these tools and better judge our minor suit slam.
9/2024 (62 min)
Here we review some fundamentals of opening bids and look more deeply into your thought process before we open the bidding. Then we pivot to the responder’s actions and make sure that we are prepared to construct a good auction with some problem situations.
Sept/Oct 2024 - Coming Soon!
When partner opens the bidding with 1-Major then we normally go slow and make a low level response. But we can also use some immediate jumps to high bids to describe some interesting and difficult hands. Let’s look at the meaning of this high-level jump responses.
Sept/Oct 2024 - Coming Soon!
Here we look at some other complex auctions and special responses to 1-level opening bids. We focus on some jump shift responses to 1-Major and 1-minor and then turn out focus to NT responses to minor suit openings.
Sept/Oct 2024 - Coming Soon!
When Responder makes a jump shift, either a weak jump shift or a 3/1 invitational jump shift, then Opener is left to figure out what to do next. Here we look at what types of hands Opener should bid with (like) and when they should be conservative and Pass.
Sept/Oct 2024 - Coming Soon!
There are some classic auctions that lead to confusion between partnerships. Ones that you should make sure you and partner agree upon.
