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Approximate running time: 110 minutes.
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Sometimes the opponents first few bids make it clear that they have the balance of power. Meanwhile you have a weak or mediocre hand. When that scenario occurs, how do you react?
Some players reach into their bidding box for a lot of green pass cards, and in effect announce, "wake me when it's over." They are totally at the mercy of the opponents, and are resigned to hoping that the opponents will fail to arrive at their best contract.
No thanks! That laid-back, "I'll take a nap and hope they screw up" approach does NOT appeal to me. When my side has the good cards, I much prefer that the opponents stay out of my way. Therefore, when the other side has the good cards, even though I have a weak hand, I strive to "give them hell."
For some players, bidding without many points is out of the question. If that is how you feel, this lesson is NOT for you. But if YOU like to do well and want to be regarded as an opponent who must be respected and even feared, you definitely should keep reading.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to safely interfere with certain opposing auctions where you have rarely (if ever) been competitive in the past. In particular, he will demonstrate how to effectively disrupt your opponents AND enable your partner to make the best opening lead on ALL of the following auctions:
An opponent opens with a strong 2&clubs bid
Their Jacoby 2NT auction
Their 2/1 game forcing auction
Their Inverted Minor raise to two
Your RHO's Stayman response to 1NT
An opponent opens with a Precision 1&clubs
Your LHO opens, your partner doubles, and your RHO redoubles.
The topics Marty will cover include:
Why after this lesson you too will be preaching the virtues of "WOW-BASH"!
How to identify the auctions that lend themselves to frisky interference
Which overcalls are the most effective for your side
What actions are the most likely to cause the opponents to go astray
Why you should be ecstatic when your RHO redoubles partner's takeout double
How you can MAKE SURE that your partner will make the best opening lead
Why favorable vulnerability is "a license to steal"
The best conventions to use when the opponents are strong
One of the most important considerations for a defender is to decide whether to defend a deal actively or passively.
Some deals call for active defense. On these, you must be very aggressive in trying to set up or cash winners, attack an entry, etc. Active defense usually involves breaking new suits and hoping partner has the right card(s).
On the other hand, on many deals the best approach for the defenders is to be passive. In bridge, "passive defense" should NOT be regarded as a negative term. Unless you have a sequence, or are leading a suit where partner has promised length and/or strength, there are infinite situations where breaking a new suit will hand declarer an extra trick in that suit.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss the following:
The great benefits of counting declarer's distribution and winners
"Last is best", "first is (often) worst"
How to take advantage of knowing something that declarer doesn't
When to say "NO" to second-hand low
The right time to take your ace of trump
The right time to false card
The right (and wrong) time to try to give partner a ruff
When should you be unwilling to lead "around to weakness."
How to understand and execute surrounding plays
When partner makes a takeout double, you have a number of choices. When your RHO passes, you will usually make a minimum bid in an unbid suit. That could be based on a total Yarborough. Therefore, when you do have some values, you should try hard to let partner know that you are not broke. Of course, sometimes your RHO won't pass. If you don't have something to talk about, you are now welcome to pass. However, that does NOT mean that because you are off the hook, you should be eager to pass. A free bid does NOT promise a rose garden. In his 50 examples, Marty will discuss: If RHO passes:
When you're forced to lie, what is the lesser of evils?
How much strength is needed for a jump?
What does a cue-bid show?
Is this the right time to bid up-the-line?
Does a jump response promise a 5-card suit?
If RHO doesn't pass:
What is the correct mindset?
Exactly what do you need to make a free bid?
How relevant is the vulnerability?
How can you show values when you lack a descriptive bid?
Can you ever make a Michaels-type cue-bid?
When your RHO raises, what is your #1 priority?
After a redouble:
Which notrump bids are Unusual?
How can you survive when you are in trouble?
How can you attack when you are not in trouble?
"Counting to a bridge player is similar to an actor learning his lines. It doesn't guarantee success, but he can't succeed without it." George Kaufman, esteemed playwright and prominent bridge player
As important as it is for declarer to count, for the defenders counting is even more crucial. Counting involves effort.
Unfortunately, many players are unwilling to put in the work needed. As a result, although at least 1/2 of your opponents' contracts can be defeated, more than 3/4 of them are fulfilled. If you can learn to defend even fairly well, you are virtually guaranteed to be a successful player.
What must defenders count?
Distribution
High Card Points (HCP)
Number of Tricks
Use the following clues to count distribution:
Bids and doubles that other players made
Bids and doubles that other players did NOT make
What you know each time a player shows out of a suit
Partner's count signals
As soon as dummy is tabled, always try to count HCP. The best situations to do this are when declarer has made a bid which narrowly defines his HCP range. As you know, most notrump bids are well-defined.
Whenever possible, count the potential number of tricks:
For the defense
For declarer
In this lesson, Marty will discuss how counting can:
Enable your side to be the only pair to defeat seemingly "ice-cold" contracts
Help you find the killing opening lead
Locate a singleton in partner's hand and give him a ruff
Help you to prevent declarer from setting up a suit
Tell you exactly what is your only chance to defeat the contract
Help partner find the best defense
Tell you when to say "NO" to second-hand low
Let you KNOW the location of missing honors
Help you resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
Enable you to mislead declarer because you know something that he doesn't
Many players would tell you this is easy. If you have 15-17 HCP and a balanced hand, you open 1NT. If you don't meet both of those requirements, you open in a suit. Case closed!
Sorry, but Marty begs to differ. There is a lot more to this. Take a look at the following hands. What would you open? Marty thinks the correct answer is logical, but he believes that many players would do the wrong thing.
Hand 1 : &spadesQJ2 &heartsQJ2 &diamsQJ32 &clubsKQJ
This is a balanced hand with 15 HCP (on the surface). If you would open 1NT with this, Marty's best advice is: "Don't tell anyone, and hope that you never pick up this hand." This pile of garbage is NOT worth 1NT. The correct opening bid is 1&diams.
Hand 2 : &spadesAQ &heartsAQ98 &diams109542 &clubsKJ
This hand has two doubletons, so it is not "balanced." The correct description for 5-4-2-2 distribution is "semi-balanced." But if you open 1&diams and partner responds 1&spades, a 1NT rebid would show a minimum opening bid. Therefore, Marty hopes YOU would correctly open 1NT and avoid a rebid problem.
Of course, most hands are not as obvious as these two. Marty hopes you will join him in taking a closer look at this important topic. This lesson will definitely improve your "open 1NT or not?" judgment. The many topics he will discuss include the following:
Why 1NT should be your favorite opening bid
What experts recommend for hands with a 5-card major
When you should open 1NT with a 6-card minor
When you should open 1NT with two doubletons
How seat and vulnerability affect borderline hands
Should you go with the field?
Marty will discuss how to correctly evaluate your HCP and distribution so you will be able to determine which hands are:
too weak to open 1NT
too strong to open 1NT
the right strength to open 1NT
On this topic, there is a huge difference between the typical player and the more accomplished player.
Most players can't wait to draw trump first.
They will never forget the time that they didn't draw trump, and went down because one of their winners got ruffed.
They are determined to never have that happen again.
Until the opponents trump are gone, they worry that something will go wrong.
However, that is not the expert mindset.
Experts appreciate that it is usually wrong to draw trump first.
Why is that?
On the great majority of hands, there is a good reason why drawing trump must be postponed.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about to make this often-crucial decision:
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
When you should play differently at matchpoints
How to avoid a losing finesse
How to make the most of 5-card suits
How to maximize your entries
The right time to lose your losers
The right time to take a safety play
How to set up an endplay
Knowing what to do after your right hand opponent (RHO) opens is crucial.
On 50% of the deals you play, the player who opens the bidding is your opponent.
When that opponent is your RHO, the player in the hot seat is YOU.
When your side opens the bidding, HCP play a very significant role in your decision-making.
But, things are very different when the enemy bids first.
When your RHO opens, HCP are no longer the key.
Level, distribution, vulnerability, suit quality and your holding in RHO's suit are now more important.
Marty will discuss the following topics:
Why you should be super-aggressive after your RHO opens 1&clubs
When to pass a strong hand
Very flexible takeout doubles
1-level overcalls: All you need is a reason
1NT Overcalls: Very descriptive
2-level overcalls: 6-card suits are the norm
Two-suited overcalls: Some are better than others
Jump Overcalls: How aggressive should you be
Everyone loves to pick up a big hand. And when it is obvious to open 2&clubs, you are happy to do so. However, sometimes the decision as to whether you should open 2&clubs is far from obvious.
In addition, after a 2&clubs opening bid, and responder's 2&diams waiting bid, both players are somewhat in the dark. Responder knows absolutely nothing about opener's distribution. Meanwhile, not only does opener know nothing about responder's distribution, he also has absolutely no idea about the strength of responder's hand. Therefore, getting to the best contract is usually NOT a slam-dunk.
In his 42 examples, Marty will discuss:
What is the minimum number of HCP needed to open 2&clubs?
When should responder NOT respond 2&diams to a 2&clubs opener?
When can we stop below game?
Is it correct to open 2&clubs with a 2-suited hand?
When should you NOT open 2&clubs despite being strong enough?
How should opener proceed after responder's Double Negative?
How important is it for the stronger hand to be declarer?
After 2&clubs, when is it correct to jump?
When should the responder take control?
Defense is difficult. That is not debatable. It also represents an area of bridge where frequent errors are made.
Good defense can defeat MANY of your opponents' contracts. However, in reality MOST of those contracts are allowed to make.
Defense is also very subtle. When a hand is over and all 52 cards are in view, even experienced players often don't realize what they should or could have done.
However, every player can learn to defend better. If you are willing to work at improving your defense, you will improve.
The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How and when to count
How to use inferences from the bidding to find the best defense
How to make the most of your signals
The crucial principle "Suit preference in nothing suits"
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing
How to false card to cause declarer to not make a cold contract
How to break up a squeeze
Marty also discusses these bidding topics:
When you should overcall in a 4-card suit
How to make the most of "The magic of voids"
The little known but useful convention "Unusual Unusual Notrump"
A better convention than Ambiguous Michaels
Some deals are easy to play. Unfortunately, most are not. But as the examples in this lesson will illustrate, there is a silver lining. If you can learn the best way to size up the hand BEFORE starting to play, you will find yourself making more contracts than you ever did. Rather than spinning your wheels in many directions, these real-life deals will illustrate the approach you should take to focus on the key issues.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about BEFORE committing yourself. Although many players like "playing" more than "thinking", hopefully you agree that is often destined to yield very unsatisfactory results.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
Avoid losing finesses
Overcome bad splits
Know what you must about suit combinations
Take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
Know when (and why) to not follow "8 ever, 9 never"
Know when it's right to go for an endplay, and how to set it up
Execute a squeeze without being proficient on the subject
Know when it's right to play differently at matchpoints
A 2/1 GF response gets your partnership off to a great start. But based on what I continue to see, it does NOT ensure that a pair will have a good auction or get to a good contract. Unless your partnership has good agreements about the meaning of the followups, too often you will NOT get to the right contract.
The following MUST be discussed, and that's what this lesson is all about.
A. Go slowly with good hands.
Jump bids should NOT occur often.
But when is a descriptive jump bid needed
to tell partner what he needs to know?
B. Slam bidding
What are the 12 essential commandments that can enable you
to get to good slam contracts and avoid bad ones?
C. What should happen after a game forcing 2&clubs response to 1&diams?
The followups needed here are very different
than what you do after an opening bid in a major.
D. What should you do when an opponent interferes with your 2/1 GF auction?
E. How can you effectively interfere with your opponent's 2/1 GF auction?
F. After a 1NT response
Whether your 1NT response to a major is forcing or semi-forcing,
what MUST you know about these auctions that your peers do NOT know?
Once you carefully go through Marty's 67 practical carefully-explained examples,
you will be able to reach excellent contracts that your peers will miss.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
The 12 secrets of good slam bidding after a 2/1 GF response.
How to use and understand asking vs. telling bids when exploring for 3NT.
The key to getting to good minor-suit slams.
The rare hands that warrant a jump to 3NT.
How to intelligently bid slams when you have a void.
The highly recommended rebid structure for opener after 1&diams-2&clubs.
The little-known logical continuations after a quantitative 4NT bid.
An innovative way for opener to avoid rebid problems.
The right mindset to cause your opponents to go astray on their 2/1 GF auctions.
How to understand and use forcing passes to overcome enemy interference.
A little-known but easy-to-use convention that is essential for good slam bidding.
How to determine when it is correct to play in 5 of a minor.
Everyone knows that it is okay to open light in third seat. When you're in 3rd seat with a weak hand, 4th hand probably has the best hand at the table, so you'd love to inconvenience him.
However, there is much more to this topic than "After counting your HCP, feel free to open with a few less than were needed in 1st or 2nd seat."
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How light can you open?
How much difference does vulnerability make?
Why this is a great time for a frisky preempt.
Should you ever preempt with a decent hand?
Are there hands which call for opening in a major with a 4-card suit?
Should responder ever jump?
If you take a 2nd bid, do you promise a full opening bid?
Which conventions should be used by the responder?
One of the key elements of good declarer play is creating extra winners by developing a long suit. I can't remember the number of times I have said in a class: "I never met a 5-card suit I didn't like." Even a super-weak side suit such as 6 5 4 3 2 has the potential to develop additional tricks in either suit contracts or notrump. Of course, unless partner has a lot of length and strength in this suit, you would very much prefer that you got a good split.
On the other hand, when asked what is the most annoying type of hand to declare, the first thing that comes to mind is "hands where you get a bad split in trump." With an 8-card trump fit, almost 1/3 of the time, an opponent will have at least four trump against you. Therefore, learning how to try to cope with that kind of bad split can allow you to bring home contracts that proved too difficult for others.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
How to overcome a bad trump split
The right time to take a safety play
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
What you must know about suit combinations
How to make a loser disappear
How to give yourself an extra chance
When should you play differently at matchpoints
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
When must you take a deep finesse
How YOU can learn to execute a Trump Coup
This very special lesson includes the following bonus sections:
Essential principles of all signals
Time-tested practical tips to enable you to make better signals
Knowing how to proceed after receiving partner's signals
The correct way to signal with a worthless doubleton when partner leads the suit
19 instructive, carefully explained lesson deals
The Real Truth About Signals
The key to good defense is good signals.
And without good signals, even an expert will sometimes mis-defend.
Because defense is so difficult, the best pairs are constantly exchanging information
with their attitude, count and suit-preference signals.
And if experts need all that info from their partner
in order to have a chance to defend accurately,
it must be all the more critical for a non-expert.
Players reluctant to signal in fear of helping declarer are as wrong as they could be.
If your partner will or might benefit from your signal - give it.
It is important to keep in mind that whether partner encourages or discourages,
he is NOT giving a command.
He is simply expressing his opinion based on the information available to HIM.
As important as it is to give an accurate signal,
your partner MUST be able to interpret your spot card.
On some deals a 3 could be encouraging, or an 8 could be discouraging.
When asked if a 6 is high or low, the only correct answer is "YES."
In this lesson, I will discuss:
The correct thought process to go thru before making your signal
The correct thought process to go thru after receiving partner's signal.
How to ensure that your partner will do the right thing
How to help your partner find the key shift
When should you signal with an honor
How partner's signal can enable you to know declarer's exact holding in the suit.
How to decide whether you can afford to signal with a high card
When should you discourage despite great strength in the suit.
When should you encourage despite no strength in the suit
When is it correct (and safe) to falsecard
What is an "alarm clock" lead or play and when should you make it?
Here is an example of what I will teach:
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
North
East
South
West
1♣
1♠
4♥
All Pass
After a quick auction, you lead the ♠Q.
Partner plays the ♠8 and declarer follows with the ♠7.
How will you defend?
Answer To How Will You Defend?
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
Trick 1:
You won the ♠Q.
Your partner played the ♠8 and declarer played the ♠7.
If declarer could have won the first trick, he would have.
Your partner is marked with the ♠A and ♠K, so it seems automatic to continue spades.
However, if you do so, you are ignoring two factors.
1. Your partner signaled with his lowest spade.
This attitude signal said that he was discouraging a spade continuation.
2. Partner could have won the opening lead by overtaking your queen,
but he preferred to leave you on lead.
Based on #1 and #2, what should you conclude?
Your partner must be void in a minor!
In that case, it's up to you to find his void.
You and dummy have a total of 10 clubs, but only 8 diamonds.
So your correct defense is to shift to a club.
Once partner gets his club ruff, he will revert to spades.
You will sit back and hope that partner can take two additional tricks.
As you can see in the diagram of the full deal below,
if you found the club shift, 4♥ will be down 1.
Declarer will ruff the third round of spades with the ♥Q and cash the ♥A.
Partner's ♥K will take the setting trick.
If you had led a spade at trick 2,
the defense would be limited to three tricks.
In conclusion, here are two crucial principles of signaling that all players MUST be aware of:
1. After showing a suit in the auction, when partner leads your suit,
if it is possible for you to like the suit, you are still obligated to give an attitude signal.
That is true regardless of the type of bid (or lead-directing double) you made.
No matter what action you took in the auction, you didn't GUARANTEE
that after seeing the dummy and the cards played at trick 1,
you would want to encourage your partner to continue the suit.
2. "Later takes priority."
Whatever partner tells you in the defense carries more weight than anything he said in the auction.
Here is the full deal:
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
East
♠ A K J 9 8
♥ K 8 2
♦ 9 7 6 5 2
♣
South
♠ 10 7
♥ A Q J 10 9 7 5 3
♦
♣ 8 5 2
Knowing what to do after your partner opens and your right hand opponent (RHO) doubles is far from trivial.
In some situations, you should ignore the double and take the same action you would have made if your RHO had passed.
However, at other times, that is not the case.
In fact, because the meaning of certain calls is very different from the way they are defined in a non-competitive auction, there is a lot more to this topic that many players realize.
Every partnership must also be on their toes regarding conventions.
After an opponent's takeout double, many conventions should not apply.
However, experience has demonstrated that many players are unable to answer the $64,000 question:
What is on, and what is off?
Marty will discuss the following topics:
What's the key? HCP or distribution?
Which conventions are now off?
Which conventions are still on?
Which bids retain their usual meaning?
Which bids have a very different meaning?
How does "redouble" affect responder's actions?
How weak should you be for a weak jump shift (WJS) or weak jump raise (WJR)?
What 5-star convention is greatly under-appreciated?
So far, all of Marty's audio visual lessons have focused on bidding and declarer play. This month's lesson is devoted to defense, which is correctly regarded as the most difficult area of bridge. Many of his upcoming lessons will also focus on defense.
This month's lesson will concentrate on trying to defeat contracts of 4 of a major. Just as there is more to think about when declaring 4 of a major than playing in 3NT, the same is certainly true when on defense.
A good defender resembles a detective. He is constantly seeking clues, starting with the opponents' bidding. When dummy is tabled, both defenders must then stop and reflect on that new source of information. In addition, the opening leader's partner has the opportunity to consider the implications of the opening lead. Wow! All that, and we're only at trick one!
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # tricks
Why experts prefer "the simple defense."
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
Why you must rely on partner's signals
How to destroy declarer's transportation
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
How to improve your partnership defense
Here are some facts:
1. You rate to be on defense twice as often as you will be declarer.
2. Bridge teachers and other authorities agree that defense
is the most difficult part of the game.
3. The most frequently-played contract in bridge is 3NT.
And second place (4&spades) is a distant second.
4. The most common part-score is 1NT.
5. 2NT contracts are not uncommon.
6. Notrump contracts above 3NT do occur.
7. Eddie Kantar wrote: "At least half of your opponents' notrump contracts
can be defeated with a good defense, but the sad truth is that about
eighty percent of them are fulfilled."
Undeniable conclusion: The great importance of good defense of notrump
contracts can not be over-stated. In a word, it is crucial.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
How counting HCP can enable you to locate missing honors.
The step-by-step thought process needed to figure out declarer's distribution.
The correct thought process that will greatly improve your opening leads.
Practical tips to help you know what you must consider at trick 1.
How paying careful attention to spot cards played can tell you how to proceed.
How to further your knowledge of card combinations.
How to know when to say "NO" to second-hand low.
How you should react when The Rule of 11 "does NOT work."
Falsecards: The right (and wrong) times to do them.
Penalty doubles of 3NT: When they are correct, and when they are very wrong.
Almost 42% of all deals are played in a part-score. 50% of the time, you will be on defense. Therefore, on a typical afternoon or evening duplicate game, you will be defending a part-score on 5 deals. I bet that is a lot more often than you will use Stayman or Jacoby Transfers or even make a Negative Double.
Despite this, very few books discuss how to defend a part-score. And since all knowledgeable authorities agree that defense is more difficult than declarer play, it is no wonder that so many defeatable contracts are allowed to succeed.
Eddie Kantar wrote: "At least half of your opponents' contracts can be defeated with a good defense, but the sad truth is that about eighty percent of them are fulfilled."
That may be true of your peers, but for those who study the techniques in the 15 deals in this lesson, you WILL DEFINITELY see a dramatic rise in YOUR batting average.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of counting distribution and number of tricks
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How to destroy declarer's transportation
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
Why experts prefer "the simple defense"
How to improve your partnership defense
When you are making the opening lead, you face a dilemma
similar to ones encountered by fictional detectives such as
Sherlock Holmes. You have a chance to assemble and
evaluate clues and make deductions that can allow you to
make an effective opening lead.
Although consistently making a logical opening lead is challenging,
no area of bridge will be as critical in determining your fate on the deal.
There is no question that of all the 52 cards played in a bridge deal,
by far the most important one is the choice of opening lead.
This lesson is GUARANTEED to improve your opening leads.
It will also help you avoid the poorly chosen opening leads
that would make declarer delighted that he was playing against YOU!
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
Opening leads vs. all contracts
What types of opening leads are favored by experts.
The real truth about opening leads with matchpoint scoring.
The right and wrong times to lead dummy's suit.
Which popular opening leads are "a must to avoid."
When NOT to lead the top card of a sequence.
How assembling clues from the auction can help you make double dummy leads.
How to resolve the crucial "attacking or passive" dilemma.
Opening leads vs. notrump contracts
When should you prefer a top-of-nothing-lead.
Recommended agreements for honor leads.
With similar holdings, when should you prefer an unbid minor to an unbid major.
What suit you should lead when partner doubles 3NT.
When it is correct to lead declarer's suit.
Opening leads vs. suit contracts
How to KNOW the right time to lead trump.
The right and wrong times to try for a ruff.
The right mindset when declarer has preempted.
The 7 situations where Marty & Larry believe
that the opening lead of an ace should deny the king.
Here is an example of what Marty will teach:
North
South
1♦
1♥
1♠
2♦
3♥
4♥
Both sides are vulnerable.
As West you hold: ♠ A 4 3 ♥ A 2 ♦ 8 6 5 4 ♣ J 10 9 2
What do you lead against the opponents' 4♥ contract?
Solution:
What do you know about dummy's distribution?
His jump to 3♥ must be based on having 3 hearts and a very strong unbalanced hand.
Why unbalanced? If he had a strong balanced hand,
he would either open 1NT or jump to 2NT at his second turn.
Therefore he must be very short in clubs.
And if he has a singleton club along with his known 4 spades and 3 hearts,
he must have 5 diamonds.
Declarer's 2♦ preference promises at least 3 diamonds.
With your 4 diamonds and dummy's 5 diamonds,
you can be sure that your partner can't have more than one.
You also have a count on everyone's number of hearts.
Dummy has 3 and you have 2.
If declarer had 6 hearts, he would have made an immediate weak jump shift,
or rebid them after dummy rebid 1♠.
So, your partner has 3 hearts.
Aha! Having done your detective work, you are now ready
to confidently make the opening lead of a diamond.
Since you have the ♠A entry, you should make the suit-preference lead of the ♦8.
Here is the full deal:
Both Vulnerable
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♦8
North
♠ K 9 6 2
♥ K Q 9
♦ A J 10 9 3
♣ A
West (You)
♠ A 4 3
♥ A 2
♦ 8 6 5 4
♣ J 10 9 2
East
♠ J 10 8 5
♥ 6 5 4
♦ 2
♣ K Q 7 6 4
South
♠ Q 7
♥ J 10 8 7 3
♦ K Q 7
♣ 8 5 3
Declarer will win the diamond and lead a trump,
but you'll grab your ♥A and continue with the ♦6.
East will ruff and lead a spade to your ♠A.
You will lead another diamond. East will ruff again.
So declarer is down one.
With any other opening lead, the defense has no chance.
By the way: With your 2 aces + 4 diamonds,
knowing that your partner had to have 3 hearts and 0-1 diamond,
I would have doubled 4♥. Not only would that have increased the penalty,
but, although your partner couldn't have a strong hand,
if he had the ♠K or ♣A, that would have resulted in a juicy +500 for your side.
2 Over 1 Game Forcing (2/1 GF) is definitely the most popular system in modern bridge. And it should be. The ability to establish a game-forcing auction after 2 bids while only at the 2 level is a great way to start an auction. Once both players immediately know they are going to game (at least), they can go slowly and exchange information without any fear that their partner might pass.
Accordingly, almost everyone is playing 2/1 GF these days. Unfortunately, although this makes it easier to have a good auction, too many pairs often fail to get to their correct contract. Why is that?
They have not learned or discussed what should happen AFTER the 2/1 GF response. For starters, there are no fewer than 7 key issues that every pair must discuss and resolve as to how opener should rebid!
And there's more:
How should responder rebid?
What should happen on the third round of the auction?
Etc. etc.
That's what this lesson is all about. Once you go through Marty's 72 helpful, well-explained examples, you will be delighted with the excellent contracts you are now able to reach.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
Secrets that will greatly improve your bidding judgment.
How opener can make it easy for responder to choose the best contract.
Opener's correct mindset when choosing a rebid with an awkward hand.
Helpful guidelines for responder's first bid with a borderline hand.
When is it correct to rebid a strong 5-card suit.
How you can induce your opponents to lead your best suit.
What are the very few times where jumping is sensible.
Helpful little-known tips that will help you reach the best contract.
How to KNOW it's right to play in 3NT despite having a fit in a major.
The perfect solution when you are stuck for a bid.
Inescapable FACTS:
1. Every player (and partnership) would like to do better than they presently do.
2. Unless you and your partner declare and defend far better than "the field," the only possible way to significantly improve your results is to try to win the board in the auction. (Which could also be thought of as causing the opponents to lose the board in the auction.)
How can you win the board in the auction? By being super-aggressive competitively! If you can allow yourself to do this:
a. Your opponents will often NOT get to their correct contract. Of course you must also strive to not allow them to play in part-scores at a low level.
b. Your aggressive bid (or frisky lead-directing double) will enable your partner to make the best opening lead for your side. In addition, by immediately telling partner what you have, that definitely will improve his bidding.
If instead, you compete only with obvious hands, your matchpoint score will be dependent on your pair's ability in card play. But since very few players consistently take more tricks than other players do, the result of that approach is likely to produce average results. And at the end of the game, once again you end up with a mediocre score.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Avoid playing "scared bridge"
Cause your partner to bid more accurately than he ever has
KNOW what is the #1 key to better competitive bidding
Ensure that partner makes the best lead for your side
KNOW which overcalls are the most effective
Make aggressive bids that are virtually risk-free
KNOW which bids are guaranteed to help your partner the most
Give your opponents an unsolvable problem
KNOW when being vulnerable can work to your advantage
Resolve whether "to bid or not to bid" with non-obvious hands
KNOW the right approach to handle very distributional hands
Become more knowledgeable about sacrifice do's and dont's
Compete with hands where other players will settle for an unhelpful pass
Push your opponents around, and cause them to be eager to leave your table!
Almost 42% of all deals are played in partscores. Not surprisingly, the most common partscore contract is 1NT. Although only seven tricks are needed, three factors result in the fact that playing a 1NT contract is usually more difficult than declaring other partscores.
1. Although you have a lot of losers, you don't have an opportunity to ruff any of them.
2. One player usually has a lot more strength than his partner has, (such as when a 1NT opening is passed out). As a result, you will often have a lack of entries to the weak hand.
Taking tricks in notrump when one hand is very weak is a lot more difficult than if your side's assets are fairly even divided.
3. Your side has limited assets. That is why you stopped at the one level. Your side may even have less combined strength than the opponents have.
However, there is a silver lining as the examples in this lesson will illustrate. If declarer plays well, he often can find his way home to take seven tricks. These real-life deals will illustrate the techniques you can use to sharpen your declarer play and increase YOUR success in outplaying others in 1NT contracts.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about when you are declaring. This includes:
How to give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
How to overcome bad splits
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
What you must know about suit combinations
How to avoid losing finesses
The right time (and technique) to execute an endplay
How to judge when it's right to take a safety play
When should you play differently at matchpoints
When you are making the opening lead, you face a dilemma
similar to ones encountered by fictional detectives such as
Sherlock Holmes. You have a chance to assemble and
evaluate clues and make deductions that can allow you to
make an effective opening lead.
Although consistently making a logical opening lead is challenging,
no area of bridge will be as critical in determining your fate on the deal.
There is no question that of all the 52 cards played in a bridge deal,
by far the most important one is the choice of opening lead.
This lesson is GUARANTEED to improve your opening leads.
It will also help you avoid the poorly chosen opening leads
that would make declarer delighted that he was playing against YOU!
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
Opening leads vs. all contracts
What types of opening leads are favored by experts.
The real truth about opening leads with matchpoint scoring.
The right and wrong times to lead dummy's suit.
Which popular opening leads are "a must to avoid."
When NOT to lead the top card of a sequence.
How assembling clues from the auction can help you make double dummy leads.
How to resolve the crucial "attacking or passive" dilemma.
Opening leads vs. notrump contracts
When should you prefer a top-of-nothing-lead.
Recommended agreements for honor leads.
With similar holdings, when should you prefer an unbid minor to an unbid major.
What suit you should lead when partner doubles 3NT.
When it is correct to lead declarer's suit.
Opening leads vs. suit contracts
How to KNOW the right time to lead trump.
The right and wrong times to try for a ruff.
The right mindset when declarer has preempted.
The 7 situations where Marty & Larry believe
that the opening lead of an ace should deny the king.
Everyone loves to bid and make a slam. Of course, the opportunities to do so don't occur as often as you would like.
Of course, even if you bid well and get to a good slam contract, if it is not a laydown, you still have to try to find the line of play that gives you the best chance to make it. On most deals, that is easier said than done.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
Bidding
Little known but useful conventions
How to get to the best slam contract
How to have a good auction after interference
When should you make an unnecessary jump
Good auctions after opening 2&clubs
The key factor in bidding minor-suit slams
Play
How to give yourself extra chances
How to give a defender a choice of losing options
How to avoid depending on a finesse
When to not rely on "8 ever, 9 never."
How to overcome a bad split
How to recognize when to plan on an endplay
How to make a slam on a squeeze
3NT is the most often-played contract in bridge. That is not debatable. Almost 20% of all deals are played in 3NT. When playing 3NT, there are many possible things to think about when dummy is tabled. For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about to decide the best way to play the hand.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to make the most of your long suits
How to maximize your entries
How to make hands without risking a finesse
How to give yourself an extra chance
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
When should you play differently at matchpoints
So far, all of Marty's audio visual lessons have focused on bidding and declarer play. This month's lesson is devoted to defense, which is correctly regarded as the most difficult area of bridge. Many of his upcoming lessons will also focus on defense.
This month's lesson will concentrate on trying to defeat contracts of 4 of a major. Just as there is more to think about when declaring 4 of a major than playing in 3NT, the same is certainly true when on defense.
A good defender resembles a detective. He is constantly seeking clues, starting with the opponents' bidding. When dummy is tabled, both defenders must then stop and reflect on that new source of information. In addition, the opening leader's partner has the opportunity to consider the implications of the opening lead. Wow! All that, and we're only at trick one!
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # tricks
Why experts prefer "the simple defense."
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
Why you must rely on partner's signals
How to destroy declarer's transportation
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
How to improve your partnership defense
Here are some facts:
Almost 42% of deals are played in part-scores, so there is no question that they are very important. When playing matchpoints, the difference between making a part-score and going down one will have the same impact as if you were playing a game or slam.
Why aren't part-score deals featured more often in lessons, books, and newspaper columns? The answer is that they are frequently far more difficult to declare than a game or slam. Since part-scores require fewer tricks than other contracts, you would think that they are easier to make.
But that is NOT true. Instead, the reality is that since declarer has limited assets, and may even be forced to play in a 7-card trump fit, it is usually more difficult to make a part-score than a game or slam! When you are declarer on a deal where your side lacks the values for game, selecting the best line of play is often very difficult.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Know the right time to count winners in a suit contract.
Take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction.
Count the opponents' distribution to enable you to make "unmakable" contracts.
Use negative inferences from the opening lead to locate missing honors.
Improve your understanding of suit combinations.
Decide when to draw trump ASAP despite a questionable trump suit.
Know when it is correct to intentionally ruff often in the hand with trump length.
Induce an opponent to help you by covering an honor with an honor.
Benefit from useful advice to know how to induce errors with a falsecard.
Understand the essential principle of Restricted Choice.
These days, everyone seems to be preempting more than ever. Most players are very aware how effective preempts can be in forcing the opponents to guess what to do.
Of course, decisions after an enemy preempt need not be a blind guess. Experts have learned to rely on important principles that have withstood the test of time. And that's what this lesson is all about.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
What factor is a lot more important than HCP?
How can you choose between a double or a bid?
Cue-bid: When should it NOT be Michaels?
Why should 3NT become your favorite contract?
Which notrump bids are Unusual?
When is an overcall justified on a so-so 5-card suit?
How do experts define a double of 4 of a major?
When should you make a notrump overcall with an unbalanced hand?
How much more aggressive should you be in the balancing seat?
Here are some facts:
Once dummy is tabled, and before you play a card, after counting your winners (or losers), you must STOP, THINK, and make a plan. There are many areas you must address. Here are several of the most important ones:
A. How do you plan to reduce your number of losers (or increase your number of winners)?
B. Identify the key suit to work on.
In a notrump contract, it is NOT always your longest combined suit. Frequently, it is a suit where you are missing the ace.
In a suit contract, if declarer's hand includes 4+ cards in a side suit, that is often the suit you must address.
C. What technique should you use in this key suit?
There are many possibilities, such as taking a finesse or losing a loser early.
C. Trump.
How many trump do the opponents have? Should you draw trump ASAP? (More often than not, the correct answer is NO.)
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand.
Be more knowledgeable in deciding whether to draw trump.
Overcome bad splits.
Succeed no matter which opponent has a missing honor.
Draw helpful inferences about the opening leader's hand from the card he led.
Take advantage of subtle clues from a revealing auction.
Know when and how to execute an endplay (even in NT).
Become more proficient in not being dependent on a finesse.
Use a discovery play to avoid a guess.
Make a deceptive play that rates to succeed.
Here are some facts:
Every time I play duplicate bridge, the most prevalent theme in every session is - the defense is awful. An expert friend told me that when he declares a hand in a duplicate game, if the defenders present him with one undeserved trick, he is disappointed! He has come to expect at least two!!
Everyone knows (or should) that defense is the most difficult part of bridge. Accordingly, most players ignore the problem and hope that it will cure itself. They continue to trust their instincts, play a lot and hope for a miracle cure. Guess how that works out.
If instead, YOU are willing to take the time to learn more about defense, no one can guarantee that you'll become a terrific defender. But I bet that those who make an effort will be delighted when they see their opponents make fewer contracts and overtricks.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to exhibit detective skills that would impress Sherlock Holmes
The wondrous things you can accomplish when you count distribution
How to locate missing honors
How to resolve the critical question: Active vs. passive defense
How declarer's line of play can tell you how to defend
How to understand when it's right to shift to a trump
How you can cut the declarer's communication
What you must know about "alarm clock" leads
How declarer's line of play can enable you to locate missing honors
When is it 100% wrong to lead "thru strength and around to weakness"
As a bonus, Marty will also discuss some important bidding concepts:
What little-known bid will severely disrupt your opponents' auction
The real truth about a double of a 4&spades opening
When it is correct to double 3NT
The correct mindset when your opponent opens 2&clubs
Here are some facts:
In this extensive lesson with 60 examples, Marty will examine and explain the right thought process for each of the four seats and four vulnerabilities.
Unless you have good bidding judgment, you have no chance to bid well. Fortunately, regardless of your level, there are many little-known tips and suggestions that definitely will improve your judgment.
Most players were not born with great card sense. They can, of course, make good progress with their card play, but "Great card players are born, not made." On the other hand, every player can be taught
to bid a lot more effectively than he presently does. That is especially true when you have the opportunity to make the first bid. This is a wonderful time to begin describing your hand as well as putting your opponents on the defensive. Too many players fail to make the most of a situation that, as far as I'm concerned, can't occur often enough.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
The surefire way to improve your judgment
How to GUARANTEE that you won't have a rebid problem
How to get great results with aggressive weak 2-bids
How his invaluable Rule of 24 will enable you to make the most effective bid in 3rd seat
How to greatly improve your partner's opening leads
When you can know your partner's point-count before he bids
In 4th seat, when you should "violate" the Rule of 15
When is it clearly correct to open 3NT
When is it definitely correct to open a weak-2 with a hand worth a 1-bid
The right and wrong time to open 4-of-a-major
After opener rebids 1NT, if responder has a 5-card major and 11+HCP, roughly 2/3 of non-experts rely on New Minor Forcing (NMF). We agree that responder needs an economical asking bid here, but NMF has many VERY SERIOUS FLAWS.
Here are some of them:
The NMF bid is forcing, but is NOT forcing to game, so opener does NOT know responder's intentions. Does he have a game-forcing hand or just an invite? Therefore, NMF auctions often resemble uncertain reverse auctions rather than smooth 2/1 GF ones.
Responder doesn't promise a rebid, so opener feels the need to jump with a maximum. This will often prevent responder from describing his distribution.
Some of responder's rebids are not forcing. If he has a strong hand, he may not be able to make the economical bid he would like to make. By the way, do you know which rebids by responder are forcing and which aren't?
After responder's 2&diams NMF bid, if opener has no major, he will rebid 2NT (or 3NT). That is very inefficient. If responder has an invitational hand with a singleton, this will often land the partnership in a hopeless contract.
If all we were going to do is criticize NMF, that would not do YOU any good. But, regardless of your level, and whether or not you play NMF, THERE IS A MUCH BETTER WAY.
It is everything that NMF is not.
It allows responder to immediately specify "invitational or game forcing." Once he does, both players KNOW which bids are forcing and which are not. That is HUGE!
And, best of all, the new approach is NOT difficult. Everything you will ever need to know about this is available in the lesson.
This is NOT a typical Marty Bergen audio-visual lesson. Although it includes all of our normal features, it is FAR more extensive. If you like more bang for your buck, this lesson is made for YOU.
The lesson contains:
50 well-explained 26-card examples of how a partnership can accurately bid part-scores, games, and slams.
Over 40 helpful 13-card examples to illustrate the correct bids.
Audio and transcript that are even more comprehensive than other lessons.
Important tips to improve your hand evaluation skills
Specific rules about what to do when the opponents interfere.
Very helpful advice for hands not strong enough for game. 42% of all deals are played in part-scores, so these tips will also help YOU make good decisions with non-game hands when opener did not rebid 1NT.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss how you can EASILY:
Clarify responder's intent early in the auction.
Have an economical, efficient auction.
Sign off, invite game, force to game, invite slam.
Stay low with hands not quite strong enough for game.
Not allow opener to ever get in responder's way.
Have auctions that resemble 2/1 GF as opposed to uncertain reverse auctions.
Allow responder to describe his distribution.
Play in a secure 2 of a major rather than a risky or hopeless 2NT contract.
Improve your ability to evaluate accurately.
Let responder easily check for a 5-3 spade fit after 1&hearts - 1&spades - 1NT.
Know when it's right to play 3NT with an 8-card fit in a major.
Bid good slams and avoid bad ones.
When asked what is the single most important topic for declarer, I always answer: "Managing entries".
On many hands, the unsuccessful declarer's downfall was a result of his not being as efficient as he could have been with his entries.
Here are a few tips that are worth keeping in mind:
When you have a choice of where to win a trick, ask yourself, "Where will I need to be later?"
Don't be a grabber. A good declarer loses tricks early in the play.
Learn to appreciate intermediate cards. Their importance cannot be overstated.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about to maximize your entries. This includes:
How to give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
How to make the most of your long suits
How to make the most of your intermediates
When it is wrong to use up the honor from the short side first
When should you take a safety play
When you should "lose your losers early"
When is it more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
When should you play differently at matchpoints
After sorting my cards, one of the first things I do
is look for intermediate cards (eights, nines and tens).
An average holding would be one of each intermediate,
so of course I hope I received more than my share.
Obviously, I look more fondly at tens than the two lesser intermediate cards.
The presence or absence of intermediate cards will always
influence my hand evaluation and bidding.
Not only do I regard K 10 9 8 a lot differently than K 4 3 2,
but I consider the former to be the equivalent of K J 3 2 and call it 4 HCP.
The presence or absence of intermediate cards is also extremely relevant
for both the declarer and the defenders.
If I declare a notrump contract with K 10 9 8 opposite J 6 5,
I'm eager to attack the suit.
50% of the time, I will take 3 tricks, but even if their queen is offsides,
I still will have developed 2 winners.
Whereas, with K 4 3 2 opposite J 6 5, if I need to attack this suit,
the most likely result is that I set up several tricks for the defenders!
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to use your intermediates to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make a "hopeless" contract
Induce an opponent's error
Succeed regardless of which opponent has the missing honor
Improve your knowledge of suit combinations
Be in a position to take finesses that are guaranteed to succeed
Overcome a blocked suit
Understand the important principle of Restricted Choice
Execute an avoidance play to ensure that the dangerous opponent never gets in
Improve your proficiency with ruffing finesses
Take logical precautions to guard against a bad trump split
These days, many players seem to preempt more than ever. Although some hands are easy, on others deciding whether or not to preempt is anything but.
Even when it is obvious to preempt, you also must decide how many to bid. We all know that traditional thinking for preempts is: Open 2 with 6 cards, 3 with 7, and 4 with 8. However, suit quality, vulnerability, seat, and distribution should all play a significant role in your decision-making.
The bottom line for all bidding decisions is: Unless you develop good bidding judgment, you can't possibly be a good bidder.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
What is the most important factor in deciding "to preempt or not to preempt.".
What is a perfect preempt?
When should you preempt with a side 4-card major?
Why is first seat different than second.
The right time for a weak-2 with a 7-card suit.
Which flaws should stop you from preempting.
What is the minimum suit quality for an opening 3-bid.
When should you preempt with an opening bid.
What do you need for a fourth seat weak-2.
How good a hand do you need for a vulnerable preempt.
How will Marty's secrets, tips, and 87 examples help you be more successful?
They will help you:
Win the board in the auction.
Make winning bids and non-penalty doubles that will cause YOU to be your partner's favorite partner.
Have more insight about winning bidding tactics that your peers do not know about.
Avoid sins of omission, which are just as costly as sins of commission.
Improve your "To compete or not" judgment when your side is vulnerable.
This invaluable lesson will cover many essential topics. Here are a few of them:
How to ensure that you won't be guilty of playing "scared bridge."
What familiar auction is Marty's absolute favorite one!
How YOU can ensure that your partner will make the BEST opening lead.
What is definitely the most effective of all overcalls.
Modern doubles and how all non-expert pairs can make the best use of them.
What every player NEEDS TO KNOW about forcing passes.
When it is 100% correct to preempt with a hand strong enough to open.
What Bergen secret will help you bid good slams and avoid bad ones.
How Marty's Rule of 24 will greatly improve your actions in third seat.
The real truth about what you need to make a FREE BID.
An easy guide to help you decide whether to make a non-obvious penalty double.
Everyone knows that declarer must figure out his line of play at trick 1.
He is NOT the only player who should be thinking and planning.
But, since the defenders don't get to see their partner's cards,
they are usually not able to immediately do as much planning as declarer can.
Of course, by thinking about the opponent's hands during the auction,
a player who wants to defend well should already have begun the "investigation process."
Once you get to see dummy's cards, you must take time
to process this new source of essential information.
In addition, you are now in a position to learn a great deal about declarer's hand.
Once you've been shown EXACTLY what you should be thinking about,
you don't need to be an expert to significantly improve your defense.
You CAN learn to defend better than your peers do.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
Exactly what must each defender think about at trick 1
The correct thought process to enable you to find the killing opening lead
How counting HCP can allow you to locate a missing honor
The correct mindset to figure out declarer's distribution
How to know when to say "NO" to second-hand low
Falsecards: The right (and wrong) times to do them
How to resolve the crucial active vs. passive dilemma
How every pair can benefit from SPINS signals (suit preference in nothing suits)
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing
As soon as dummy is tabled, and before you play a card, after counting losers (or winners), you must STOP, THINK, and COME UP WITH A PLAN. There are many areas you must address. Here are some of the most important ones:
A. How do you plan to reduce your # losers (or increase your # winners)? The three most desirable ways are:
Ruff losers in the hand with fewer trumps.
Make use of a long suit to discard losers. (Very often, you need to begin setting up the suit ASAP.)
Hope to endplay the opponents to avoid a finesse.
B. Consider the trump suit:
How many trump do the opponents have?
How are they likely to divide?
Should you lead trump ASAP? Marty sez: Unless 100% sure that the correct answer is yes -- DON'T!
If the answer to #3 is yes, how many rounds should you play?
Last but not least: If declarer's hand includes a side suit of 4+ cards, that is usually the key suit to focus on.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand.
Turn losers into winners.
Find a surefire way to avoid losing finesses.
Learn a deceptive play that's sure to succeed.
Decide whether or not to draw trump.
Improve your knowledge of suit combinations.
Overcome bad splits.
Take advantage of clues from the opponent's auction.
Visualize (and begin setting up) an endplay early in the play.
Know when it's right to play differently at IMPs.
A 1-level response in a suit is not very descriptive.
Responder is promising at least 4 cards in his suit with 6+ points.
A 1H response could be based on a very weak hand, such as:
&spades86 &heartsJ753 &diamsK72 &clubsQ764
However, responder also might have a terrific hand, such as:
&spades (void) &heartsAK9864 &diamsKJ2 &clubsAKJ4
Without question, the 1-level response is one of the most ambiguous bids in bridge.
The opening bidder does not know much about his partner's hand.
Therefore, at responder's second turn, he MUST make a descriptive bid.
The bottom line here is:
After a 1-level response in a suit, responder's rebid is the key bid in the auction.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to deduce what opener holds.
How opener's first two bids affect the evaluation of your hand.
How to correctly resolve close decisions.
How to improve your bidding judgment.
What responder needs to reverse.
4th Suit Forcing - the absolutely essential convention for all levels.
Although everyone can improve their declarer play and defense, it's not easy to make huge improvements in these areas. When it comes to card play, great players are born not made.
However, regardless of how well you play, every player can greatly improve their bidding. As long as you have access to sound advice and are open-minded, you can make great strides.
In order to do so, you must learn how to figure out the TRUE VALUE of your hand. You can learn to do this, but you first need to be willing to not be overly dependent on point-count.
The topics Marty will cover include:
The 9 key factors in determining the true value of your hand
How to KNOW if your hand is upgradable, downgradable, or OK as is
The true value of honor cards
Why "Location, location, location" is so crucial
The great importance of your distribution in your 3 shortest suits.
The true value of a 7-card suit
Tips on how to get the most out of the Rule of 20
How to improve your results with notrump opening bids
When you should think twice about preempting with a 7-card suit
What hand-types scream for aggressive bidding
No one could disagree with these two statements:
Every player would love to play better and do better than they presently do.
You will defend twice as often as you will declare.
From these statements, what should you conclude?
In order to play better and be more successful, it is essential to improve your defense
Unfortunately, there is no question that defense is the most difficult aspect of bridge.
Therefore, a pessimist would say "I am not a great player, so I will never be a good defender."
On the other hand, the fact that defense is difficult can work in your favor.
Because good defense is both difficult and subtle, the great majority of players fail to think about what they could have done, take no steps to defend better, hope that the problem will cure itself, and continue to frequently mis-defend.
However, if you are realistic enough to know that no problem is ever solved by ignoring it, this online lesson can be the first step to improving your defense. And even if your improvement is modest, as long as you make some progress, you will be doing MUCH BETTER than your peers. They are under the delusion that all they need to do to improve is play a lot of bridge, and as a result, continue to make the same errors that they made in the past.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss the following:
The wonderful things you can accomplish when you are willing to count.
How to determine that it's "now or never."
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing.
How to cause declarer to do the wrong thing.
Why you MUST think before you play.
The right (and wrong) time to falsecard.
Why you sometimes should not want to get a ruff.
How to create trump tricks out of thin air.
When you should intentionally give declarer a ruff and sluff.
How to get a good matchpoint score by minimizing declarer's overtricks.
When you have a loser that you hope to avoid, an endplay (throw-in play) is often the solution. Frequently, the loser is in your "iffy" suit. This is a suit where the outcome is uncertain.
Clearly, the solution for an iffy suit is: "Last is best." When a defender leads a suit, your side plays last. What could be better? You don't need to go up with an honor and hold your breath waiting to see if it is covered or captured. Instead, you can sit back and wait to see what they play before you have to commit yourself.
If you want to force a defender to make a helpful lead, you must have a throw-in card. This is an inevitable loser that you can afford to lose. But, before throwing a defender in, you must be sure that your problem will be solved regardless of which suit he leads.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
Why endplays are infinitely better than finesses
How to know if an endplay is possible
What must be present to achieve an endplay in a suit contract
When it is possible to have an endplay in notrump
When it will matter which defender is thrown in
What must be done to set up the endplay
The great importance of managing your entries
The right thinking when you do your stripping
The correct mindset when given a ruff-sluff
Most pairs do not defend well. You can disagree,
or believe that the statement does not apply to you and your favorite partner.
But it is a fact.
However, every cloud has a silver lining. If the two of you can make some
progress in this area while your peers fail to do so,
your results will improve significantly.
What is the realistic way that a non-expert pair can make that progress?
Improve their signals.
Which types of signals should you learn about that offer
the best opportunity to greatly improve your results on defense?
Answer: Suit preference and SPINS.
"Marty, that sounds good. I just have one question.
I've seen SPINS listed on the bottom of the back side
of a convention card under OTHER CARDING.
But what is SPINS?"
SPINS stands for "Suit Preference In Nothing Suits."
Some players regard the phrase "nothing suits"
as referring only to the trump suit, or to those suits
where the defenders are known to have no relevant strength.
However, since all suit preference signals focus on giving information
about suits other than the suit led, it is accurate to say that:
"All suit preference signals can be regarded as SPINS signals."
In this lesson, I will discuss:
The correct thought process to go thru before making your signal
The correct thought process to go thru after receiving partner's signal.
How to ensure that your partner will do the right thing
How to help your partner find the key shift
How to give the best signal when you lack the perfect card
How to determine the right time to give a suit preference signal.
SPINS signals in the trump suit when your side leads trump
SPINS signals in the trump suit when declarer leads trump
How to make your signal so clear that any partner will get the message.
How to KNOW if partner's signal is suit preference, attitude or count.
Notrump deals where SPINS signals are crucial
Those deals where a suit preference signal should NOT be given
Knowing what to do on defense is not easy, but definitely is necessary. However, unless you also know when to do it, the outcome will often not be the one you are looking for.
Good planning is just as important for the defenders as it is for declarer. Unfortunately, because you get to see only half of your side's assets, it is usually more difficult to do.
A non-expert will never be able to defend as well as an expert. However, when shown the right way to size up a hand, every player can learn to defend better than they presently do.
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
The correct way to think at trick 1 before you turn your card over
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # of tricks
How to draw inferences from declarer's line of play
How to "tell" partner the way you want him to defend
How to get the most out of partner's signal
When to say no to "second-hand low"
Know how you can prepare to "duck smoothly"
How to give useful information in "nothing suits"
Knowing what to do on defense is not easy, but definitely is necessary. However, unless you also know when to do it, the outcome will often not be the one you are looking for.
Good planning is just as important for the defenders as it is for declarer. Unfortunately, because you get to see only half of your side's assets, it is usually more difficult to do.
A non-expert will never be able to defend as well as an expert. However, when shown the right way to size up a hand, every player can learn to defend better than they presently do.
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
The correct way to think at trick 1 before you turn your card over
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # of tricks
How to draw inferences from declarer's line of play
How to "tell" partner the way you want him to defend
How to get the most out of partner's signal
When to say no to "second-hand low"
Know how you can prepare to "duck smoothly"
How to give useful information in "nothing suits"
When it comes to finesses, a major philosophical difference separates the masses from the most accomplished players.
Most players love to finesse. Finessing is usually simple, and it provides immediate gratification (when it works).
However, experts don't like to finesse never have and never will.
Why? Finesses lose half the time.
Marty compares the expert's mindset with that of a professional gambler.
He certainly doesn't get rich on 50-50 propositions.
Of course, that does does not mean that you should never finesse.
Finessing will always be an important part of the game.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think to decide whether or not you should finesse.
How to give yourself an extra chance
When should you play differently at matchpoints
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
What you must know about suit combinations
How to avoid annoying misguesses
How to make the most of 5-card suits
How to prevent the dangerous opponent from gaining the lead
The right time to lose your loser(s)
The right time to throw a loser on a loser
The right time to go for an endplay
The right time to take a safety play
Deciding whether or not you have a slam is not easy.
Even experts do NOT shine in this area.
However, if you can set the trump suit early in the auction, that is a very good way to begin.
And if you can do so at an economical level, youre off to a good start.
A Jacoby 2NT response to opener's major accomplishes all of the above.
This is a convention that should be part of every pair's repertoire.
This convention is one of the keys to good slam bidding.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to decide whether to respond 2NT.
The correct way for opener to re-evaluate after 2NT.
How opener can easily show a void
How to know when to forget about slam.
The lowdown on opener's jump to the 4-level
Bergen-Cohen philosophy for Jacoby 2NT auctions
What every partnership must discuss
One of the most "In" conventions in modern bridge is Roman Keycard (RKC).
In fact, some beginners are using it!
RKC can be very helpful in accurate slam bidding.
Without question, the king and queen of trump are relevant cards.
On the other hand, there is a lot more to this convention than you might think.
Whether you use all of it, or only some, if your partnership has not taken the time to discuss nonobvious responses and continuations:
Good luck! You'll need it.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to show the trump queen and when not to worry about it.
How to proceed after an ambiguous response, such as 0 or 3.
How to respond with a void
The efficient way to ask for king
How to do better than "Last bid suit"
The best way to invite 7
When should you NOT use RKC
Bergen-Cohen RKC rules.
Once you bid them, how you should play them
Taking a sacrifice has several ways to gain:
1. Similar to the upside of balancing, you'd love it if your bid pushed the opponents to a higher level. Defending that contract is definitely an example of heads you win (if they go down), while tails you tie (if they make it).
2. There is the slim chance that the opponents will not double you.
3. You do rate to get doubled, but as long as the penalty is less than the score the opponents would have received for making their contract, you are better off.
On the other hand, the sacrifice may work out badly:
1. The opponents would not have made their contract. When this happens, we refer to your action as a "phantom sacrifice". No matter how many you go down, this is a bad result.
2. You go down more tricks than you intended, so you lose more points than they would have made in their contract.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
When you are considering a sacrifice:
The 7 golden principles that you MUST know.
Which enemy auctions are GREAT ones to interfere with.
Why an advance sacrifice is the best way to sacrifice.
How to avoid taking phantom sacrifices.
When it is correct to sacrifice against a slam.
When you should sacrifice against a 3NT contract.
The right time to make a sacrifice suggestion.
When you should and should not be willing to go to the 5 level.
When the opponents sacrifice:
How to use a forcing pass to help decide if your side should double or bid.
If you end up on defense, what is the expert philosophy for opening leads?
Every time you have a trump suit, that is definitely your most important suit. In a suit contract, your goal is to reduce your number of losers to an acceptable number. How you handle your trump is often the key. Deciding whether to draw trump first is important, but it is only the first step. There are so many other factors. You must concern yourself with all of the following:
Entries
Timing
Long suits
Short suits
Ruffs by your side
Potential ruffs and overruffs by the defenders
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed. This includes:
Should you lead trump immediately? If so, how many?
When counting winners can guide you to the best line.
On a cross-ruff, which suit should you ruff first?
When should you not ruff a loser?
When do you need to ruff with a high trump?
How to ruff a loser despite not having a short suit.
When you should draw trump despite having losers you could ruff.
How to maximize your intermediates in the trump suit.
When you should execute a dummy reversal.
How YOU can learn to execute a trump coup.
How YOU can set up an end play.
Sometimes the opponents first few bids make it clear that they have the balance of power. Meanwhile you have a weak or mediocre hand. When that scenario occurs, how do you react?
Some players reach into their bidding box for a lot of green pass cards, and in effect announce, "wake me when it's over." They are totally at the mercy of the opponents, and are resigned to hoping that the opponents will fail to arrive at their best contract.
No thanks! That laid-back, "I'll take a nap and hope they screw up" approach does NOT appeal to me. When my side has the good cards, I much prefer that the opponents stay out of my way. Therefore, when the other side has the good cards, even though I have a weak hand, I strive to "give them hell."
For some players, bidding without many points is out of the question. If that is how you feel, this lesson is NOT for you. But if YOU like to do well and want to be regarded as an opponent who must be respected and even feared, you definitely should keep reading.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to safely interfere with certain opposing auctions where you have rarely (if ever) been competitive in the past. In particular, he will demonstrate how to effectively disrupt your opponents AND enable your partner to make the best opening lead on ALL of the following auctions:
An opponent opens with a strong 2&clubs bid
Their Jacoby 2NT auction
Their 2/1 game forcing auction
Their Inverted Minor raise to two
Your RHO's Stayman response to 1NT
An opponent opens with a Precision 1&clubs
Your LHO opens, your partner doubles, and your RHO redoubles.
The topics Marty will cover include:
Why after this lesson you too will be preaching the virtues of "WOW-BASH"!
How to identify the auctions that lend themselves to frisky interference
Which overcalls are the most effective for your side
What actions are the most likely to cause the opponents to go astray
Why you should be ecstatic when your RHO redoubles partner's takeout double
How you can MAKE SURE that your partner will make the best opening lead
Why favorable vulnerability is "a license to steal"
The best conventions to use when the opponents are strong
One of the most important considerations for a defender is to decide whether to defend a deal actively or passively.
Some deals call for active defense. On these, you must be very aggressive in trying to set up or cash winners, attack an entry, etc. Active defense usually involves breaking new suits and hoping partner has the right card(s).
On the other hand, on many deals the best approach for the defenders is to be passive. In bridge, "passive defense" should NOT be regarded as a negative term. Unless you have a sequence, or are leading a suit where partner has promised length and/or strength, there are infinite situations where breaking a new suit will hand declarer an extra trick in that suit.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss the following:
The great benefits of counting declarer's distribution and winners
"Last is best", "first is (often) worst"
How to take advantage of knowing something that declarer doesn't
When to say "NO" to second-hand low
The right time to take your ace of trump
The right time to false card
The right (and wrong) time to try to give partner a ruff
When should you be unwilling to lead "around to weakness."
How to understand and execute surrounding plays
When partner makes a takeout double, you have a number of choices. When your RHO passes, you will usually make a minimum bid in an unbid suit. That could be based on a total Yarborough. Therefore, when you do have some values, you should try hard to let partner know that you are not broke. Of course, sometimes your RHO won't pass. If you don't have something to talk about, you are now welcome to pass. However, that does NOT mean that because you are off the hook, you should be eager to pass. A free bid does NOT promise a rose garden. In his 50 examples, Marty will discuss: If RHO passes:
When you're forced to lie, what is the lesser of evils?
How much strength is needed for a jump?
What does a cue-bid show?
Is this the right time to bid up-the-line?
Does a jump response promise a 5-card suit?
If RHO doesn't pass:
What is the correct mindset?
Exactly what do you need to make a free bid?
How relevant is the vulnerability?
How can you show values when you lack a descriptive bid?
Can you ever make a Michaels-type cue-bid?
When your RHO raises, what is your #1 priority?
After a redouble:
Which notrump bids are Unusual?
How can you survive when you are in trouble?
How can you attack when you are not in trouble?
"Counting to a bridge player is similar to an actor learning his lines. It doesn't guarantee success, but he can't succeed without it." George Kaufman, esteemed playwright and prominent bridge player
As important as it is for declarer to count, for the defenders counting is even more crucial. Counting involves effort.
Unfortunately, many players are unwilling to put in the work needed. As a result, although at least 1/2 of your opponents' contracts can be defeated, more than 3/4 of them are fulfilled. If you can learn to defend even fairly well, you are virtually guaranteed to be a successful player.
What must defenders count?
Distribution
High Card Points (HCP)
Number of Tricks
Use the following clues to count distribution:
Bids and doubles that other players made
Bids and doubles that other players did NOT make
What you know each time a player shows out of a suit
Partner's count signals
As soon as dummy is tabled, always try to count HCP. The best situations to do this are when declarer has made a bid which narrowly defines his HCP range. As you know, most notrump bids are well-defined.
Whenever possible, count the potential number of tricks:
For the defense
For declarer
In this lesson, Marty will discuss how counting can:
Enable your side to be the only pair to defeat seemingly "ice-cold" contracts
Help you find the killing opening lead
Locate a singleton in partner's hand and give him a ruff
Help you to prevent declarer from setting up a suit
Tell you exactly what is your only chance to defeat the contract
Help partner find the best defense
Tell you when to say "NO" to second-hand low
Let you KNOW the location of missing honors
Help you resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
Enable you to mislead declarer because you know something that he doesn't
Many players would tell you this is easy. If you have 15-17 HCP and a balanced hand, you open 1NT. If you don't meet both of those requirements, you open in a suit. Case closed!
Sorry, but Marty begs to differ. There is a lot more to this. Take a look at the following hands. What would you open? Marty thinks the correct answer is logical, but he believes that many players would do the wrong thing.
Hand 1 : &spadesQJ2 &heartsQJ2 &diamsQJ32 &clubsKQJ
This is a balanced hand with 15 HCP (on the surface). If you would open 1NT with this, Marty's best advice is: "Don't tell anyone, and hope that you never pick up this hand." This pile of garbage is NOT worth 1NT. The correct opening bid is 1&diams.
Hand 2 : &spadesAQ &heartsAQ98 &diams109542 &clubsKJ
This hand has two doubletons, so it is not "balanced." The correct description for 5-4-2-2 distribution is "semi-balanced." But if you open 1&diams and partner responds 1&spades, a 1NT rebid would show a minimum opening bid. Therefore, Marty hopes YOU would correctly open 1NT and avoid a rebid problem.
Of course, most hands are not as obvious as these two. Marty hopes you will join him in taking a closer look at this important topic. This lesson will definitely improve your "open 1NT or not?" judgment. The many topics he will discuss include the following:
Why 1NT should be your favorite opening bid
What experts recommend for hands with a 5-card major
When you should open 1NT with a 6-card minor
When you should open 1NT with two doubletons
How seat and vulnerability affect borderline hands
Should you go with the field?
Marty will discuss how to correctly evaluate your HCP and distribution so you will be able to determine which hands are:
too weak to open 1NT
too strong to open 1NT
the right strength to open 1NT
On this topic, there is a huge difference between the typical player and the more accomplished player.
Most players can't wait to draw trump first.
They will never forget the time that they didn't draw trump, and went down because one of their winners got ruffed.
They are determined to never have that happen again.
Until the opponents trump are gone, they worry that something will go wrong.
However, that is not the expert mindset.
Experts appreciate that it is usually wrong to draw trump first.
Why is that?
On the great majority of hands, there is a good reason why drawing trump must be postponed.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about to make this often-crucial decision:
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
When you should play differently at matchpoints
How to avoid a losing finesse
How to make the most of 5-card suits
How to maximize your entries
The right time to lose your losers
The right time to take a safety play
How to set up an endplay
Knowing what to do after your right hand opponent (RHO) opens is crucial.
On 50% of the deals you play, the player who opens the bidding is your opponent.
When that opponent is your RHO, the player in the hot seat is YOU.
When your side opens the bidding, HCP play a very significant role in your decision-making.
But, things are very different when the enemy bids first.
When your RHO opens, HCP are no longer the key.
Level, distribution, vulnerability, suit quality and your holding in RHO's suit are now more important.
Marty will discuss the following topics:
Why you should be super-aggressive after your RHO opens 1&clubs
When to pass a strong hand
Very flexible takeout doubles
1-level overcalls: All you need is a reason
1NT Overcalls: Very descriptive
2-level overcalls: 6-card suits are the norm
Two-suited overcalls: Some are better than others
Jump Overcalls: How aggressive should you be
Everyone loves to pick up a big hand. And when it is obvious to open 2&clubs, you are happy to do so. However, sometimes the decision as to whether you should open 2&clubs is far from obvious.
In addition, after a 2&clubs opening bid, and responder's 2&diams waiting bid, both players are somewhat in the dark. Responder knows absolutely nothing about opener's distribution. Meanwhile, not only does opener know nothing about responder's distribution, he also has absolutely no idea about the strength of responder's hand. Therefore, getting to the best contract is usually NOT a slam-dunk.
In his 42 examples, Marty will discuss:
What is the minimum number of HCP needed to open 2&clubs?
When should responder NOT respond 2&diams to a 2&clubs opener?
When can we stop below game?
Is it correct to open 2&clubs with a 2-suited hand?
When should you NOT open 2&clubs despite being strong enough?
How should opener proceed after responder's Double Negative?
How important is it for the stronger hand to be declarer?
After 2&clubs, when is it correct to jump?
When should the responder take control?
Defense is difficult. That is not debatable. It also represents an area of bridge where frequent errors are made.
Good defense can defeat MANY of your opponents' contracts. However, in reality MOST of those contracts are allowed to make.
Defense is also very subtle. When a hand is over and all 52 cards are in view, even experienced players often don't realize what they should or could have done.
However, every player can learn to defend better. If you are willing to work at improving your defense, you will improve.
The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How and when to count
How to use inferences from the bidding to find the best defense
How to make the most of your signals
The crucial principle "Suit preference in nothing suits"
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing
How to false card to cause declarer to not make a cold contract
How to break up a squeeze
Marty also discusses these bidding topics:
When you should overcall in a 4-card suit
How to make the most of "The magic of voids"
The little known but useful convention "Unusual Unusual Notrump"
A better convention than Ambiguous Michaels
Some deals are easy to play. Unfortunately, most are not. But as the examples in this lesson will illustrate, there is a silver lining. If you can learn the best way to size up the hand BEFORE starting to play, you will find yourself making more contracts than you ever did. Rather than spinning your wheels in many directions, these real-life deals will illustrate the approach you should take to focus on the key issues.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about BEFORE committing yourself. Although many players like "playing" more than "thinking", hopefully you agree that is often destined to yield very unsatisfactory results.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
Avoid losing finesses
Overcome bad splits
Know what you must about suit combinations
Take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
Know when (and why) to not follow "8 ever, 9 never"
Know when it's right to go for an endplay, and how to set it up
Execute a squeeze without being proficient on the subject
Know when it's right to play differently at matchpoints
A 2/1 GF response gets your partnership off to a great start. But based on what I continue to see, it does NOT ensure that a pair will have a good auction or get to a good contract. Unless your partnership has good agreements about the meaning of the followups, too often you will NOT get to the right contract.
The following MUST be discussed, and that's what this lesson is all about.
A. Go slowly with good hands.
Jump bids should NOT occur often.
But when is a descriptive jump bid needed
to tell partner what he needs to know?
B. Slam bidding
What are the 12 essential commandments that can enable you
to get to good slam contracts and avoid bad ones?
C. What should happen after a game forcing 2&clubs response to 1&diams?
The followups needed here are very different
than what you do after an opening bid in a major.
D. What should you do when an opponent interferes with your 2/1 GF auction?
E. How can you effectively interfere with your opponent's 2/1 GF auction?
F. After a 1NT response
Whether your 1NT response to a major is forcing or semi-forcing,
what MUST you know about these auctions that your peers do NOT know?
Once you carefully go through Marty's 67 practical carefully-explained examples,
you will be able to reach excellent contracts that your peers will miss.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
The 12 secrets of good slam bidding after a 2/1 GF response.
How to use and understand asking vs. telling bids when exploring for 3NT.
The key to getting to good minor-suit slams.
The rare hands that warrant a jump to 3NT.
How to intelligently bid slams when you have a void.
The highly recommended rebid structure for opener after 1&diams-2&clubs.
The little-known logical continuations after a quantitative 4NT bid.
An innovative way for opener to avoid rebid problems.
The right mindset to cause your opponents to go astray on their 2/1 GF auctions.
How to understand and use forcing passes to overcome enemy interference.
A little-known but easy-to-use convention that is essential for good slam bidding.
How to determine when it is correct to play in 5 of a minor.
Everyone knows that it is okay to open light in third seat. When you're in 3rd seat with a weak hand, 4th hand probably has the best hand at the table, so you'd love to inconvenience him.
However, there is much more to this topic than "After counting your HCP, feel free to open with a few less than were needed in 1st or 2nd seat."
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How light can you open?
How much difference does vulnerability make?
Why this is a great time for a frisky preempt.
Should you ever preempt with a decent hand?
Are there hands which call for opening in a major with a 4-card suit?
Should responder ever jump?
If you take a 2nd bid, do you promise a full opening bid?
Which conventions should be used by the responder?
One of the key elements of good declarer play is creating extra winners by developing a long suit. I can't remember the number of times I have said in a class: "I never met a 5-card suit I didn't like." Even a super-weak side suit such as 6 5 4 3 2 has the potential to develop additional tricks in either suit contracts or notrump. Of course, unless partner has a lot of length and strength in this suit, you would very much prefer that you got a good split.
On the other hand, when asked what is the most annoying type of hand to declare, the first thing that comes to mind is "hands where you get a bad split in trump." With an 8-card trump fit, almost 1/3 of the time, an opponent will have at least four trump against you. Therefore, learning how to try to cope with that kind of bad split can allow you to bring home contracts that proved too difficult for others.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
How to overcome a bad trump split
The right time to take a safety play
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
What you must know about suit combinations
How to make a loser disappear
How to give yourself an extra chance
When should you play differently at matchpoints
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
When must you take a deep finesse
How YOU can learn to execute a Trump Coup
This very special lesson includes the following bonus sections:
Essential principles of all signals
Time-tested practical tips to enable you to make better signals
Knowing how to proceed after receiving partner's signals
The correct way to signal with a worthless doubleton when partner leads the suit
19 instructive, carefully explained lesson deals
The Real Truth About Signals
The key to good defense is good signals.
And without good signals, even an expert will sometimes mis-defend.
Because defense is so difficult, the best pairs are constantly exchanging information
with their attitude, count and suit-preference signals.
And if experts need all that info from their partner
in order to have a chance to defend accurately,
it must be all the more critical for a non-expert.
Players reluctant to signal in fear of helping declarer are as wrong as they could be.
If your partner will or might benefit from your signal - give it.
It is important to keep in mind that whether partner encourages or discourages,
he is NOT giving a command.
He is simply expressing his opinion based on the information available to HIM.
As important as it is to give an accurate signal,
your partner MUST be able to interpret your spot card.
On some deals a 3 could be encouraging, or an 8 could be discouraging.
When asked if a 6 is high or low, the only correct answer is "YES."
In this lesson, I will discuss:
The correct thought process to go thru before making your signal
The correct thought process to go thru after receiving partner's signal.
How to ensure that your partner will do the right thing
How to help your partner find the key shift
When should you signal with an honor
How partner's signal can enable you to know declarer's exact holding in the suit.
How to decide whether you can afford to signal with a high card
When should you discourage despite great strength in the suit.
When should you encourage despite no strength in the suit
When is it correct (and safe) to falsecard
What is an "alarm clock" lead or play and when should you make it?
Here is an example of what I will teach:
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
North
East
South
West
1♣
1♠
4♥
All Pass
After a quick auction, you lead the ♠Q.
Partner plays the ♠8 and declarer follows with the ♠7.
How will you defend?
Answer To How Will You Defend?
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
Trick 1:
You won the ♠Q.
Your partner played the ♠8 and declarer played the ♠7.
If declarer could have won the first trick, he would have.
Your partner is marked with the ♠A and ♠K, so it seems automatic to continue spades.
However, if you do so, you are ignoring two factors.
1. Your partner signaled with his lowest spade.
This attitude signal said that he was discouraging a spade continuation.
2. Partner could have won the opening lead by overtaking your queen,
but he preferred to leave you on lead.
Based on #1 and #2, what should you conclude?
Your partner must be void in a minor!
In that case, it's up to you to find his void.
You and dummy have a total of 10 clubs, but only 8 diamonds.
So your correct defense is to shift to a club.
Once partner gets his club ruff, he will revert to spades.
You will sit back and hope that partner can take two additional tricks.
As you can see in the diagram of the full deal below,
if you found the club shift, 4♥ will be down 1.
Declarer will ruff the third round of spades with the ♥Q and cash the ♥A.
Partner's ♥K will take the setting trick.
If you had led a spade at trick 2,
the defense would be limited to three tricks.
In conclusion, here are two crucial principles of signaling that all players MUST be aware of:
1. After showing a suit in the auction, when partner leads your suit,
if it is possible for you to like the suit, you are still obligated to give an attitude signal.
That is true regardless of the type of bid (or lead-directing double) you made.
No matter what action you took in the auction, you didn't GUARANTEE
that after seeing the dummy and the cards played at trick 1,
you would want to encourage your partner to continue the suit.
2. "Later takes priority."
Whatever partner tells you in the defense carries more weight than anything he said in the auction.
Here is the full deal:
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
East
♠ A K J 9 8
♥ K 8 2
♦ 9 7 6 5 2
♣
South
♠ 10 7
♥ A Q J 10 9 7 5 3
♦
♣ 8 5 2
Knowing what to do after your partner opens and your right hand opponent (RHO) doubles is far from trivial.
In some situations, you should ignore the double and take the same action you would have made if your RHO had passed.
However, at other times, that is not the case.
In fact, because the meaning of certain calls is very different from the way they are defined in a non-competitive auction, there is a lot more to this topic that many players realize.
Every partnership must also be on their toes regarding conventions.
After an opponent's takeout double, many conventions should not apply.
However, experience has demonstrated that many players are unable to answer the $64,000 question:
What is on, and what is off?
Marty will discuss the following topics:
What's the key? HCP or distribution?
Which conventions are now off?
Which conventions are still on?
Which bids retain their usual meaning?
Which bids have a very different meaning?
How does "redouble" affect responder's actions?
How weak should you be for a weak jump shift (WJS) or weak jump raise (WJR)?
What 5-star convention is greatly under-appreciated?
So far, all of Marty's audio visual lessons have focused on bidding and declarer play. This month's lesson is devoted to defense, which is correctly regarded as the most difficult area of bridge. Many of his upcoming lessons will also focus on defense.
This month's lesson will concentrate on trying to defeat contracts of 4 of a major. Just as there is more to think about when declaring 4 of a major than playing in 3NT, the same is certainly true when on defense.
A good defender resembles a detective. He is constantly seeking clues, starting with the opponents' bidding. When dummy is tabled, both defenders must then stop and reflect on that new source of information. In addition, the opening leader's partner has the opportunity to consider the implications of the opening lead. Wow! All that, and we're only at trick one!
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # tricks
Why experts prefer "the simple defense."
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
Why you must rely on partner's signals
How to destroy declarer's transportation
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
How to improve your partnership defense
Here are some facts:
1. You rate to be on defense twice as often as you will be declarer.
2. Bridge teachers and other authorities agree that defense
is the most difficult part of the game.
3. The most frequently-played contract in bridge is 3NT.
And second place (4&spades) is a distant second.
4. The most common part-score is 1NT.
5. 2NT contracts are not uncommon.
6. Notrump contracts above 3NT do occur.
7. Eddie Kantar wrote: "At least half of your opponents' notrump contracts
can be defeated with a good defense, but the sad truth is that about
eighty percent of them are fulfilled."
Undeniable conclusion: The great importance of good defense of notrump
contracts can not be over-stated. In a word, it is crucial.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
How counting HCP can enable you to locate missing honors.
The step-by-step thought process needed to figure out declarer's distribution.
The correct thought process that will greatly improve your opening leads.
Practical tips to help you know what you must consider at trick 1.
How paying careful attention to spot cards played can tell you how to proceed.
How to further your knowledge of card combinations.
How to know when to say "NO" to second-hand low.
How you should react when The Rule of 11 "does NOT work."
Falsecards: The right (and wrong) times to do them.
Penalty doubles of 3NT: When they are correct, and when they are very wrong.
Almost 42% of all deals are played in a part-score. 50% of the time, you will be on defense. Therefore, on a typical afternoon or evening duplicate game, you will be defending a part-score on 5 deals. I bet that is a lot more often than you will use Stayman or Jacoby Transfers or even make a Negative Double.
Despite this, very few books discuss how to defend a part-score. And since all knowledgeable authorities agree that defense is more difficult than declarer play, it is no wonder that so many defeatable contracts are allowed to succeed.
Eddie Kantar wrote: "At least half of your opponents' contracts can be defeated with a good defense, but the sad truth is that about eighty percent of them are fulfilled."
That may be true of your peers, but for those who study the techniques in the 15 deals in this lesson, you WILL DEFINITELY see a dramatic rise in YOUR batting average.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of counting distribution and number of tricks
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How to destroy declarer's transportation
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
Why experts prefer "the simple defense"
How to improve your partnership defense
When you are making the opening lead, you face a dilemma
similar to ones encountered by fictional detectives such as
Sherlock Holmes. You have a chance to assemble and
evaluate clues and make deductions that can allow you to
make an effective opening lead.
Although consistently making a logical opening lead is challenging,
no area of bridge will be as critical in determining your fate on the deal.
There is no question that of all the 52 cards played in a bridge deal,
by far the most important one is the choice of opening lead.
This lesson is GUARANTEED to improve your opening leads.
It will also help you avoid the poorly chosen opening leads
that would make declarer delighted that he was playing against YOU!
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
Opening leads vs. all contracts
What types of opening leads are favored by experts.
The real truth about opening leads with matchpoint scoring.
The right and wrong times to lead dummy's suit.
Which popular opening leads are "a must to avoid."
When NOT to lead the top card of a sequence.
How assembling clues from the auction can help you make double dummy leads.
How to resolve the crucial "attacking or passive" dilemma.
Opening leads vs. notrump contracts
When should you prefer a top-of-nothing-lead.
Recommended agreements for honor leads.
With similar holdings, when should you prefer an unbid minor to an unbid major.
What suit you should lead when partner doubles 3NT.
When it is correct to lead declarer's suit.
Opening leads vs. suit contracts
How to KNOW the right time to lead trump.
The right and wrong times to try for a ruff.
The right mindset when declarer has preempted.
The 7 situations where Marty & Larry believe
that the opening lead of an ace should deny the king.
Here is an example of what Marty will teach:
North
South
1♦
1♥
1♠
2♦
3♥
4♥
Both sides are vulnerable.
As West you hold: ♠ A 4 3 ♥ A 2 ♦ 8 6 5 4 ♣ J 10 9 2
What do you lead against the opponents' 4♥ contract?
Solution:
What do you know about dummy's distribution?
His jump to 3♥ must be based on having 3 hearts and a very strong unbalanced hand.
Why unbalanced? If he had a strong balanced hand,
he would either open 1NT or jump to 2NT at his second turn.
Therefore he must be very short in clubs.
And if he has a singleton club along with his known 4 spades and 3 hearts,
he must have 5 diamonds.
Declarer's 2♦ preference promises at least 3 diamonds.
With your 4 diamonds and dummy's 5 diamonds,
you can be sure that your partner can't have more than one.
You also have a count on everyone's number of hearts.
Dummy has 3 and you have 2.
If declarer had 6 hearts, he would have made an immediate weak jump shift,
or rebid them after dummy rebid 1♠.
So, your partner has 3 hearts.
Aha! Having done your detective work, you are now ready
to confidently make the opening lead of a diamond.
Since you have the ♠A entry, you should make the suit-preference lead of the ♦8.
Here is the full deal:
Both Vulnerable
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♦8
North
♠ K 9 6 2
♥ K Q 9
♦ A J 10 9 3
♣ A
West (You)
♠ A 4 3
♥ A 2
♦ 8 6 5 4
♣ J 10 9 2
East
♠ J 10 8 5
♥ 6 5 4
♦ 2
♣ K Q 7 6 4
South
♠ Q 7
♥ J 10 8 7 3
♦ K Q 7
♣ 8 5 3
Declarer will win the diamond and lead a trump,
but you'll grab your ♥A and continue with the ♦6.
East will ruff and lead a spade to your ♠A.
You will lead another diamond. East will ruff again.
So declarer is down one.
With any other opening lead, the defense has no chance.
By the way: With your 2 aces + 4 diamonds,
knowing that your partner had to have 3 hearts and 0-1 diamond,
I would have doubled 4♥. Not only would that have increased the penalty,
but, although your partner couldn't have a strong hand,
if he had the ♠K or ♣A, that would have resulted in a juicy +500 for your side.
2 Over 1 Game Forcing (2/1 GF) is definitely the most popular system in modern bridge. And it should be. The ability to establish a game-forcing auction after 2 bids while only at the 2 level is a great way to start an auction. Once both players immediately know they are going to game (at least), they can go slowly and exchange information without any fear that their partner might pass.
Accordingly, almost everyone is playing 2/1 GF these days. Unfortunately, although this makes it easier to have a good auction, too many pairs often fail to get to their correct contract. Why is that?
They have not learned or discussed what should happen AFTER the 2/1 GF response. For starters, there are no fewer than 7 key issues that every pair must discuss and resolve as to how opener should rebid!
And there's more:
How should responder rebid?
What should happen on the third round of the auction?
Etc. etc.
That's what this lesson is all about. Once you go through Marty's 72 helpful, well-explained examples, you will be delighted with the excellent contracts you are now able to reach.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
Secrets that will greatly improve your bidding judgment.
How opener can make it easy for responder to choose the best contract.
Opener's correct mindset when choosing a rebid with an awkward hand.
Helpful guidelines for responder's first bid with a borderline hand.
When is it correct to rebid a strong 5-card suit.
How you can induce your opponents to lead your best suit.
What are the very few times where jumping is sensible.
Helpful little-known tips that will help you reach the best contract.
How to KNOW it's right to play in 3NT despite having a fit in a major.
The perfect solution when you are stuck for a bid.
Inescapable FACTS:
1. Every player (and partnership) would like to do better than they presently do.
2. Unless you and your partner declare and defend far better than "the field," the only possible way to significantly improve your results is to try to win the board in the auction. (Which could also be thought of as causing the opponents to lose the board in the auction.)
How can you win the board in the auction? By being super-aggressive competitively! If you can allow yourself to do this:
a. Your opponents will often NOT get to their correct contract. Of course you must also strive to not allow them to play in part-scores at a low level.
b. Your aggressive bid (or frisky lead-directing double) will enable your partner to make the best opening lead for your side. In addition, by immediately telling partner what you have, that definitely will improve his bidding.
If instead, you compete only with obvious hands, your matchpoint score will be dependent on your pair's ability in card play. But since very few players consistently take more tricks than other players do, the result of that approach is likely to produce average results. And at the end of the game, once again you end up with a mediocre score.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Avoid playing "scared bridge"
Cause your partner to bid more accurately than he ever has
KNOW what is the #1 key to better competitive bidding
Ensure that partner makes the best lead for your side
KNOW which overcalls are the most effective
Make aggressive bids that are virtually risk-free
KNOW which bids are guaranteed to help your partner the most
Give your opponents an unsolvable problem
KNOW when being vulnerable can work to your advantage
Resolve whether "to bid or not to bid" with non-obvious hands
KNOW the right approach to handle very distributional hands
Become more knowledgeable about sacrifice do's and dont's
Compete with hands where other players will settle for an unhelpful pass
Push your opponents around, and cause them to be eager to leave your table!
Almost 42% of all deals are played in partscores. Not surprisingly, the most common partscore contract is 1NT. Although only seven tricks are needed, three factors result in the fact that playing a 1NT contract is usually more difficult than declaring other partscores.
1. Although you have a lot of losers, you don't have an opportunity to ruff any of them.
2. One player usually has a lot more strength than his partner has, (such as when a 1NT opening is passed out). As a result, you will often have a lack of entries to the weak hand.
Taking tricks in notrump when one hand is very weak is a lot more difficult than if your side's assets are fairly even divided.
3. Your side has limited assets. That is why you stopped at the one level. Your side may even have less combined strength than the opponents have.
However, there is a silver lining as the examples in this lesson will illustrate. If declarer plays well, he often can find his way home to take seven tricks. These real-life deals will illustrate the techniques you can use to sharpen your declarer play and increase YOUR success in outplaying others in 1NT contracts.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about when you are declaring. This includes:
How to give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
How to overcome bad splits
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
What you must know about suit combinations
How to avoid losing finesses
The right time (and technique) to execute an endplay
How to judge when it's right to take a safety play
When should you play differently at matchpoints
When you are making the opening lead, you face a dilemma
similar to ones encountered by fictional detectives such as
Sherlock Holmes. You have a chance to assemble and
evaluate clues and make deductions that can allow you to
make an effective opening lead.
Although consistently making a logical opening lead is challenging,
no area of bridge will be as critical in determining your fate on the deal.
There is no question that of all the 52 cards played in a bridge deal,
by far the most important one is the choice of opening lead.
This lesson is GUARANTEED to improve your opening leads.
It will also help you avoid the poorly chosen opening leads
that would make declarer delighted that he was playing against YOU!
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
Opening leads vs. all contracts
What types of opening leads are favored by experts.
The real truth about opening leads with matchpoint scoring.
The right and wrong times to lead dummy's suit.
Which popular opening leads are "a must to avoid."
When NOT to lead the top card of a sequence.
How assembling clues from the auction can help you make double dummy leads.
How to resolve the crucial "attacking or passive" dilemma.
Opening leads vs. notrump contracts
When should you prefer a top-of-nothing-lead.
Recommended agreements for honor leads.
With similar holdings, when should you prefer an unbid minor to an unbid major.
What suit you should lead when partner doubles 3NT.
When it is correct to lead declarer's suit.
Opening leads vs. suit contracts
How to KNOW the right time to lead trump.
The right and wrong times to try for a ruff.
The right mindset when declarer has preempted.
The 7 situations where Marty & Larry believe
that the opening lead of an ace should deny the king.
Everyone loves to bid and make a slam. Of course, the opportunities to do so don't occur as often as you would like.
Of course, even if you bid well and get to a good slam contract, if it is not a laydown, you still have to try to find the line of play that gives you the best chance to make it. On most deals, that is easier said than done.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
Bidding
Little known but useful conventions
How to get to the best slam contract
How to have a good auction after interference
When should you make an unnecessary jump
Good auctions after opening 2&clubs
The key factor in bidding minor-suit slams
Play
How to give yourself extra chances
How to give a defender a choice of losing options
How to avoid depending on a finesse
When to not rely on "8 ever, 9 never."
How to overcome a bad split
How to recognize when to plan on an endplay
How to make a slam on a squeeze
3NT is the most often-played contract in bridge. That is not debatable. Almost 20% of all deals are played in 3NT. When playing 3NT, there are many possible things to think about when dummy is tabled. For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about to decide the best way to play the hand.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to make the most of your long suits
How to maximize your entries
How to make hands without risking a finesse
How to give yourself an extra chance
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
When should you play differently at matchpoints
So far, all of Marty's audio visual lessons have focused on bidding and declarer play. This month's lesson is devoted to defense, which is correctly regarded as the most difficult area of bridge. Many of his upcoming lessons will also focus on defense.
This month's lesson will concentrate on trying to defeat contracts of 4 of a major. Just as there is more to think about when declaring 4 of a major than playing in 3NT, the same is certainly true when on defense.
A good defender resembles a detective. He is constantly seeking clues, starting with the opponents' bidding. When dummy is tabled, both defenders must then stop and reflect on that new source of information. In addition, the opening leader's partner has the opportunity to consider the implications of the opening lead. Wow! All that, and we're only at trick one!
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # tricks
Why experts prefer "the simple defense."
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
Why you must rely on partner's signals
How to destroy declarer's transportation
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
How to improve your partnership defense
Here are some facts:
Almost 42% of deals are played in part-scores, so there is no question that they are very important. When playing matchpoints, the difference between making a part-score and going down one will have the same impact as if you were playing a game or slam.
Why aren't part-score deals featured more often in lessons, books, and newspaper columns? The answer is that they are frequently far more difficult to declare than a game or slam. Since part-scores require fewer tricks than other contracts, you would think that they are easier to make.
But that is NOT true. Instead, the reality is that since declarer has limited assets, and may even be forced to play in a 7-card trump fit, it is usually more difficult to make a part-score than a game or slam! When you are declarer on a deal where your side lacks the values for game, selecting the best line of play is often very difficult.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Know the right time to count winners in a suit contract.
Take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction.
Count the opponents' distribution to enable you to make "unmakable" contracts.
Use negative inferences from the opening lead to locate missing honors.
Improve your understanding of suit combinations.
Decide when to draw trump ASAP despite a questionable trump suit.
Know when it is correct to intentionally ruff often in the hand with trump length.
Induce an opponent to help you by covering an honor with an honor.
Benefit from useful advice to know how to induce errors with a falsecard.
Understand the essential principle of Restricted Choice.
These days, everyone seems to be preempting more than ever. Most players are very aware how effective preempts can be in forcing the opponents to guess what to do.
Of course, decisions after an enemy preempt need not be a blind guess. Experts have learned to rely on important principles that have withstood the test of time. And that's what this lesson is all about.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
What factor is a lot more important than HCP?
How can you choose between a double or a bid?
Cue-bid: When should it NOT be Michaels?
Why should 3NT become your favorite contract?
Which notrump bids are Unusual?
When is an overcall justified on a so-so 5-card suit?
How do experts define a double of 4 of a major?
When should you make a notrump overcall with an unbalanced hand?
How much more aggressive should you be in the balancing seat?
Here are some facts:
Once dummy is tabled, and before you play a card, after counting your winners (or losers), you must STOP, THINK, and make a plan. There are many areas you must address. Here are several of the most important ones:
A. How do you plan to reduce your number of losers (or increase your number of winners)?
B. Identify the key suit to work on.
In a notrump contract, it is NOT always your longest combined suit. Frequently, it is a suit where you are missing the ace.
In a suit contract, if declarer's hand includes 4+ cards in a side suit, that is often the suit you must address.
C. What technique should you use in this key suit?
There are many possibilities, such as taking a finesse or losing a loser early.
C. Trump.
How many trump do the opponents have? Should you draw trump ASAP? (More often than not, the correct answer is NO.)
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand.
Be more knowledgeable in deciding whether to draw trump.
Overcome bad splits.
Succeed no matter which opponent has a missing honor.
Draw helpful inferences about the opening leader's hand from the card he led.
Take advantage of subtle clues from a revealing auction.
Know when and how to execute an endplay (even in NT).
Become more proficient in not being dependent on a finesse.
Use a discovery play to avoid a guess.
Make a deceptive play that rates to succeed.
Here are some facts:
Every time I play duplicate bridge, the most prevalent theme in every session is - the defense is awful. An expert friend told me that when he declares a hand in a duplicate game, if the defenders present him with one undeserved trick, he is disappointed! He has come to expect at least two!!
Everyone knows (or should) that defense is the most difficult part of bridge. Accordingly, most players ignore the problem and hope that it will cure itself. They continue to trust their instincts, play a lot and hope for a miracle cure. Guess how that works out.
If instead, YOU are willing to take the time to learn more about defense, no one can guarantee that you'll become a terrific defender. But I bet that those who make an effort will be delighted when they see their opponents make fewer contracts and overtricks.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to exhibit detective skills that would impress Sherlock Holmes
The wondrous things you can accomplish when you count distribution
How to locate missing honors
How to resolve the critical question: Active vs. passive defense
How declarer's line of play can tell you how to defend
How to understand when it's right to shift to a trump
How you can cut the declarer's communication
What you must know about "alarm clock" leads
How declarer's line of play can enable you to locate missing honors
When is it 100% wrong to lead "thru strength and around to weakness"
As a bonus, Marty will also discuss some important bidding concepts:
What little-known bid will severely disrupt your opponents' auction
The real truth about a double of a 4&spades opening
When it is correct to double 3NT
The correct mindset when your opponent opens 2&clubs
Here are some facts:
In this extensive lesson with 60 examples, Marty will examine and explain the right thought process for each of the four seats and four vulnerabilities.
Unless you have good bidding judgment, you have no chance to bid well. Fortunately, regardless of your level, there are many little-known tips and suggestions that definitely will improve your judgment.
Most players were not born with great card sense. They can, of course, make good progress with their card play, but "Great card players are born, not made." On the other hand, every player can be taught
to bid a lot more effectively than he presently does. That is especially true when you have the opportunity to make the first bid. This is a wonderful time to begin describing your hand as well as putting your opponents on the defensive. Too many players fail to make the most of a situation that, as far as I'm concerned, can't occur often enough.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
The surefire way to improve your judgment
How to GUARANTEE that you won't have a rebid problem
How to get great results with aggressive weak 2-bids
How his invaluable Rule of 24 will enable you to make the most effective bid in 3rd seat
How to greatly improve your partner's opening leads
When you can know your partner's point-count before he bids
In 4th seat, when you should "violate" the Rule of 15
When is it clearly correct to open 3NT
When is it definitely correct to open a weak-2 with a hand worth a 1-bid
The right and wrong time to open 4-of-a-major
After opener rebids 1NT, if responder has a 5-card major and 11+HCP, roughly 2/3 of non-experts rely on New Minor Forcing (NMF). We agree that responder needs an economical asking bid here, but NMF has many VERY SERIOUS FLAWS.
Here are some of them:
The NMF bid is forcing, but is NOT forcing to game, so opener does NOT know responder's intentions. Does he have a game-forcing hand or just an invite? Therefore, NMF auctions often resemble uncertain reverse auctions rather than smooth 2/1 GF ones.
Responder doesn't promise a rebid, so opener feels the need to jump with a maximum. This will often prevent responder from describing his distribution.
Some of responder's rebids are not forcing. If he has a strong hand, he may not be able to make the economical bid he would like to make. By the way, do you know which rebids by responder are forcing and which aren't?
After responder's 2&diams NMF bid, if opener has no major, he will rebid 2NT (or 3NT). That is very inefficient. If responder has an invitational hand with a singleton, this will often land the partnership in a hopeless contract.
If all we were going to do is criticize NMF, that would not do YOU any good. But, regardless of your level, and whether or not you play NMF, THERE IS A MUCH BETTER WAY.
It is everything that NMF is not.
It allows responder to immediately specify "invitational or game forcing." Once he does, both players KNOW which bids are forcing and which are not. That is HUGE!
And, best of all, the new approach is NOT difficult. Everything you will ever need to know about this is available in the lesson.
This is NOT a typical Marty Bergen audio-visual lesson. Although it includes all of our normal features, it is FAR more extensive. If you like more bang for your buck, this lesson is made for YOU.
The lesson contains:
50 well-explained 26-card examples of how a partnership can accurately bid part-scores, games, and slams.
Over 40 helpful 13-card examples to illustrate the correct bids.
Audio and transcript that are even more comprehensive than other lessons.
Important tips to improve your hand evaluation skills
Specific rules about what to do when the opponents interfere.
Very helpful advice for hands not strong enough for game. 42% of all deals are played in part-scores, so these tips will also help YOU make good decisions with non-game hands when opener did not rebid 1NT.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss how you can EASILY:
Clarify responder's intent early in the auction.
Have an economical, efficient auction.
Sign off, invite game, force to game, invite slam.
Stay low with hands not quite strong enough for game.
Not allow opener to ever get in responder's way.
Have auctions that resemble 2/1 GF as opposed to uncertain reverse auctions.
Allow responder to describe his distribution.
Play in a secure 2 of a major rather than a risky or hopeless 2NT contract.
Improve your ability to evaluate accurately.
Let responder easily check for a 5-3 spade fit after 1&hearts - 1&spades - 1NT.
Know when it's right to play 3NT with an 8-card fit in a major.
Bid good slams and avoid bad ones.
When asked what is the single most important topic for declarer, I always answer: "Managing entries".
On many hands, the unsuccessful declarer's downfall was a result of his not being as efficient as he could have been with his entries.
Here are a few tips that are worth keeping in mind:
When you have a choice of where to win a trick, ask yourself, "Where will I need to be later?"
Don't be a grabber. A good declarer loses tricks early in the play.
Learn to appreciate intermediate cards. Their importance cannot be overstated.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about to maximize your entries. This includes:
How to give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
How to make the most of your long suits
How to make the most of your intermediates
When it is wrong to use up the honor from the short side first
When should you take a safety play
When you should "lose your losers early"
When is it more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
When should you play differently at matchpoints
After sorting my cards, one of the first things I do
is look for intermediate cards (eights, nines and tens).
An average holding would be one of each intermediate,
so of course I hope I received more than my share.
Obviously, I look more fondly at tens than the two lesser intermediate cards.
The presence or absence of intermediate cards will always
influence my hand evaluation and bidding.
Not only do I regard K 10 9 8 a lot differently than K 4 3 2,
but I consider the former to be the equivalent of K J 3 2 and call it 4 HCP.
The presence or absence of intermediate cards is also extremely relevant
for both the declarer and the defenders.
If I declare a notrump contract with K 10 9 8 opposite J 6 5,
I'm eager to attack the suit.
50% of the time, I will take 3 tricks, but even if their queen is offsides,
I still will have developed 2 winners.
Whereas, with K 4 3 2 opposite J 6 5, if I need to attack this suit,
the most likely result is that I set up several tricks for the defenders!
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to use your intermediates to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make a "hopeless" contract
Induce an opponent's error
Succeed regardless of which opponent has the missing honor
Improve your knowledge of suit combinations
Be in a position to take finesses that are guaranteed to succeed
Overcome a blocked suit
Understand the important principle of Restricted Choice
Execute an avoidance play to ensure that the dangerous opponent never gets in
Improve your proficiency with ruffing finesses
Take logical precautions to guard against a bad trump split
These days, many players seem to preempt more than ever. Although some hands are easy, on others deciding whether or not to preempt is anything but.
Even when it is obvious to preempt, you also must decide how many to bid. We all know that traditional thinking for preempts is: Open 2 with 6 cards, 3 with 7, and 4 with 8. However, suit quality, vulnerability, seat, and distribution should all play a significant role in your decision-making.
The bottom line for all bidding decisions is: Unless you develop good bidding judgment, you can't possibly be a good bidder.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
What is the most important factor in deciding "to preempt or not to preempt.".
What is a perfect preempt?
When should you preempt with a side 4-card major?
Why is first seat different than second.
The right time for a weak-2 with a 7-card suit.
Which flaws should stop you from preempting.
What is the minimum suit quality for an opening 3-bid.
When should you preempt with an opening bid.
What do you need for a fourth seat weak-2.
How good a hand do you need for a vulnerable preempt.
How will Marty's secrets, tips, and 87 examples help you be more successful?
They will help you:
Win the board in the auction.
Make winning bids and non-penalty doubles that will cause YOU to be your partner's favorite partner.
Have more insight about winning bidding tactics that your peers do not know about.
Avoid sins of omission, which are just as costly as sins of commission.
Improve your "To compete or not" judgment when your side is vulnerable.
This invaluable lesson will cover many essential topics. Here are a few of them:
How to ensure that you won't be guilty of playing "scared bridge."
What familiar auction is Marty's absolute favorite one!
How YOU can ensure that your partner will make the BEST opening lead.
What is definitely the most effective of all overcalls.
Modern doubles and how all non-expert pairs can make the best use of them.
What every player NEEDS TO KNOW about forcing passes.
When it is 100% correct to preempt with a hand strong enough to open.
What Bergen secret will help you bid good slams and avoid bad ones.
How Marty's Rule of 24 will greatly improve your actions in third seat.
The real truth about what you need to make a FREE BID.
An easy guide to help you decide whether to make a non-obvious penalty double.
Everyone knows that declarer must figure out his line of play at trick 1.
He is NOT the only player who should be thinking and planning.
But, since the defenders don't get to see their partner's cards,
they are usually not able to immediately do as much planning as declarer can.
Of course, by thinking about the opponent's hands during the auction,
a player who wants to defend well should already have begun the "investigation process."
Once you get to see dummy's cards, you must take time
to process this new source of essential information.
In addition, you are now in a position to learn a great deal about declarer's hand.
Once you've been shown EXACTLY what you should be thinking about,
you don't need to be an expert to significantly improve your defense.
You CAN learn to defend better than your peers do.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
Exactly what must each defender think about at trick 1
The correct thought process to enable you to find the killing opening lead
How counting HCP can allow you to locate a missing honor
The correct mindset to figure out declarer's distribution
How to know when to say "NO" to second-hand low
Falsecards: The right (and wrong) times to do them
How to resolve the crucial active vs. passive dilemma
How every pair can benefit from SPINS signals (suit preference in nothing suits)
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing
As soon as dummy is tabled, and before you play a card, after counting losers (or winners), you must STOP, THINK, and COME UP WITH A PLAN. There are many areas you must address. Here are some of the most important ones:
A. How do you plan to reduce your # losers (or increase your # winners)? The three most desirable ways are:
Ruff losers in the hand with fewer trumps.
Make use of a long suit to discard losers. (Very often, you need to begin setting up the suit ASAP.)
Hope to endplay the opponents to avoid a finesse.
B. Consider the trump suit:
How many trump do the opponents have?
How are they likely to divide?
Should you lead trump ASAP? Marty sez: Unless 100% sure that the correct answer is yes -- DON'T!
If the answer to #3 is yes, how many rounds should you play?
Last but not least: If declarer's hand includes a side suit of 4+ cards, that is usually the key suit to focus on.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand.
Turn losers into winners.
Find a surefire way to avoid losing finesses.
Learn a deceptive play that's sure to succeed.
Decide whether or not to draw trump.
Improve your knowledge of suit combinations.
Overcome bad splits.
Take advantage of clues from the opponent's auction.
Visualize (and begin setting up) an endplay early in the play.
Know when it's right to play differently at IMPs.
A 1-level response in a suit is not very descriptive.
Responder is promising at least 4 cards in his suit with 6+ points.
A 1H response could be based on a very weak hand, such as:
&spades86 &heartsJ753 &diamsK72 &clubsQ764
However, responder also might have a terrific hand, such as:
&spades (void) &heartsAK9864 &diamsKJ2 &clubsAKJ4
Without question, the 1-level response is one of the most ambiguous bids in bridge.
The opening bidder does not know much about his partner's hand.
Therefore, at responder's second turn, he MUST make a descriptive bid.
The bottom line here is:
After a 1-level response in a suit, responder's rebid is the key bid in the auction.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to deduce what opener holds.
How opener's first two bids affect the evaluation of your hand.
How to correctly resolve close decisions.
How to improve your bidding judgment.
What responder needs to reverse.
4th Suit Forcing - the absolutely essential convention for all levels.
Although everyone can improve their declarer play and defense, it's not easy to make huge improvements in these areas. When it comes to card play, great players are born not made.
However, regardless of how well you play, every player can greatly improve their bidding. As long as you have access to sound advice and are open-minded, you can make great strides.
In order to do so, you must learn how to figure out the TRUE VALUE of your hand. You can learn to do this, but you first need to be willing to not be overly dependent on point-count.
The topics Marty will cover include:
The 9 key factors in determining the true value of your hand
How to KNOW if your hand is upgradable, downgradable, or OK as is
The true value of honor cards
Why "Location, location, location" is so crucial
The great importance of your distribution in your 3 shortest suits.
The true value of a 7-card suit
Tips on how to get the most out of the Rule of 20
How to improve your results with notrump opening bids
When you should think twice about preempting with a 7-card suit
What hand-types scream for aggressive bidding
No one could disagree with these two statements:
Every player would love to play better and do better than they presently do.
You will defend twice as often as you will declare.
From these statements, what should you conclude?
In order to play better and be more successful, it is essential to improve your defense
Unfortunately, there is no question that defense is the most difficult aspect of bridge.
Therefore, a pessimist would say "I am not a great player, so I will never be a good defender."
On the other hand, the fact that defense is difficult can work in your favor.
Because good defense is both difficult and subtle, the great majority of players fail to think about what they could have done, take no steps to defend better, hope that the problem will cure itself, and continue to frequently mis-defend.
However, if you are realistic enough to know that no problem is ever solved by ignoring it, this online lesson can be the first step to improving your defense. And even if your improvement is modest, as long as you make some progress, you will be doing MUCH BETTER than your peers. They are under the delusion that all they need to do to improve is play a lot of bridge, and as a result, continue to make the same errors that they made in the past.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss the following:
The wonderful things you can accomplish when you are willing to count.
How to determine that it's "now or never."
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing.
How to cause declarer to do the wrong thing.
Why you MUST think before you play.
The right (and wrong) time to falsecard.
Why you sometimes should not want to get a ruff.
How to create trump tricks out of thin air.
When you should intentionally give declarer a ruff and sluff.
How to get a good matchpoint score by minimizing declarer's overtricks.
When you have a loser that you hope to avoid, an endplay (throw-in play) is often the solution. Frequently, the loser is in your "iffy" suit. This is a suit where the outcome is uncertain.
Clearly, the solution for an iffy suit is: "Last is best." When a defender leads a suit, your side plays last. What could be better? You don't need to go up with an honor and hold your breath waiting to see if it is covered or captured. Instead, you can sit back and wait to see what they play before you have to commit yourself.
If you want to force a defender to make a helpful lead, you must have a throw-in card. This is an inevitable loser that you can afford to lose. But, before throwing a defender in, you must be sure that your problem will be solved regardless of which suit he leads.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
Why endplays are infinitely better than finesses
How to know if an endplay is possible
What must be present to achieve an endplay in a suit contract
When it is possible to have an endplay in notrump
When it will matter which defender is thrown in
What must be done to set up the endplay
The great importance of managing your entries
The right thinking when you do your stripping
The correct mindset when given a ruff-sluff
Most pairs do not defend well. You can disagree,
or believe that the statement does not apply to you and your favorite partner.
But it is a fact.
However, every cloud has a silver lining. If the two of you can make some
progress in this area while your peers fail to do so,
your results will improve significantly.
What is the realistic way that a non-expert pair can make that progress?
Improve their signals.
Which types of signals should you learn about that offer
the best opportunity to greatly improve your results on defense?
Answer: Suit preference and SPINS.
"Marty, that sounds good. I just have one question.
I've seen SPINS listed on the bottom of the back side
of a convention card under OTHER CARDING.
But what is SPINS?"
SPINS stands for "Suit Preference In Nothing Suits."
Some players regard the phrase "nothing suits"
as referring only to the trump suit, or to those suits
where the defenders are known to have no relevant strength.
However, since all suit preference signals focus on giving information
about suits other than the suit led, it is accurate to say that:
"All suit preference signals can be regarded as SPINS signals."
In this lesson, I will discuss:
The correct thought process to go thru before making your signal
The correct thought process to go thru after receiving partner's signal.
How to ensure that your partner will do the right thing
How to help your partner find the key shift
How to give the best signal when you lack the perfect card
How to determine the right time to give a suit preference signal.
SPINS signals in the trump suit when your side leads trump
SPINS signals in the trump suit when declarer leads trump
How to make your signal so clear that any partner will get the message.
How to KNOW if partner's signal is suit preference, attitude or count.
Notrump deals where SPINS signals are crucial
Those deals where a suit preference signal should NOT be given
Knowing what to do on defense is not easy, but definitely is necessary. However, unless you also know when to do it, the outcome will often not be the one you are looking for.
Good planning is just as important for the defenders as it is for declarer. Unfortunately, because you get to see only half of your side's assets, it is usually more difficult to do.
A non-expert will never be able to defend as well as an expert. However, when shown the right way to size up a hand, every player can learn to defend better than they presently do.
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
The correct way to think at trick 1 before you turn your card over
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # of tricks
How to draw inferences from declarer's line of play
How to "tell" partner the way you want him to defend
How to get the most out of partner's signal
When to say no to "second-hand low"
Know how you can prepare to "duck smoothly"
How to give useful information in "nothing suits"
Knowing what to do on defense is not easy, but definitely is necessary. However, unless you also know when to do it, the outcome will often not be the one you are looking for.
Good planning is just as important for the defenders as it is for declarer. Unfortunately, because you get to see only half of your side's assets, it is usually more difficult to do.
A non-expert will never be able to defend as well as an expert. However, when shown the right way to size up a hand, every player can learn to defend better than they presently do.
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
The correct way to think at trick 1 before you turn your card over
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # of tricks
How to draw inferences from declarer's line of play
How to "tell" partner the way you want him to defend
How to get the most out of partner's signal
When to say no to "second-hand low"
Know how you can prepare to "duck smoothly"
How to give useful information in "nothing suits"
When it comes to finesses, a major philosophical difference separates the masses from the most accomplished players.
Most players love to finesse. Finessing is usually simple, and it provides immediate gratification (when it works).
However, experts don't like to finesse never have and never will.
Why? Finesses lose half the time.
Marty compares the expert's mindset with that of a professional gambler.
He certainly doesn't get rich on 50-50 propositions.
Of course, that does does not mean that you should never finesse.
Finessing will always be an important part of the game.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think to decide whether or not you should finesse.
How to give yourself an extra chance
When should you play differently at matchpoints
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
What you must know about suit combinations
How to avoid annoying misguesses
How to make the most of 5-card suits
How to prevent the dangerous opponent from gaining the lead
The right time to lose your loser(s)
The right time to throw a loser on a loser
The right time to go for an endplay
The right time to take a safety play
Deciding whether or not you have a slam is not easy.
Even experts do NOT shine in this area.
However, if you can set the trump suit early in the auction, that is a very good way to begin.
And if you can do so at an economical level, youre off to a good start.
A Jacoby 2NT response to opener's major accomplishes all of the above.
This is a convention that should be part of every pair's repertoire.
This convention is one of the keys to good slam bidding.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to decide whether to respond 2NT.
The correct way for opener to re-evaluate after 2NT.
How opener can easily show a void
How to know when to forget about slam.
The lowdown on opener's jump to the 4-level
Bergen-Cohen philosophy for Jacoby 2NT auctions
What every partnership must discuss
One of the most "In" conventions in modern bridge is Roman Keycard (RKC).
In fact, some beginners are using it!
RKC can be very helpful in accurate slam bidding.
Without question, the king and queen of trump are relevant cards.
On the other hand, there is a lot more to this convention than you might think.
Whether you use all of it, or only some, if your partnership has not taken the time to discuss nonobvious responses and continuations:
Good luck! You'll need it.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to show the trump queen and when not to worry about it.
How to proceed after an ambiguous response, such as 0 or 3.
How to respond with a void
The efficient way to ask for king
How to do better than "Last bid suit"
The best way to invite 7
When should you NOT use RKC
Bergen-Cohen RKC rules.
Once you bid them, how you should play them
Taking a sacrifice has several ways to gain:
1. Similar to the upside of balancing, you'd love it if your bid pushed the opponents to a higher level. Defending that contract is definitely an example of heads you win (if they go down), while tails you tie (if they make it).
2. There is the slim chance that the opponents will not double you.
3. You do rate to get doubled, but as long as the penalty is less than the score the opponents would have received for making their contract, you are better off.
On the other hand, the sacrifice may work out badly:
1. The opponents would not have made their contract. When this happens, we refer to your action as a "phantom sacrifice". No matter how many you go down, this is a bad result.
2. You go down more tricks than you intended, so you lose more points than they would have made in their contract.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
When you are considering a sacrifice:
The 7 golden principles that you MUST know.
Which enemy auctions are GREAT ones to interfere with.
Why an advance sacrifice is the best way to sacrifice.
How to avoid taking phantom sacrifices.
When it is correct to sacrifice against a slam.
When you should sacrifice against a 3NT contract.
The right time to make a sacrifice suggestion.
When you should and should not be willing to go to the 5 level.
When the opponents sacrifice:
How to use a forcing pass to help decide if your side should double or bid.
If you end up on defense, what is the expert philosophy for opening leads?
Every time you have a trump suit, that is definitely your most important suit. In a suit contract, your goal is to reduce your number of losers to an acceptable number. How you handle your trump is often the key. Deciding whether to draw trump first is important, but it is only the first step. There are so many other factors. You must concern yourself with all of the following:
Entries
Timing
Long suits
Short suits
Ruffs by your side
Potential ruffs and overruffs by the defenders
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed. This includes:
Should you lead trump immediately? If so, how many?
When counting winners can guide you to the best line.
On a cross-ruff, which suit should you ruff first?
When should you not ruff a loser?
When do you need to ruff with a high trump?
How to ruff a loser despite not having a short suit.
When you should draw trump despite having losers you could ruff.
How to maximize your intermediates in the trump suit.
When you should execute a dummy reversal.
How YOU can learn to execute a trump coup.
How YOU can set up an end play.
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Approximate running time: 110 minutes.
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Sometimes the opponents first few bids make it clear that they have the balance of power. Meanwhile you have a weak or mediocre hand. When that scenario occurs, how do you react?
Some players reach into their bidding box for a lot of green pass cards, and in effect announce, "wake me when it's over." They are totally at the mercy of the opponents, and are resigned to hoping that the opponents will fail to arrive at their best contract.
No thanks! That laid-back, "I'll take a nap and hope they screw up" approach does NOT appeal to me. When my side has the good cards, I much prefer that the opponents stay out of my way. Therefore, when the other side has the good cards, even though I have a weak hand, I strive to "give them hell."
For some players, bidding without many points is out of the question. If that is how you feel, this lesson is NOT for you. But if YOU like to do well and want to be regarded as an opponent who must be respected and even feared, you definitely should keep reading.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to safely interfere with certain opposing auctions where you have rarely (if ever) been competitive in the past. In particular, he will demonstrate how to effectively disrupt your opponents AND enable your partner to make the best opening lead on ALL of the following auctions:
An opponent opens with a strong 2&clubs bid
Their Jacoby 2NT auction
Their 2/1 game forcing auction
Their Inverted Minor raise to two
Your RHO's Stayman response to 1NT
An opponent opens with a Precision 1&clubs
Your LHO opens, your partner doubles, and your RHO redoubles.
The topics Marty will cover include:
Why after this lesson you too will be preaching the virtues of "WOW-BASH"!
How to identify the auctions that lend themselves to frisky interference
Which overcalls are the most effective for your side
What actions are the most likely to cause the opponents to go astray
Why you should be ecstatic when your RHO redoubles partner's takeout double
How you can MAKE SURE that your partner will make the best opening lead
Why favorable vulnerability is "a license to steal"
The best conventions to use when the opponents are strong
One of the most important considerations for a defender is to decide whether to defend a deal actively or passively.
Some deals call for active defense. On these, you must be very aggressive in trying to set up or cash winners, attack an entry, etc. Active defense usually involves breaking new suits and hoping partner has the right card(s).
On the other hand, on many deals the best approach for the defenders is to be passive. In bridge, "passive defense" should NOT be regarded as a negative term. Unless you have a sequence, or are leading a suit where partner has promised length and/or strength, there are infinite situations where breaking a new suit will hand declarer an extra trick in that suit.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss the following:
The great benefits of counting declarer's distribution and winners
"Last is best", "first is (often) worst"
How to take advantage of knowing something that declarer doesn't
When to say "NO" to second-hand low
The right time to take your ace of trump
The right time to false card
The right (and wrong) time to try to give partner a ruff
When should you be unwilling to lead "around to weakness."
How to understand and execute surrounding plays
When partner makes a takeout double, you have a number of choices. When your RHO passes, you will usually make a minimum bid in an unbid suit. That could be based on a total Yarborough. Therefore, when you do have some values, you should try hard to let partner know that you are not broke. Of course, sometimes your RHO won't pass. If you don't have something to talk about, you are now welcome to pass. However, that does NOT mean that because you are off the hook, you should be eager to pass. A free bid does NOT promise a rose garden. In his 50 examples, Marty will discuss: If RHO passes:
When you're forced to lie, what is the lesser of evils?
How much strength is needed for a jump?
What does a cue-bid show?
Is this the right time to bid up-the-line?
Does a jump response promise a 5-card suit?
If RHO doesn't pass:
What is the correct mindset?
Exactly what do you need to make a free bid?
How relevant is the vulnerability?
How can you show values when you lack a descriptive bid?
Can you ever make a Michaels-type cue-bid?
When your RHO raises, what is your #1 priority?
After a redouble:
Which notrump bids are Unusual?
How can you survive when you are in trouble?
How can you attack when you are not in trouble?
"Counting to a bridge player is similar to an actor learning his lines. It doesn't guarantee success, but he can't succeed without it." George Kaufman, esteemed playwright and prominent bridge player
As important as it is for declarer to count, for the defenders counting is even more crucial. Counting involves effort.
Unfortunately, many players are unwilling to put in the work needed. As a result, although at least 1/2 of your opponents' contracts can be defeated, more than 3/4 of them are fulfilled. If you can learn to defend even fairly well, you are virtually guaranteed to be a successful player.
What must defenders count?
Distribution
High Card Points (HCP)
Number of Tricks
Use the following clues to count distribution:
Bids and doubles that other players made
Bids and doubles that other players did NOT make
What you know each time a player shows out of a suit
Partner's count signals
As soon as dummy is tabled, always try to count HCP. The best situations to do this are when declarer has made a bid which narrowly defines his HCP range. As you know, most notrump bids are well-defined.
Whenever possible, count the potential number of tricks:
For the defense
For declarer
In this lesson, Marty will discuss how counting can:
Enable your side to be the only pair to defeat seemingly "ice-cold" contracts
Help you find the killing opening lead
Locate a singleton in partner's hand and give him a ruff
Help you to prevent declarer from setting up a suit
Tell you exactly what is your only chance to defeat the contract
Help partner find the best defense
Tell you when to say "NO" to second-hand low
Let you KNOW the location of missing honors
Help you resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
Enable you to mislead declarer because you know something that he doesn't
Many players would tell you this is easy. If you have 15-17 HCP and a balanced hand, you open 1NT. If you don't meet both of those requirements, you open in a suit. Case closed!
Sorry, but Marty begs to differ. There is a lot more to this. Take a look at the following hands. What would you open? Marty thinks the correct answer is logical, but he believes that many players would do the wrong thing.
Hand 1 : &spadesQJ2 &heartsQJ2 &diamsQJ32 &clubsKQJ
This is a balanced hand with 15 HCP (on the surface). If you would open 1NT with this, Marty's best advice is: "Don't tell anyone, and hope that you never pick up this hand." This pile of garbage is NOT worth 1NT. The correct opening bid is 1&diams.
Hand 2 : &spadesAQ &heartsAQ98 &diams109542 &clubsKJ
This hand has two doubletons, so it is not "balanced." The correct description for 5-4-2-2 distribution is "semi-balanced." But if you open 1&diams and partner responds 1&spades, a 1NT rebid would show a minimum opening bid. Therefore, Marty hopes YOU would correctly open 1NT and avoid a rebid problem.
Of course, most hands are not as obvious as these two. Marty hopes you will join him in taking a closer look at this important topic. This lesson will definitely improve your "open 1NT or not?" judgment. The many topics he will discuss include the following:
Why 1NT should be your favorite opening bid
What experts recommend for hands with a 5-card major
When you should open 1NT with a 6-card minor
When you should open 1NT with two doubletons
How seat and vulnerability affect borderline hands
Should you go with the field?
Marty will discuss how to correctly evaluate your HCP and distribution so you will be able to determine which hands are:
too weak to open 1NT
too strong to open 1NT
the right strength to open 1NT
On this topic, there is a huge difference between the typical player and the more accomplished player.
Most players can't wait to draw trump first.
They will never forget the time that they didn't draw trump, and went down because one of their winners got ruffed.
They are determined to never have that happen again.
Until the opponents trump are gone, they worry that something will go wrong.
However, that is not the expert mindset.
Experts appreciate that it is usually wrong to draw trump first.
Why is that?
On the great majority of hands, there is a good reason why drawing trump must be postponed.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about to make this often-crucial decision:
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
When you should play differently at matchpoints
How to avoid a losing finesse
How to make the most of 5-card suits
How to maximize your entries
The right time to lose your losers
The right time to take a safety play
How to set up an endplay
Knowing what to do after your right hand opponent (RHO) opens is crucial.
On 50% of the deals you play, the player who opens the bidding is your opponent.
When that opponent is your RHO, the player in the hot seat is YOU.
When your side opens the bidding, HCP play a very significant role in your decision-making.
But, things are very different when the enemy bids first.
When your RHO opens, HCP are no longer the key.
Level, distribution, vulnerability, suit quality and your holding in RHO's suit are now more important.
Marty will discuss the following topics:
Why you should be super-aggressive after your RHO opens 1&clubs
When to pass a strong hand
Very flexible takeout doubles
1-level overcalls: All you need is a reason
1NT Overcalls: Very descriptive
2-level overcalls: 6-card suits are the norm
Two-suited overcalls: Some are better than others
Jump Overcalls: How aggressive should you be
Everyone loves to pick up a big hand. And when it is obvious to open 2&clubs, you are happy to do so. However, sometimes the decision as to whether you should open 2&clubs is far from obvious.
In addition, after a 2&clubs opening bid, and responder's 2&diams waiting bid, both players are somewhat in the dark. Responder knows absolutely nothing about opener's distribution. Meanwhile, not only does opener know nothing about responder's distribution, he also has absolutely no idea about the strength of responder's hand. Therefore, getting to the best contract is usually NOT a slam-dunk.
In his 42 examples, Marty will discuss:
What is the minimum number of HCP needed to open 2&clubs?
When should responder NOT respond 2&diams to a 2&clubs opener?
When can we stop below game?
Is it correct to open 2&clubs with a 2-suited hand?
When should you NOT open 2&clubs despite being strong enough?
How should opener proceed after responder's Double Negative?
How important is it for the stronger hand to be declarer?
After 2&clubs, when is it correct to jump?
When should the responder take control?
Defense is difficult. That is not debatable. It also represents an area of bridge where frequent errors are made.
Good defense can defeat MANY of your opponents' contracts. However, in reality MOST of those contracts are allowed to make.
Defense is also very subtle. When a hand is over and all 52 cards are in view, even experienced players often don't realize what they should or could have done.
However, every player can learn to defend better. If you are willing to work at improving your defense, you will improve.
The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How and when to count
How to use inferences from the bidding to find the best defense
How to make the most of your signals
The crucial principle "Suit preference in nothing suits"
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing
How to false card to cause declarer to not make a cold contract
How to break up a squeeze
Marty also discusses these bidding topics:
When you should overcall in a 4-card suit
How to make the most of "The magic of voids"
The little known but useful convention "Unusual Unusual Notrump"
A better convention than Ambiguous Michaels
Some deals are easy to play. Unfortunately, most are not. But as the examples in this lesson will illustrate, there is a silver lining. If you can learn the best way to size up the hand BEFORE starting to play, you will find yourself making more contracts than you ever did. Rather than spinning your wheels in many directions, these real-life deals will illustrate the approach you should take to focus on the key issues.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about BEFORE committing yourself. Although many players like "playing" more than "thinking", hopefully you agree that is often destined to yield very unsatisfactory results.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
Avoid losing finesses
Overcome bad splits
Know what you must about suit combinations
Take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
Know when (and why) to not follow "8 ever, 9 never"
Know when it's right to go for an endplay, and how to set it up
Execute a squeeze without being proficient on the subject
Know when it's right to play differently at matchpoints
A 2/1 GF response gets your partnership off to a great start. But based on what I continue to see, it does NOT ensure that a pair will have a good auction or get to a good contract. Unless your partnership has good agreements about the meaning of the followups, too often you will NOT get to the right contract.
The following MUST be discussed, and that's what this lesson is all about.
A. Go slowly with good hands.
Jump bids should NOT occur often.
But when is a descriptive jump bid needed
to tell partner what he needs to know?
B. Slam bidding
What are the 12 essential commandments that can enable you
to get to good slam contracts and avoid bad ones?
C. What should happen after a game forcing 2&clubs response to 1&diams?
The followups needed here are very different
than what you do after an opening bid in a major.
D. What should you do when an opponent interferes with your 2/1 GF auction?
E. How can you effectively interfere with your opponent's 2/1 GF auction?
F. After a 1NT response
Whether your 1NT response to a major is forcing or semi-forcing,
what MUST you know about these auctions that your peers do NOT know?
Once you carefully go through Marty's 67 practical carefully-explained examples,
you will be able to reach excellent contracts that your peers will miss.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
The 12 secrets of good slam bidding after a 2/1 GF response.
How to use and understand asking vs. telling bids when exploring for 3NT.
The key to getting to good minor-suit slams.
The rare hands that warrant a jump to 3NT.
How to intelligently bid slams when you have a void.
The highly recommended rebid structure for opener after 1&diams-2&clubs.
The little-known logical continuations after a quantitative 4NT bid.
An innovative way for opener to avoid rebid problems.
The right mindset to cause your opponents to go astray on their 2/1 GF auctions.
How to understand and use forcing passes to overcome enemy interference.
A little-known but easy-to-use convention that is essential for good slam bidding.
How to determine when it is correct to play in 5 of a minor.
Everyone knows that it is okay to open light in third seat. When you're in 3rd seat with a weak hand, 4th hand probably has the best hand at the table, so you'd love to inconvenience him.
However, there is much more to this topic than "After counting your HCP, feel free to open with a few less than were needed in 1st or 2nd seat."
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How light can you open?
How much difference does vulnerability make?
Why this is a great time for a frisky preempt.
Should you ever preempt with a decent hand?
Are there hands which call for opening in a major with a 4-card suit?
Should responder ever jump?
If you take a 2nd bid, do you promise a full opening bid?
Which conventions should be used by the responder?
One of the key elements of good declarer play is creating extra winners by developing a long suit. I can't remember the number of times I have said in a class: "I never met a 5-card suit I didn't like." Even a super-weak side suit such as 6 5 4 3 2 has the potential to develop additional tricks in either suit contracts or notrump. Of course, unless partner has a lot of length and strength in this suit, you would very much prefer that you got a good split.
On the other hand, when asked what is the most annoying type of hand to declare, the first thing that comes to mind is "hands where you get a bad split in trump." With an 8-card trump fit, almost 1/3 of the time, an opponent will have at least four trump against you. Therefore, learning how to try to cope with that kind of bad split can allow you to bring home contracts that proved too difficult for others.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
How to overcome a bad trump split
The right time to take a safety play
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
What you must know about suit combinations
How to make a loser disappear
How to give yourself an extra chance
When should you play differently at matchpoints
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
When must you take a deep finesse
How YOU can learn to execute a Trump Coup
This very special lesson includes the following bonus sections:
Essential principles of all signals
Time-tested practical tips to enable you to make better signals
Knowing how to proceed after receiving partner's signals
The correct way to signal with a worthless doubleton when partner leads the suit
19 instructive, carefully explained lesson deals
The Real Truth About Signals
The key to good defense is good signals.
And without good signals, even an expert will sometimes mis-defend.
Because defense is so difficult, the best pairs are constantly exchanging information
with their attitude, count and suit-preference signals.
And if experts need all that info from their partner
in order to have a chance to defend accurately,
it must be all the more critical for a non-expert.
Players reluctant to signal in fear of helping declarer are as wrong as they could be.
If your partner will or might benefit from your signal - give it.
It is important to keep in mind that whether partner encourages or discourages,
he is NOT giving a command.
He is simply expressing his opinion based on the information available to HIM.
As important as it is to give an accurate signal,
your partner MUST be able to interpret your spot card.
On some deals a 3 could be encouraging, or an 8 could be discouraging.
When asked if a 6 is high or low, the only correct answer is "YES."
In this lesson, I will discuss:
The correct thought process to go thru before making your signal
The correct thought process to go thru after receiving partner's signal.
How to ensure that your partner will do the right thing
How to help your partner find the key shift
When should you signal with an honor
How partner's signal can enable you to know declarer's exact holding in the suit.
How to decide whether you can afford to signal with a high card
When should you discourage despite great strength in the suit.
When should you encourage despite no strength in the suit
When is it correct (and safe) to falsecard
What is an "alarm clock" lead or play and when should you make it?
Here is an example of what I will teach:
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
North
East
South
West
1♣
1♠
4♥
All Pass
After a quick auction, you lead the ♠Q.
Partner plays the ♠8 and declarer follows with the ♠7.
How will you defend?
Answer To How Will You Defend?
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
Trick 1:
You won the ♠Q.
Your partner played the ♠8 and declarer played the ♠7.
If declarer could have won the first trick, he would have.
Your partner is marked with the ♠A and ♠K, so it seems automatic to continue spades.
However, if you do so, you are ignoring two factors.
1. Your partner signaled with his lowest spade.
This attitude signal said that he was discouraging a spade continuation.
2. Partner could have won the opening lead by overtaking your queen,
but he preferred to leave you on lead.
Based on #1 and #2, what should you conclude?
Your partner must be void in a minor!
In that case, it's up to you to find his void.
You and dummy have a total of 10 clubs, but only 8 diamonds.
So your correct defense is to shift to a club.
Once partner gets his club ruff, he will revert to spades.
You will sit back and hope that partner can take two additional tricks.
As you can see in the diagram of the full deal below,
if you found the club shift, 4♥ will be down 1.
Declarer will ruff the third round of spades with the ♥Q and cash the ♥A.
Partner's ♥K will take the setting trick.
If you had led a spade at trick 2,
the defense would be limited to three tricks.
In conclusion, here are two crucial principles of signaling that all players MUST be aware of:
1. After showing a suit in the auction, when partner leads your suit,
if it is possible for you to like the suit, you are still obligated to give an attitude signal.
That is true regardless of the type of bid (or lead-directing double) you made.
No matter what action you took in the auction, you didn't GUARANTEE
that after seeing the dummy and the cards played at trick 1,
you would want to encourage your partner to continue the suit.
2. "Later takes priority."
Whatever partner tells you in the defense carries more weight than anything he said in the auction.
Here is the full deal:
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
East
♠ A K J 9 8
♥ K 8 2
♦ 9 7 6 5 2
♣
South
♠ 10 7
♥ A Q J 10 9 7 5 3
♦
♣ 8 5 2
Knowing what to do after your partner opens and your right hand opponent (RHO) doubles is far from trivial.
In some situations, you should ignore the double and take the same action you would have made if your RHO had passed.
However, at other times, that is not the case.
In fact, because the meaning of certain calls is very different from the way they are defined in a non-competitive auction, there is a lot more to this topic that many players realize.
Every partnership must also be on their toes regarding conventions.
After an opponent's takeout double, many conventions should not apply.
However, experience has demonstrated that many players are unable to answer the $64,000 question:
What is on, and what is off?
Marty will discuss the following topics:
What's the key? HCP or distribution?
Which conventions are now off?
Which conventions are still on?
Which bids retain their usual meaning?
Which bids have a very different meaning?
How does "redouble" affect responder's actions?
How weak should you be for a weak jump shift (WJS) or weak jump raise (WJR)?
What 5-star convention is greatly under-appreciated?
So far, all of Marty's audio visual lessons have focused on bidding and declarer play. This month's lesson is devoted to defense, which is correctly regarded as the most difficult area of bridge. Many of his upcoming lessons will also focus on defense.
This month's lesson will concentrate on trying to defeat contracts of 4 of a major. Just as there is more to think about when declaring 4 of a major than playing in 3NT, the same is certainly true when on defense.
A good defender resembles a detective. He is constantly seeking clues, starting with the opponents' bidding. When dummy is tabled, both defenders must then stop and reflect on that new source of information. In addition, the opening leader's partner has the opportunity to consider the implications of the opening lead. Wow! All that, and we're only at trick one!
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # tricks
Why experts prefer "the simple defense."
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
Why you must rely on partner's signals
How to destroy declarer's transportation
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
How to improve your partnership defense
Here are some facts:
1. You rate to be on defense twice as often as you will be declarer.
2. Bridge teachers and other authorities agree that defense
is the most difficult part of the game.
3. The most frequently-played contract in bridge is 3NT.
And second place (4&spades) is a distant second.
4. The most common part-score is 1NT.
5. 2NT contracts are not uncommon.
6. Notrump contracts above 3NT do occur.
7. Eddie Kantar wrote: "At least half of your opponents' notrump contracts
can be defeated with a good defense, but the sad truth is that about
eighty percent of them are fulfilled."
Undeniable conclusion: The great importance of good defense of notrump
contracts can not be over-stated. In a word, it is crucial.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
How counting HCP can enable you to locate missing honors.
The step-by-step thought process needed to figure out declarer's distribution.
The correct thought process that will greatly improve your opening leads.
Practical tips to help you know what you must consider at trick 1.
How paying careful attention to spot cards played can tell you how to proceed.
How to further your knowledge of card combinations.
How to know when to say "NO" to second-hand low.
How you should react when The Rule of 11 "does NOT work."
Falsecards: The right (and wrong) times to do them.
Penalty doubles of 3NT: When they are correct, and when they are very wrong.
Almost 42% of all deals are played in a part-score. 50% of the time, you will be on defense. Therefore, on a typical afternoon or evening duplicate game, you will be defending a part-score on 5 deals. I bet that is a lot more often than you will use Stayman or Jacoby Transfers or even make a Negative Double.
Despite this, very few books discuss how to defend a part-score. And since all knowledgeable authorities agree that defense is more difficult than declarer play, it is no wonder that so many defeatable contracts are allowed to succeed.
Eddie Kantar wrote: "At least half of your opponents' contracts can be defeated with a good defense, but the sad truth is that about eighty percent of them are fulfilled."
That may be true of your peers, but for those who study the techniques in the 15 deals in this lesson, you WILL DEFINITELY see a dramatic rise in YOUR batting average.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of counting distribution and number of tricks
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How to destroy declarer's transportation
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
Why experts prefer "the simple defense"
How to improve your partnership defense
When you are making the opening lead, you face a dilemma
similar to ones encountered by fictional detectives such as
Sherlock Holmes. You have a chance to assemble and
evaluate clues and make deductions that can allow you to
make an effective opening lead.
Although consistently making a logical opening lead is challenging,
no area of bridge will be as critical in determining your fate on the deal.
There is no question that of all the 52 cards played in a bridge deal,
by far the most important one is the choice of opening lead.
This lesson is GUARANTEED to improve your opening leads.
It will also help you avoid the poorly chosen opening leads
that would make declarer delighted that he was playing against YOU!
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
Opening leads vs. all contracts
What types of opening leads are favored by experts.
The real truth about opening leads with matchpoint scoring.
The right and wrong times to lead dummy's suit.
Which popular opening leads are "a must to avoid."
When NOT to lead the top card of a sequence.
How assembling clues from the auction can help you make double dummy leads.
How to resolve the crucial "attacking or passive" dilemma.
Opening leads vs. notrump contracts
When should you prefer a top-of-nothing-lead.
Recommended agreements for honor leads.
With similar holdings, when should you prefer an unbid minor to an unbid major.
What suit you should lead when partner doubles 3NT.
When it is correct to lead declarer's suit.
Opening leads vs. suit contracts
How to KNOW the right time to lead trump.
The right and wrong times to try for a ruff.
The right mindset when declarer has preempted.
The 7 situations where Marty & Larry believe
that the opening lead of an ace should deny the king.
Here is an example of what Marty will teach:
North
South
1♦
1♥
1♠
2♦
3♥
4♥
Both sides are vulnerable.
As West you hold: ♠ A 4 3 ♥ A 2 ♦ 8 6 5 4 ♣ J 10 9 2
What do you lead against the opponents' 4♥ contract?
Solution:
What do you know about dummy's distribution?
His jump to 3♥ must be based on having 3 hearts and a very strong unbalanced hand.
Why unbalanced? If he had a strong balanced hand,
he would either open 1NT or jump to 2NT at his second turn.
Therefore he must be very short in clubs.
And if he has a singleton club along with his known 4 spades and 3 hearts,
he must have 5 diamonds.
Declarer's 2♦ preference promises at least 3 diamonds.
With your 4 diamonds and dummy's 5 diamonds,
you can be sure that your partner can't have more than one.
You also have a count on everyone's number of hearts.
Dummy has 3 and you have 2.
If declarer had 6 hearts, he would have made an immediate weak jump shift,
or rebid them after dummy rebid 1♠.
So, your partner has 3 hearts.
Aha! Having done your detective work, you are now ready
to confidently make the opening lead of a diamond.
Since you have the ♠A entry, you should make the suit-preference lead of the ♦8.
Here is the full deal:
Both Vulnerable
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♦8
North
♠ K 9 6 2
♥ K Q 9
♦ A J 10 9 3
♣ A
West (You)
♠ A 4 3
♥ A 2
♦ 8 6 5 4
♣ J 10 9 2
East
♠ J 10 8 5
♥ 6 5 4
♦ 2
♣ K Q 7 6 4
South
♠ Q 7
♥ J 10 8 7 3
♦ K Q 7
♣ 8 5 3
Declarer will win the diamond and lead a trump,
but you'll grab your ♥A and continue with the ♦6.
East will ruff and lead a spade to your ♠A.
You will lead another diamond. East will ruff again.
So declarer is down one.
With any other opening lead, the defense has no chance.
By the way: With your 2 aces + 4 diamonds,
knowing that your partner had to have 3 hearts and 0-1 diamond,
I would have doubled 4♥. Not only would that have increased the penalty,
but, although your partner couldn't have a strong hand,
if he had the ♠K or ♣A, that would have resulted in a juicy +500 for your side.
2 Over 1 Game Forcing (2/1 GF) is definitely the most popular system in modern bridge. And it should be. The ability to establish a game-forcing auction after 2 bids while only at the 2 level is a great way to start an auction. Once both players immediately know they are going to game (at least), they can go slowly and exchange information without any fear that their partner might pass.
Accordingly, almost everyone is playing 2/1 GF these days. Unfortunately, although this makes it easier to have a good auction, too many pairs often fail to get to their correct contract. Why is that?
They have not learned or discussed what should happen AFTER the 2/1 GF response. For starters, there are no fewer than 7 key issues that every pair must discuss and resolve as to how opener should rebid!
And there's more:
How should responder rebid?
What should happen on the third round of the auction?
Etc. etc.
That's what this lesson is all about. Once you go through Marty's 72 helpful, well-explained examples, you will be delighted with the excellent contracts you are now able to reach.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
Secrets that will greatly improve your bidding judgment.
How opener can make it easy for responder to choose the best contract.
Opener's correct mindset when choosing a rebid with an awkward hand.
Helpful guidelines for responder's first bid with a borderline hand.
When is it correct to rebid a strong 5-card suit.
How you can induce your opponents to lead your best suit.
What are the very few times where jumping is sensible.
Helpful little-known tips that will help you reach the best contract.
How to KNOW it's right to play in 3NT despite having a fit in a major.
The perfect solution when you are stuck for a bid.
Inescapable FACTS:
1. Every player (and partnership) would like to do better than they presently do.
2. Unless you and your partner declare and defend far better than "the field," the only possible way to significantly improve your results is to try to win the board in the auction. (Which could also be thought of as causing the opponents to lose the board in the auction.)
How can you win the board in the auction? By being super-aggressive competitively! If you can allow yourself to do this:
a. Your opponents will often NOT get to their correct contract. Of course you must also strive to not allow them to play in part-scores at a low level.
b. Your aggressive bid (or frisky lead-directing double) will enable your partner to make the best opening lead for your side. In addition, by immediately telling partner what you have, that definitely will improve his bidding.
If instead, you compete only with obvious hands, your matchpoint score will be dependent on your pair's ability in card play. But since very few players consistently take more tricks than other players do, the result of that approach is likely to produce average results. And at the end of the game, once again you end up with a mediocre score.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Avoid playing "scared bridge"
Cause your partner to bid more accurately than he ever has
KNOW what is the #1 key to better competitive bidding
Ensure that partner makes the best lead for your side
KNOW which overcalls are the most effective
Make aggressive bids that are virtually risk-free
KNOW which bids are guaranteed to help your partner the most
Give your opponents an unsolvable problem
KNOW when being vulnerable can work to your advantage
Resolve whether "to bid or not to bid" with non-obvious hands
KNOW the right approach to handle very distributional hands
Become more knowledgeable about sacrifice do's and dont's
Compete with hands where other players will settle for an unhelpful pass
Push your opponents around, and cause them to be eager to leave your table!
Almost 42% of all deals are played in partscores. Not surprisingly, the most common partscore contract is 1NT. Although only seven tricks are needed, three factors result in the fact that playing a 1NT contract is usually more difficult than declaring other partscores.
1. Although you have a lot of losers, you don't have an opportunity to ruff any of them.
2. One player usually has a lot more strength than his partner has, (such as when a 1NT opening is passed out). As a result, you will often have a lack of entries to the weak hand.
Taking tricks in notrump when one hand is very weak is a lot more difficult than if your side's assets are fairly even divided.
3. Your side has limited assets. That is why you stopped at the one level. Your side may even have less combined strength than the opponents have.
However, there is a silver lining as the examples in this lesson will illustrate. If declarer plays well, he often can find his way home to take seven tricks. These real-life deals will illustrate the techniques you can use to sharpen your declarer play and increase YOUR success in outplaying others in 1NT contracts.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about when you are declaring. This includes:
How to give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
How to overcome bad splits
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
What you must know about suit combinations
How to avoid losing finesses
The right time (and technique) to execute an endplay
How to judge when it's right to take a safety play
When should you play differently at matchpoints
When you are making the opening lead, you face a dilemma
similar to ones encountered by fictional detectives such as
Sherlock Holmes. You have a chance to assemble and
evaluate clues and make deductions that can allow you to
make an effective opening lead.
Although consistently making a logical opening lead is challenging,
no area of bridge will be as critical in determining your fate on the deal.
There is no question that of all the 52 cards played in a bridge deal,
by far the most important one is the choice of opening lead.
This lesson is GUARANTEED to improve your opening leads.
It will also help you avoid the poorly chosen opening leads
that would make declarer delighted that he was playing against YOU!
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
Opening leads vs. all contracts
What types of opening leads are favored by experts.
The real truth about opening leads with matchpoint scoring.
The right and wrong times to lead dummy's suit.
Which popular opening leads are "a must to avoid."
When NOT to lead the top card of a sequence.
How assembling clues from the auction can help you make double dummy leads.
How to resolve the crucial "attacking or passive" dilemma.
Opening leads vs. notrump contracts
When should you prefer a top-of-nothing-lead.
Recommended agreements for honor leads.
With similar holdings, when should you prefer an unbid minor to an unbid major.
What suit you should lead when partner doubles 3NT.
When it is correct to lead declarer's suit.
Opening leads vs. suit contracts
How to KNOW the right time to lead trump.
The right and wrong times to try for a ruff.
The right mindset when declarer has preempted.
The 7 situations where Marty & Larry believe
that the opening lead of an ace should deny the king.
Everyone loves to bid and make a slam. Of course, the opportunities to do so don't occur as often as you would like.
Of course, even if you bid well and get to a good slam contract, if it is not a laydown, you still have to try to find the line of play that gives you the best chance to make it. On most deals, that is easier said than done.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
Bidding
Little known but useful conventions
How to get to the best slam contract
How to have a good auction after interference
When should you make an unnecessary jump
Good auctions after opening 2&clubs
The key factor in bidding minor-suit slams
Play
How to give yourself extra chances
How to give a defender a choice of losing options
How to avoid depending on a finesse
When to not rely on "8 ever, 9 never."
How to overcome a bad split
How to recognize when to plan on an endplay
How to make a slam on a squeeze
3NT is the most often-played contract in bridge. That is not debatable. Almost 20% of all deals are played in 3NT. When playing 3NT, there are many possible things to think about when dummy is tabled. For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about to decide the best way to play the hand.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to make the most of your long suits
How to maximize your entries
How to make hands without risking a finesse
How to give yourself an extra chance
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
When should you play differently at matchpoints
So far, all of Marty's audio visual lessons have focused on bidding and declarer play. This month's lesson is devoted to defense, which is correctly regarded as the most difficult area of bridge. Many of his upcoming lessons will also focus on defense.
This month's lesson will concentrate on trying to defeat contracts of 4 of a major. Just as there is more to think about when declaring 4 of a major than playing in 3NT, the same is certainly true when on defense.
A good defender resembles a detective. He is constantly seeking clues, starting with the opponents' bidding. When dummy is tabled, both defenders must then stop and reflect on that new source of information. In addition, the opening leader's partner has the opportunity to consider the implications of the opening lead. Wow! All that, and we're only at trick one!
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # tricks
Why experts prefer "the simple defense."
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
Why you must rely on partner's signals
How to destroy declarer's transportation
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
How to improve your partnership defense
Here are some facts:
Almost 42% of deals are played in part-scores, so there is no question that they are very important. When playing matchpoints, the difference between making a part-score and going down one will have the same impact as if you were playing a game or slam.
Why aren't part-score deals featured more often in lessons, books, and newspaper columns? The answer is that they are frequently far more difficult to declare than a game or slam. Since part-scores require fewer tricks than other contracts, you would think that they are easier to make.
But that is NOT true. Instead, the reality is that since declarer has limited assets, and may even be forced to play in a 7-card trump fit, it is usually more difficult to make a part-score than a game or slam! When you are declarer on a deal where your side lacks the values for game, selecting the best line of play is often very difficult.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Know the right time to count winners in a suit contract.
Take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction.
Count the opponents' distribution to enable you to make "unmakable" contracts.
Use negative inferences from the opening lead to locate missing honors.
Improve your understanding of suit combinations.
Decide when to draw trump ASAP despite a questionable trump suit.
Know when it is correct to intentionally ruff often in the hand with trump length.
Induce an opponent to help you by covering an honor with an honor.
Benefit from useful advice to know how to induce errors with a falsecard.
Understand the essential principle of Restricted Choice.
These days, everyone seems to be preempting more than ever. Most players are very aware how effective preempts can be in forcing the opponents to guess what to do.
Of course, decisions after an enemy preempt need not be a blind guess. Experts have learned to rely on important principles that have withstood the test of time. And that's what this lesson is all about.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
What factor is a lot more important than HCP?
How can you choose between a double or a bid?
Cue-bid: When should it NOT be Michaels?
Why should 3NT become your favorite contract?
Which notrump bids are Unusual?
When is an overcall justified on a so-so 5-card suit?
How do experts define a double of 4 of a major?
When should you make a notrump overcall with an unbalanced hand?
How much more aggressive should you be in the balancing seat?
Here are some facts:
Once dummy is tabled, and before you play a card, after counting your winners (or losers), you must STOP, THINK, and make a plan. There are many areas you must address. Here are several of the most important ones:
A. How do you plan to reduce your number of losers (or increase your number of winners)?
B. Identify the key suit to work on.
In a notrump contract, it is NOT always your longest combined suit. Frequently, it is a suit where you are missing the ace.
In a suit contract, if declarer's hand includes 4+ cards in a side suit, that is often the suit you must address.
C. What technique should you use in this key suit?
There are many possibilities, such as taking a finesse or losing a loser early.
C. Trump.
How many trump do the opponents have? Should you draw trump ASAP? (More often than not, the correct answer is NO.)
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand.
Be more knowledgeable in deciding whether to draw trump.
Overcome bad splits.
Succeed no matter which opponent has a missing honor.
Draw helpful inferences about the opening leader's hand from the card he led.
Take advantage of subtle clues from a revealing auction.
Know when and how to execute an endplay (even in NT).
Become more proficient in not being dependent on a finesse.
Use a discovery play to avoid a guess.
Make a deceptive play that rates to succeed.
Here are some facts:
Every time I play duplicate bridge, the most prevalent theme in every session is - the defense is awful. An expert friend told me that when he declares a hand in a duplicate game, if the defenders present him with one undeserved trick, he is disappointed! He has come to expect at least two!!
Everyone knows (or should) that defense is the most difficult part of bridge. Accordingly, most players ignore the problem and hope that it will cure itself. They continue to trust their instincts, play a lot and hope for a miracle cure. Guess how that works out.
If instead, YOU are willing to take the time to learn more about defense, no one can guarantee that you'll become a terrific defender. But I bet that those who make an effort will be delighted when they see their opponents make fewer contracts and overtricks.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to exhibit detective skills that would impress Sherlock Holmes
The wondrous things you can accomplish when you count distribution
How to locate missing honors
How to resolve the critical question: Active vs. passive defense
How declarer's line of play can tell you how to defend
How to understand when it's right to shift to a trump
How you can cut the declarer's communication
What you must know about "alarm clock" leads
How declarer's line of play can enable you to locate missing honors
When is it 100% wrong to lead "thru strength and around to weakness"
As a bonus, Marty will also discuss some important bidding concepts:
What little-known bid will severely disrupt your opponents' auction
The real truth about a double of a 4&spades opening
When it is correct to double 3NT
The correct mindset when your opponent opens 2&clubs
Here are some facts:
In this extensive lesson with 60 examples, Marty will examine and explain the right thought process for each of the four seats and four vulnerabilities.
Unless you have good bidding judgment, you have no chance to bid well. Fortunately, regardless of your level, there are many little-known tips and suggestions that definitely will improve your judgment.
Most players were not born with great card sense. They can, of course, make good progress with their card play, but "Great card players are born, not made." On the other hand, every player can be taught
to bid a lot more effectively than he presently does. That is especially true when you have the opportunity to make the first bid. This is a wonderful time to begin describing your hand as well as putting your opponents on the defensive. Too many players fail to make the most of a situation that, as far as I'm concerned, can't occur often enough.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
The surefire way to improve your judgment
How to GUARANTEE that you won't have a rebid problem
How to get great results with aggressive weak 2-bids
How his invaluable Rule of 24 will enable you to make the most effective bid in 3rd seat
How to greatly improve your partner's opening leads
When you can know your partner's point-count before he bids
In 4th seat, when you should "violate" the Rule of 15
When is it clearly correct to open 3NT
When is it definitely correct to open a weak-2 with a hand worth a 1-bid
The right and wrong time to open 4-of-a-major
After opener rebids 1NT, if responder has a 5-card major and 11+HCP, roughly 2/3 of non-experts rely on New Minor Forcing (NMF). We agree that responder needs an economical asking bid here, but NMF has many VERY SERIOUS FLAWS.
Here are some of them:
The NMF bid is forcing, but is NOT forcing to game, so opener does NOT know responder's intentions. Does he have a game-forcing hand or just an invite? Therefore, NMF auctions often resemble uncertain reverse auctions rather than smooth 2/1 GF ones.
Responder doesn't promise a rebid, so opener feels the need to jump with a maximum. This will often prevent responder from describing his distribution.
Some of responder's rebids are not forcing. If he has a strong hand, he may not be able to make the economical bid he would like to make. By the way, do you know which rebids by responder are forcing and which aren't?
After responder's 2&diams NMF bid, if opener has no major, he will rebid 2NT (or 3NT). That is very inefficient. If responder has an invitational hand with a singleton, this will often land the partnership in a hopeless contract.
If all we were going to do is criticize NMF, that would not do YOU any good. But, regardless of your level, and whether or not you play NMF, THERE IS A MUCH BETTER WAY.
It is everything that NMF is not.
It allows responder to immediately specify "invitational or game forcing." Once he does, both players KNOW which bids are forcing and which are not. That is HUGE!
And, best of all, the new approach is NOT difficult. Everything you will ever need to know about this is available in the lesson.
This is NOT a typical Marty Bergen audio-visual lesson. Although it includes all of our normal features, it is FAR more extensive. If you like more bang for your buck, this lesson is made for YOU.
The lesson contains:
50 well-explained 26-card examples of how a partnership can accurately bid part-scores, games, and slams.
Over 40 helpful 13-card examples to illustrate the correct bids.
Audio and transcript that are even more comprehensive than other lessons.
Important tips to improve your hand evaluation skills
Specific rules about what to do when the opponents interfere.
Very helpful advice for hands not strong enough for game. 42% of all deals are played in part-scores, so these tips will also help YOU make good decisions with non-game hands when opener did not rebid 1NT.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss how you can EASILY:
Clarify responder's intent early in the auction.
Have an economical, efficient auction.
Sign off, invite game, force to game, invite slam.
Stay low with hands not quite strong enough for game.
Not allow opener to ever get in responder's way.
Have auctions that resemble 2/1 GF as opposed to uncertain reverse auctions.
Allow responder to describe his distribution.
Play in a secure 2 of a major rather than a risky or hopeless 2NT contract.
Improve your ability to evaluate accurately.
Let responder easily check for a 5-3 spade fit after 1&hearts - 1&spades - 1NT.
Know when it's right to play 3NT with an 8-card fit in a major.
Bid good slams and avoid bad ones.
When asked what is the single most important topic for declarer, I always answer: "Managing entries".
On many hands, the unsuccessful declarer's downfall was a result of his not being as efficient as he could have been with his entries.
Here are a few tips that are worth keeping in mind:
When you have a choice of where to win a trick, ask yourself, "Where will I need to be later?"
Don't be a grabber. A good declarer loses tricks early in the play.
Learn to appreciate intermediate cards. Their importance cannot be overstated.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about to maximize your entries. This includes:
How to give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
How to make the most of your long suits
How to make the most of your intermediates
When it is wrong to use up the honor from the short side first
When should you take a safety play
When you should "lose your losers early"
When is it more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
When should you play differently at matchpoints
After sorting my cards, one of the first things I do
is look for intermediate cards (eights, nines and tens).
An average holding would be one of each intermediate,
so of course I hope I received more than my share.
Obviously, I look more fondly at tens than the two lesser intermediate cards.
The presence or absence of intermediate cards will always
influence my hand evaluation and bidding.
Not only do I regard K 10 9 8 a lot differently than K 4 3 2,
but I consider the former to be the equivalent of K J 3 2 and call it 4 HCP.
The presence or absence of intermediate cards is also extremely relevant
for both the declarer and the defenders.
If I declare a notrump contract with K 10 9 8 opposite J 6 5,
I'm eager to attack the suit.
50% of the time, I will take 3 tricks, but even if their queen is offsides,
I still will have developed 2 winners.
Whereas, with K 4 3 2 opposite J 6 5, if I need to attack this suit,
the most likely result is that I set up several tricks for the defenders!
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to use your intermediates to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make a "hopeless" contract
Induce an opponent's error
Succeed regardless of which opponent has the missing honor
Improve your knowledge of suit combinations
Be in a position to take finesses that are guaranteed to succeed
Overcome a blocked suit
Understand the important principle of Restricted Choice
Execute an avoidance play to ensure that the dangerous opponent never gets in
Improve your proficiency with ruffing finesses
Take logical precautions to guard against a bad trump split
These days, many players seem to preempt more than ever. Although some hands are easy, on others deciding whether or not to preempt is anything but.
Even when it is obvious to preempt, you also must decide how many to bid. We all know that traditional thinking for preempts is: Open 2 with 6 cards, 3 with 7, and 4 with 8. However, suit quality, vulnerability, seat, and distribution should all play a significant role in your decision-making.
The bottom line for all bidding decisions is: Unless you develop good bidding judgment, you can't possibly be a good bidder.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
What is the most important factor in deciding "to preempt or not to preempt.".
What is a perfect preempt?
When should you preempt with a side 4-card major?
Why is first seat different than second.
The right time for a weak-2 with a 7-card suit.
Which flaws should stop you from preempting.
What is the minimum suit quality for an opening 3-bid.
When should you preempt with an opening bid.
What do you need for a fourth seat weak-2.
How good a hand do you need for a vulnerable preempt.
How will Marty's secrets, tips, and 87 examples help you be more successful?
They will help you:
Win the board in the auction.
Make winning bids and non-penalty doubles that will cause YOU to be your partner's favorite partner.
Have more insight about winning bidding tactics that your peers do not know about.
Avoid sins of omission, which are just as costly as sins of commission.
Improve your "To compete or not" judgment when your side is vulnerable.
This invaluable lesson will cover many essential topics. Here are a few of them:
How to ensure that you won't be guilty of playing "scared bridge."
What familiar auction is Marty's absolute favorite one!
How YOU can ensure that your partner will make the BEST opening lead.
What is definitely the most effective of all overcalls.
Modern doubles and how all non-expert pairs can make the best use of them.
What every player NEEDS TO KNOW about forcing passes.
When it is 100% correct to preempt with a hand strong enough to open.
What Bergen secret will help you bid good slams and avoid bad ones.
How Marty's Rule of 24 will greatly improve your actions in third seat.
The real truth about what you need to make a FREE BID.
An easy guide to help you decide whether to make a non-obvious penalty double.
Everyone knows that declarer must figure out his line of play at trick 1.
He is NOT the only player who should be thinking and planning.
But, since the defenders don't get to see their partner's cards,
they are usually not able to immediately do as much planning as declarer can.
Of course, by thinking about the opponent's hands during the auction,
a player who wants to defend well should already have begun the "investigation process."
Once you get to see dummy's cards, you must take time
to process this new source of essential information.
In addition, you are now in a position to learn a great deal about declarer's hand.
Once you've been shown EXACTLY what you should be thinking about,
you don't need to be an expert to significantly improve your defense.
You CAN learn to defend better than your peers do.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
Exactly what must each defender think about at trick 1
The correct thought process to enable you to find the killing opening lead
How counting HCP can allow you to locate a missing honor
The correct mindset to figure out declarer's distribution
How to know when to say "NO" to second-hand low
Falsecards: The right (and wrong) times to do them
How to resolve the crucial active vs. passive dilemma
How every pair can benefit from SPINS signals (suit preference in nothing suits)
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing
As soon as dummy is tabled, and before you play a card, after counting losers (or winners), you must STOP, THINK, and COME UP WITH A PLAN. There are many areas you must address. Here are some of the most important ones:
A. How do you plan to reduce your # losers (or increase your # winners)? The three most desirable ways are:
Ruff losers in the hand with fewer trumps.
Make use of a long suit to discard losers. (Very often, you need to begin setting up the suit ASAP.)
Hope to endplay the opponents to avoid a finesse.
B. Consider the trump suit:
How many trump do the opponents have?
How are they likely to divide?
Should you lead trump ASAP? Marty sez: Unless 100% sure that the correct answer is yes -- DON'T!
If the answer to #3 is yes, how many rounds should you play?
Last but not least: If declarer's hand includes a side suit of 4+ cards, that is usually the key suit to focus on.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand.
Turn losers into winners.
Find a surefire way to avoid losing finesses.
Learn a deceptive play that's sure to succeed.
Decide whether or not to draw trump.
Improve your knowledge of suit combinations.
Overcome bad splits.
Take advantage of clues from the opponent's auction.
Visualize (and begin setting up) an endplay early in the play.
Know when it's right to play differently at IMPs.
A 1-level response in a suit is not very descriptive.
Responder is promising at least 4 cards in his suit with 6+ points.
A 1H response could be based on a very weak hand, such as:
&spades86 &heartsJ753 &diamsK72 &clubsQ764
However, responder also might have a terrific hand, such as:
&spades (void) &heartsAK9864 &diamsKJ2 &clubsAKJ4
Without question, the 1-level response is one of the most ambiguous bids in bridge.
The opening bidder does not know much about his partner's hand.
Therefore, at responder's second turn, he MUST make a descriptive bid.
The bottom line here is:
After a 1-level response in a suit, responder's rebid is the key bid in the auction.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to deduce what opener holds.
How opener's first two bids affect the evaluation of your hand.
How to correctly resolve close decisions.
How to improve your bidding judgment.
What responder needs to reverse.
4th Suit Forcing - the absolutely essential convention for all levels.
Although everyone can improve their declarer play and defense, it's not easy to make huge improvements in these areas. When it comes to card play, great players are born not made.
However, regardless of how well you play, every player can greatly improve their bidding. As long as you have access to sound advice and are open-minded, you can make great strides.
In order to do so, you must learn how to figure out the TRUE VALUE of your hand. You can learn to do this, but you first need to be willing to not be overly dependent on point-count.
The topics Marty will cover include:
The 9 key factors in determining the true value of your hand
How to KNOW if your hand is upgradable, downgradable, or OK as is
The true value of honor cards
Why "Location, location, location" is so crucial
The great importance of your distribution in your 3 shortest suits.
The true value of a 7-card suit
Tips on how to get the most out of the Rule of 20
How to improve your results with notrump opening bids
When you should think twice about preempting with a 7-card suit
What hand-types scream for aggressive bidding
No one could disagree with these two statements:
Every player would love to play better and do better than they presently do.
You will defend twice as often as you will declare.
From these statements, what should you conclude?
In order to play better and be more successful, it is essential to improve your defense
Unfortunately, there is no question that defense is the most difficult aspect of bridge.
Therefore, a pessimist would say "I am not a great player, so I will never be a good defender."
On the other hand, the fact that defense is difficult can work in your favor.
Because good defense is both difficult and subtle, the great majority of players fail to think about what they could have done, take no steps to defend better, hope that the problem will cure itself, and continue to frequently mis-defend.
However, if you are realistic enough to know that no problem is ever solved by ignoring it, this online lesson can be the first step to improving your defense. And even if your improvement is modest, as long as you make some progress, you will be doing MUCH BETTER than your peers. They are under the delusion that all they need to do to improve is play a lot of bridge, and as a result, continue to make the same errors that they made in the past.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss the following:
The wonderful things you can accomplish when you are willing to count.
How to determine that it's "now or never."
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing.
How to cause declarer to do the wrong thing.
Why you MUST think before you play.
The right (and wrong) time to falsecard.
Why you sometimes should not want to get a ruff.
How to create trump tricks out of thin air.
When you should intentionally give declarer a ruff and sluff.
How to get a good matchpoint score by minimizing declarer's overtricks.
When you have a loser that you hope to avoid, an endplay (throw-in play) is often the solution. Frequently, the loser is in your "iffy" suit. This is a suit where the outcome is uncertain.
Clearly, the solution for an iffy suit is: "Last is best." When a defender leads a suit, your side plays last. What could be better? You don't need to go up with an honor and hold your breath waiting to see if it is covered or captured. Instead, you can sit back and wait to see what they play before you have to commit yourself.
If you want to force a defender to make a helpful lead, you must have a throw-in card. This is an inevitable loser that you can afford to lose. But, before throwing a defender in, you must be sure that your problem will be solved regardless of which suit he leads.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
Why endplays are infinitely better than finesses
How to know if an endplay is possible
What must be present to achieve an endplay in a suit contract
When it is possible to have an endplay in notrump
When it will matter which defender is thrown in
What must be done to set up the endplay
The great importance of managing your entries
The right thinking when you do your stripping
The correct mindset when given a ruff-sluff
Most pairs do not defend well. You can disagree,
or believe that the statement does not apply to you and your favorite partner.
But it is a fact.
However, every cloud has a silver lining. If the two of you can make some
progress in this area while your peers fail to do so,
your results will improve significantly.
What is the realistic way that a non-expert pair can make that progress?
Improve their signals.
Which types of signals should you learn about that offer
the best opportunity to greatly improve your results on defense?
Answer: Suit preference and SPINS.
"Marty, that sounds good. I just have one question.
I've seen SPINS listed on the bottom of the back side
of a convention card under OTHER CARDING.
But what is SPINS?"
SPINS stands for "Suit Preference In Nothing Suits."
Some players regard the phrase "nothing suits"
as referring only to the trump suit, or to those suits
where the defenders are known to have no relevant strength.
However, since all suit preference signals focus on giving information
about suits other than the suit led, it is accurate to say that:
"All suit preference signals can be regarded as SPINS signals."
In this lesson, I will discuss:
The correct thought process to go thru before making your signal
The correct thought process to go thru after receiving partner's signal.
How to ensure that your partner will do the right thing
How to help your partner find the key shift
How to give the best signal when you lack the perfect card
How to determine the right time to give a suit preference signal.
SPINS signals in the trump suit when your side leads trump
SPINS signals in the trump suit when declarer leads trump
How to make your signal so clear that any partner will get the message.
How to KNOW if partner's signal is suit preference, attitude or count.
Notrump deals where SPINS signals are crucial
Those deals where a suit preference signal should NOT be given
Knowing what to do on defense is not easy, but definitely is necessary. However, unless you also know when to do it, the outcome will often not be the one you are looking for.
Good planning is just as important for the defenders as it is for declarer. Unfortunately, because you get to see only half of your side's assets, it is usually more difficult to do.
A non-expert will never be able to defend as well as an expert. However, when shown the right way to size up a hand, every player can learn to defend better than they presently do.
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
The correct way to think at trick 1 before you turn your card over
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # of tricks
How to draw inferences from declarer's line of play
How to "tell" partner the way you want him to defend
How to get the most out of partner's signal
When to say no to "second-hand low"
Know how you can prepare to "duck smoothly"
How to give useful information in "nothing suits"
Knowing what to do on defense is not easy, but definitely is necessary. However, unless you also know when to do it, the outcome will often not be the one you are looking for.
Good planning is just as important for the defenders as it is for declarer. Unfortunately, because you get to see only half of your side's assets, it is usually more difficult to do.
A non-expert will never be able to defend as well as an expert. However, when shown the right way to size up a hand, every player can learn to defend better than they presently do.
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
The correct way to think at trick 1 before you turn your card over
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # of tricks
How to draw inferences from declarer's line of play
How to "tell" partner the way you want him to defend
How to get the most out of partner's signal
When to say no to "second-hand low"
Know how you can prepare to "duck smoothly"
How to give useful information in "nothing suits"
When it comes to finesses, a major philosophical difference separates the masses from the most accomplished players.
Most players love to finesse. Finessing is usually simple, and it provides immediate gratification (when it works).
However, experts don't like to finesse never have and never will.
Why? Finesses lose half the time.
Marty compares the expert's mindset with that of a professional gambler.
He certainly doesn't get rich on 50-50 propositions.
Of course, that does does not mean that you should never finesse.
Finessing will always be an important part of the game.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think to decide whether or not you should finesse.
How to give yourself an extra chance
When should you play differently at matchpoints
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
What you must know about suit combinations
How to avoid annoying misguesses
How to make the most of 5-card suits
How to prevent the dangerous opponent from gaining the lead
The right time to lose your loser(s)
The right time to throw a loser on a loser
The right time to go for an endplay
The right time to take a safety play
Deciding whether or not you have a slam is not easy.
Even experts do NOT shine in this area.
However, if you can set the trump suit early in the auction, that is a very good way to begin.
And if you can do so at an economical level, youre off to a good start.
A Jacoby 2NT response to opener's major accomplishes all of the above.
This is a convention that should be part of every pair's repertoire.
This convention is one of the keys to good slam bidding.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to decide whether to respond 2NT.
The correct way for opener to re-evaluate after 2NT.
How opener can easily show a void
How to know when to forget about slam.
The lowdown on opener's jump to the 4-level
Bergen-Cohen philosophy for Jacoby 2NT auctions
What every partnership must discuss
One of the most "In" conventions in modern bridge is Roman Keycard (RKC).
In fact, some beginners are using it!
RKC can be very helpful in accurate slam bidding.
Without question, the king and queen of trump are relevant cards.
On the other hand, there is a lot more to this convention than you might think.
Whether you use all of it, or only some, if your partnership has not taken the time to discuss nonobvious responses and continuations:
Good luck! You'll need it.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to show the trump queen and when not to worry about it.
How to proceed after an ambiguous response, such as 0 or 3.
How to respond with a void
The efficient way to ask for king
How to do better than "Last bid suit"
The best way to invite 7
When should you NOT use RKC
Bergen-Cohen RKC rules.
Once you bid them, how you should play them
Taking a sacrifice has several ways to gain:
1. Similar to the upside of balancing, you'd love it if your bid pushed the opponents to a higher level. Defending that contract is definitely an example of heads you win (if they go down), while tails you tie (if they make it).
2. There is the slim chance that the opponents will not double you.
3. You do rate to get doubled, but as long as the penalty is less than the score the opponents would have received for making their contract, you are better off.
On the other hand, the sacrifice may work out badly:
1. The opponents would not have made their contract. When this happens, we refer to your action as a "phantom sacrifice". No matter how many you go down, this is a bad result.
2. You go down more tricks than you intended, so you lose more points than they would have made in their contract.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
When you are considering a sacrifice:
The 7 golden principles that you MUST know.
Which enemy auctions are GREAT ones to interfere with.
Why an advance sacrifice is the best way to sacrifice.
How to avoid taking phantom sacrifices.
When it is correct to sacrifice against a slam.
When you should sacrifice against a 3NT contract.
The right time to make a sacrifice suggestion.
When you should and should not be willing to go to the 5 level.
When the opponents sacrifice:
How to use a forcing pass to help decide if your side should double or bid.
If you end up on defense, what is the expert philosophy for opening leads?
Every time you have a trump suit, that is definitely your most important suit. In a suit contract, your goal is to reduce your number of losers to an acceptable number. How you handle your trump is often the key. Deciding whether to draw trump first is important, but it is only the first step. There are so many other factors. You must concern yourself with all of the following:
Entries
Timing
Long suits
Short suits
Ruffs by your side
Potential ruffs and overruffs by the defenders
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed. This includes:
Should you lead trump immediately? If so, how many?
When counting winners can guide you to the best line.
On a cross-ruff, which suit should you ruff first?
When should you not ruff a loser?
When do you need to ruff with a high trump?
How to ruff a loser despite not having a short suit.
When you should draw trump despite having losers you could ruff.
How to maximize your intermediates in the trump suit.
When you should execute a dummy reversal.
How YOU can learn to execute a trump coup.
How YOU can set up an end play.
Sometimes the opponents first few bids make it clear that they have the balance of power. Meanwhile you have a weak or mediocre hand. When that scenario occurs, how do you react?
Some players reach into their bidding box for a lot of green pass cards, and in effect announce, "wake me when it's over." They are totally at the mercy of the opponents, and are resigned to hoping that the opponents will fail to arrive at their best contract.
No thanks! That laid-back, "I'll take a nap and hope they screw up" approach does NOT appeal to me. When my side has the good cards, I much prefer that the opponents stay out of my way. Therefore, when the other side has the good cards, even though I have a weak hand, I strive to "give them hell."
For some players, bidding without many points is out of the question. If that is how you feel, this lesson is NOT for you. But if YOU like to do well and want to be regarded as an opponent who must be respected and even feared, you definitely should keep reading.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to safely interfere with certain opposing auctions where you have rarely (if ever) been competitive in the past. In particular, he will demonstrate how to effectively disrupt your opponents AND enable your partner to make the best opening lead on ALL of the following auctions:
An opponent opens with a strong 2&clubs bid
Their Jacoby 2NT auction
Their 2/1 game forcing auction
Their Inverted Minor raise to two
Your RHO's Stayman response to 1NT
An opponent opens with a Precision 1&clubs
Your LHO opens, your partner doubles, and your RHO redoubles.
The topics Marty will cover include:
Why after this lesson you too will be preaching the virtues of "WOW-BASH"!
How to identify the auctions that lend themselves to frisky interference
Which overcalls are the most effective for your side
What actions are the most likely to cause the opponents to go astray
Why you should be ecstatic when your RHO redoubles partner's takeout double
How you can MAKE SURE that your partner will make the best opening lead
Why favorable vulnerability is "a license to steal"
The best conventions to use when the opponents are strong
One of the most important considerations for a defender is to decide whether to defend a deal actively or passively.
Some deals call for active defense. On these, you must be very aggressive in trying to set up or cash winners, attack an entry, etc. Active defense usually involves breaking new suits and hoping partner has the right card(s).
On the other hand, on many deals the best approach for the defenders is to be passive. In bridge, "passive defense" should NOT be regarded as a negative term. Unless you have a sequence, or are leading a suit where partner has promised length and/or strength, there are infinite situations where breaking a new suit will hand declarer an extra trick in that suit.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss the following:
The great benefits of counting declarer's distribution and winners
"Last is best", "first is (often) worst"
How to take advantage of knowing something that declarer doesn't
When to say "NO" to second-hand low
The right time to take your ace of trump
The right time to false card
The right (and wrong) time to try to give partner a ruff
When should you be unwilling to lead "around to weakness."
How to understand and execute surrounding plays
When partner makes a takeout double, you have a number of choices. When your RHO passes, you will usually make a minimum bid in an unbid suit. That could be based on a total Yarborough. Therefore, when you do have some values, you should try hard to let partner know that you are not broke. Of course, sometimes your RHO won't pass. If you don't have something to talk about, you are now welcome to pass. However, that does NOT mean that because you are off the hook, you should be eager to pass. A free bid does NOT promise a rose garden. In his 50 examples, Marty will discuss: If RHO passes:
When you're forced to lie, what is the lesser of evils?
How much strength is needed for a jump?
What does a cue-bid show?
Is this the right time to bid up-the-line?
Does a jump response promise a 5-card suit?
If RHO doesn't pass:
What is the correct mindset?
Exactly what do you need to make a free bid?
How relevant is the vulnerability?
How can you show values when you lack a descriptive bid?
Can you ever make a Michaels-type cue-bid?
When your RHO raises, what is your #1 priority?
After a redouble:
Which notrump bids are Unusual?
How can you survive when you are in trouble?
How can you attack when you are not in trouble?
"Counting to a bridge player is similar to an actor learning his lines. It doesn't guarantee success, but he can't succeed without it." George Kaufman, esteemed playwright and prominent bridge player
As important as it is for declarer to count, for the defenders counting is even more crucial. Counting involves effort.
Unfortunately, many players are unwilling to put in the work needed. As a result, although at least 1/2 of your opponents' contracts can be defeated, more than 3/4 of them are fulfilled. If you can learn to defend even fairly well, you are virtually guaranteed to be a successful player.
What must defenders count?
Distribution
High Card Points (HCP)
Number of Tricks
Use the following clues to count distribution:
Bids and doubles that other players made
Bids and doubles that other players did NOT make
What you know each time a player shows out of a suit
Partner's count signals
As soon as dummy is tabled, always try to count HCP. The best situations to do this are when declarer has made a bid which narrowly defines his HCP range. As you know, most notrump bids are well-defined.
Whenever possible, count the potential number of tricks:
For the defense
For declarer
In this lesson, Marty will discuss how counting can:
Enable your side to be the only pair to defeat seemingly "ice-cold" contracts
Help you find the killing opening lead
Locate a singleton in partner's hand and give him a ruff
Help you to prevent declarer from setting up a suit
Tell you exactly what is your only chance to defeat the contract
Help partner find the best defense
Tell you when to say "NO" to second-hand low
Let you KNOW the location of missing honors
Help you resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
Enable you to mislead declarer because you know something that he doesn't
Many players would tell you this is easy. If you have 15-17 HCP and a balanced hand, you open 1NT. If you don't meet both of those requirements, you open in a suit. Case closed!
Sorry, but Marty begs to differ. There is a lot more to this. Take a look at the following hands. What would you open? Marty thinks the correct answer is logical, but he believes that many players would do the wrong thing.
Hand 1 : &spadesQJ2 &heartsQJ2 &diamsQJ32 &clubsKQJ
This is a balanced hand with 15 HCP (on the surface). If you would open 1NT with this, Marty's best advice is: "Don't tell anyone, and hope that you never pick up this hand." This pile of garbage is NOT worth 1NT. The correct opening bid is 1&diams.
Hand 2 : &spadesAQ &heartsAQ98 &diams109542 &clubsKJ
This hand has two doubletons, so it is not "balanced." The correct description for 5-4-2-2 distribution is "semi-balanced." But if you open 1&diams and partner responds 1&spades, a 1NT rebid would show a minimum opening bid. Therefore, Marty hopes YOU would correctly open 1NT and avoid a rebid problem.
Of course, most hands are not as obvious as these two. Marty hopes you will join him in taking a closer look at this important topic. This lesson will definitely improve your "open 1NT or not?" judgment. The many topics he will discuss include the following:
Why 1NT should be your favorite opening bid
What experts recommend for hands with a 5-card major
When you should open 1NT with a 6-card minor
When you should open 1NT with two doubletons
How seat and vulnerability affect borderline hands
Should you go with the field?
Marty will discuss how to correctly evaluate your HCP and distribution so you will be able to determine which hands are:
too weak to open 1NT
too strong to open 1NT
the right strength to open 1NT
On this topic, there is a huge difference between the typical player and the more accomplished player.
Most players can't wait to draw trump first.
They will never forget the time that they didn't draw trump, and went down because one of their winners got ruffed.
They are determined to never have that happen again.
Until the opponents trump are gone, they worry that something will go wrong.
However, that is not the expert mindset.
Experts appreciate that it is usually wrong to draw trump first.
Why is that?
On the great majority of hands, there is a good reason why drawing trump must be postponed.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about to make this often-crucial decision:
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
When you should play differently at matchpoints
How to avoid a losing finesse
How to make the most of 5-card suits
How to maximize your entries
The right time to lose your losers
The right time to take a safety play
How to set up an endplay
Knowing what to do after your right hand opponent (RHO) opens is crucial.
On 50% of the deals you play, the player who opens the bidding is your opponent.
When that opponent is your RHO, the player in the hot seat is YOU.
When your side opens the bidding, HCP play a very significant role in your decision-making.
But, things are very different when the enemy bids first.
When your RHO opens, HCP are no longer the key.
Level, distribution, vulnerability, suit quality and your holding in RHO's suit are now more important.
Marty will discuss the following topics:
Why you should be super-aggressive after your RHO opens 1&clubs
When to pass a strong hand
Very flexible takeout doubles
1-level overcalls: All you need is a reason
1NT Overcalls: Very descriptive
2-level overcalls: 6-card suits are the norm
Two-suited overcalls: Some are better than others
Jump Overcalls: How aggressive should you be
Everyone loves to pick up a big hand. And when it is obvious to open 2&clubs, you are happy to do so. However, sometimes the decision as to whether you should open 2&clubs is far from obvious.
In addition, after a 2&clubs opening bid, and responder's 2&diams waiting bid, both players are somewhat in the dark. Responder knows absolutely nothing about opener's distribution. Meanwhile, not only does opener know nothing about responder's distribution, he also has absolutely no idea about the strength of responder's hand. Therefore, getting to the best contract is usually NOT a slam-dunk.
In his 42 examples, Marty will discuss:
What is the minimum number of HCP needed to open 2&clubs?
When should responder NOT respond 2&diams to a 2&clubs opener?
When can we stop below game?
Is it correct to open 2&clubs with a 2-suited hand?
When should you NOT open 2&clubs despite being strong enough?
How should opener proceed after responder's Double Negative?
How important is it for the stronger hand to be declarer?
After 2&clubs, when is it correct to jump?
When should the responder take control?
Defense is difficult. That is not debatable. It also represents an area of bridge where frequent errors are made.
Good defense can defeat MANY of your opponents' contracts. However, in reality MOST of those contracts are allowed to make.
Defense is also very subtle. When a hand is over and all 52 cards are in view, even experienced players often don't realize what they should or could have done.
However, every player can learn to defend better. If you are willing to work at improving your defense, you will improve.
The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How and when to count
How to use inferences from the bidding to find the best defense
How to make the most of your signals
The crucial principle "Suit preference in nothing suits"
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing
How to false card to cause declarer to not make a cold contract
How to break up a squeeze
Marty also discusses these bidding topics:
When you should overcall in a 4-card suit
How to make the most of "The magic of voids"
The little known but useful convention "Unusual Unusual Notrump"
A better convention than Ambiguous Michaels
Some deals are easy to play. Unfortunately, most are not. But as the examples in this lesson will illustrate, there is a silver lining. If you can learn the best way to size up the hand BEFORE starting to play, you will find yourself making more contracts than you ever did. Rather than spinning your wheels in many directions, these real-life deals will illustrate the approach you should take to focus on the key issues.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about BEFORE committing yourself. Although many players like "playing" more than "thinking", hopefully you agree that is often destined to yield very unsatisfactory results.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
Avoid losing finesses
Overcome bad splits
Know what you must about suit combinations
Take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
Know when (and why) to not follow "8 ever, 9 never"
Know when it's right to go for an endplay, and how to set it up
Execute a squeeze without being proficient on the subject
Know when it's right to play differently at matchpoints
A 2/1 GF response gets your partnership off to a great start. But based on what I continue to see, it does NOT ensure that a pair will have a good auction or get to a good contract. Unless your partnership has good agreements about the meaning of the followups, too often you will NOT get to the right contract.
The following MUST be discussed, and that's what this lesson is all about.
A. Go slowly with good hands.
Jump bids should NOT occur often.
But when is a descriptive jump bid needed
to tell partner what he needs to know?
B. Slam bidding
What are the 12 essential commandments that can enable you
to get to good slam contracts and avoid bad ones?
C. What should happen after a game forcing 2&clubs response to 1&diams?
The followups needed here are very different
than what you do after an opening bid in a major.
D. What should you do when an opponent interferes with your 2/1 GF auction?
E. How can you effectively interfere with your opponent's 2/1 GF auction?
F. After a 1NT response
Whether your 1NT response to a major is forcing or semi-forcing,
what MUST you know about these auctions that your peers do NOT know?
Once you carefully go through Marty's 67 practical carefully-explained examples,
you will be able to reach excellent contracts that your peers will miss.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
The 12 secrets of good slam bidding after a 2/1 GF response.
How to use and understand asking vs. telling bids when exploring for 3NT.
The key to getting to good minor-suit slams.
The rare hands that warrant a jump to 3NT.
How to intelligently bid slams when you have a void.
The highly recommended rebid structure for opener after 1&diams-2&clubs.
The little-known logical continuations after a quantitative 4NT bid.
An innovative way for opener to avoid rebid problems.
The right mindset to cause your opponents to go astray on their 2/1 GF auctions.
How to understand and use forcing passes to overcome enemy interference.
A little-known but easy-to-use convention that is essential for good slam bidding.
How to determine when it is correct to play in 5 of a minor.
Everyone knows that it is okay to open light in third seat. When you're in 3rd seat with a weak hand, 4th hand probably has the best hand at the table, so you'd love to inconvenience him.
However, there is much more to this topic than "After counting your HCP, feel free to open with a few less than were needed in 1st or 2nd seat."
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How light can you open?
How much difference does vulnerability make?
Why this is a great time for a frisky preempt.
Should you ever preempt with a decent hand?
Are there hands which call for opening in a major with a 4-card suit?
Should responder ever jump?
If you take a 2nd bid, do you promise a full opening bid?
Which conventions should be used by the responder?
One of the key elements of good declarer play is creating extra winners by developing a long suit. I can't remember the number of times I have said in a class: "I never met a 5-card suit I didn't like." Even a super-weak side suit such as 6 5 4 3 2 has the potential to develop additional tricks in either suit contracts or notrump. Of course, unless partner has a lot of length and strength in this suit, you would very much prefer that you got a good split.
On the other hand, when asked what is the most annoying type of hand to declare, the first thing that comes to mind is "hands where you get a bad split in trump." With an 8-card trump fit, almost 1/3 of the time, an opponent will have at least four trump against you. Therefore, learning how to try to cope with that kind of bad split can allow you to bring home contracts that proved too difficult for others.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
How to overcome a bad trump split
The right time to take a safety play
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
What you must know about suit combinations
How to make a loser disappear
How to give yourself an extra chance
When should you play differently at matchpoints
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
When must you take a deep finesse
How YOU can learn to execute a Trump Coup
This very special lesson includes the following bonus sections:
Essential principles of all signals
Time-tested practical tips to enable you to make better signals
Knowing how to proceed after receiving partner's signals
The correct way to signal with a worthless doubleton when partner leads the suit
19 instructive, carefully explained lesson deals
The Real Truth About Signals
The key to good defense is good signals.
And without good signals, even an expert will sometimes mis-defend.
Because defense is so difficult, the best pairs are constantly exchanging information
with their attitude, count and suit-preference signals.
And if experts need all that info from their partner
in order to have a chance to defend accurately,
it must be all the more critical for a non-expert.
Players reluctant to signal in fear of helping declarer are as wrong as they could be.
If your partner will or might benefit from your signal - give it.
It is important to keep in mind that whether partner encourages or discourages,
he is NOT giving a command.
He is simply expressing his opinion based on the information available to HIM.
As important as it is to give an accurate signal,
your partner MUST be able to interpret your spot card.
On some deals a 3 could be encouraging, or an 8 could be discouraging.
When asked if a 6 is high or low, the only correct answer is "YES."
In this lesson, I will discuss:
The correct thought process to go thru before making your signal
The correct thought process to go thru after receiving partner's signal.
How to ensure that your partner will do the right thing
How to help your partner find the key shift
When should you signal with an honor
How partner's signal can enable you to know declarer's exact holding in the suit.
How to decide whether you can afford to signal with a high card
When should you discourage despite great strength in the suit.
When should you encourage despite no strength in the suit
When is it correct (and safe) to falsecard
What is an "alarm clock" lead or play and when should you make it?
Here is an example of what I will teach:
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
North
East
South
West
1♣
1♠
4♥
All Pass
After a quick auction, you lead the ♠Q.
Partner plays the ♠8 and declarer follows with the ♠7.
How will you defend?
Answer To How Will You Defend?
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
Trick 1:
You won the ♠Q.
Your partner played the ♠8 and declarer played the ♠7.
If declarer could have won the first trick, he would have.
Your partner is marked with the ♠A and ♠K, so it seems automatic to continue spades.
However, if you do so, you are ignoring two factors.
1. Your partner signaled with his lowest spade.
This attitude signal said that he was discouraging a spade continuation.
2. Partner could have won the opening lead by overtaking your queen,
but he preferred to leave you on lead.
Based on #1 and #2, what should you conclude?
Your partner must be void in a minor!
In that case, it's up to you to find his void.
You and dummy have a total of 10 clubs, but only 8 diamonds.
So your correct defense is to shift to a club.
Once partner gets his club ruff, he will revert to spades.
You will sit back and hope that partner can take two additional tricks.
As you can see in the diagram of the full deal below,
if you found the club shift, 4♥ will be down 1.
Declarer will ruff the third round of spades with the ♥Q and cash the ♥A.
Partner's ♥K will take the setting trick.
If you had led a spade at trick 2,
the defense would be limited to three tricks.
In conclusion, here are two crucial principles of signaling that all players MUST be aware of:
1. After showing a suit in the auction, when partner leads your suit,
if it is possible for you to like the suit, you are still obligated to give an attitude signal.
That is true regardless of the type of bid (or lead-directing double) you made.
No matter what action you took in the auction, you didn't GUARANTEE
that after seeing the dummy and the cards played at trick 1,
you would want to encourage your partner to continue the suit.
2. "Later takes priority."
Whatever partner tells you in the defense carries more weight than anything he said in the auction.
Here is the full deal:
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♠Q
North
♠ 6 5 4 2
♥
♦ A K 4 3
♣ A K J 10 6
West (You)
♠ Q 3
♥ 6 4
♦ Q J 10 8
♣ Q 9 7 4 3
East
♠ A K J 9 8
♥ K 8 2
♦ 9 7 6 5 2
♣
South
♠ 10 7
♥ A Q J 10 9 7 5 3
♦
♣ 8 5 2
Knowing what to do after your partner opens and your right hand opponent (RHO) doubles is far from trivial.
In some situations, you should ignore the double and take the same action you would have made if your RHO had passed.
However, at other times, that is not the case.
In fact, because the meaning of certain calls is very different from the way they are defined in a non-competitive auction, there is a lot more to this topic that many players realize.
Every partnership must also be on their toes regarding conventions.
After an opponent's takeout double, many conventions should not apply.
However, experience has demonstrated that many players are unable to answer the $64,000 question:
What is on, and what is off?
Marty will discuss the following topics:
What's the key? HCP or distribution?
Which conventions are now off?
Which conventions are still on?
Which bids retain their usual meaning?
Which bids have a very different meaning?
How does "redouble" affect responder's actions?
How weak should you be for a weak jump shift (WJS) or weak jump raise (WJR)?
What 5-star convention is greatly under-appreciated?
So far, all of Marty's audio visual lessons have focused on bidding and declarer play. This month's lesson is devoted to defense, which is correctly regarded as the most difficult area of bridge. Many of his upcoming lessons will also focus on defense.
This month's lesson will concentrate on trying to defeat contracts of 4 of a major. Just as there is more to think about when declaring 4 of a major than playing in 3NT, the same is certainly true when on defense.
A good defender resembles a detective. He is constantly seeking clues, starting with the opponents' bidding. When dummy is tabled, both defenders must then stop and reflect on that new source of information. In addition, the opening leader's partner has the opportunity to consider the implications of the opening lead. Wow! All that, and we're only at trick one!
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # tricks
Why experts prefer "the simple defense."
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
Why you must rely on partner's signals
How to destroy declarer's transportation
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
How to improve your partnership defense
Here are some facts:
1. You rate to be on defense twice as often as you will be declarer.
2. Bridge teachers and other authorities agree that defense
is the most difficult part of the game.
3. The most frequently-played contract in bridge is 3NT.
And second place (4&spades) is a distant second.
4. The most common part-score is 1NT.
5. 2NT contracts are not uncommon.
6. Notrump contracts above 3NT do occur.
7. Eddie Kantar wrote: "At least half of your opponents' notrump contracts
can be defeated with a good defense, but the sad truth is that about
eighty percent of them are fulfilled."
Undeniable conclusion: The great importance of good defense of notrump
contracts can not be over-stated. In a word, it is crucial.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
How counting HCP can enable you to locate missing honors.
The step-by-step thought process needed to figure out declarer's distribution.
The correct thought process that will greatly improve your opening leads.
Practical tips to help you know what you must consider at trick 1.
How paying careful attention to spot cards played can tell you how to proceed.
How to further your knowledge of card combinations.
How to know when to say "NO" to second-hand low.
How you should react when The Rule of 11 "does NOT work."
Falsecards: The right (and wrong) times to do them.
Penalty doubles of 3NT: When they are correct, and when they are very wrong.
Almost 42% of all deals are played in a part-score. 50% of the time, you will be on defense. Therefore, on a typical afternoon or evening duplicate game, you will be defending a part-score on 5 deals. I bet that is a lot more often than you will use Stayman or Jacoby Transfers or even make a Negative Double.
Despite this, very few books discuss how to defend a part-score. And since all knowledgeable authorities agree that defense is more difficult than declarer play, it is no wonder that so many defeatable contracts are allowed to succeed.
Eddie Kantar wrote: "At least half of your opponents' contracts can be defeated with a good defense, but the sad truth is that about eighty percent of them are fulfilled."
That may be true of your peers, but for those who study the techniques in the 15 deals in this lesson, you WILL DEFINITELY see a dramatic rise in YOUR batting average.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of counting distribution and number of tricks
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How to destroy declarer's transportation
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
Why experts prefer "the simple defense"
How to improve your partnership defense
When you are making the opening lead, you face a dilemma
similar to ones encountered by fictional detectives such as
Sherlock Holmes. You have a chance to assemble and
evaluate clues and make deductions that can allow you to
make an effective opening lead.
Although consistently making a logical opening lead is challenging,
no area of bridge will be as critical in determining your fate on the deal.
There is no question that of all the 52 cards played in a bridge deal,
by far the most important one is the choice of opening lead.
This lesson is GUARANTEED to improve your opening leads.
It will also help you avoid the poorly chosen opening leads
that would make declarer delighted that he was playing against YOU!
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
Opening leads vs. all contracts
What types of opening leads are favored by experts.
The real truth about opening leads with matchpoint scoring.
The right and wrong times to lead dummy's suit.
Which popular opening leads are "a must to avoid."
When NOT to lead the top card of a sequence.
How assembling clues from the auction can help you make double dummy leads.
How to resolve the crucial "attacking or passive" dilemma.
Opening leads vs. notrump contracts
When should you prefer a top-of-nothing-lead.
Recommended agreements for honor leads.
With similar holdings, when should you prefer an unbid minor to an unbid major.
What suit you should lead when partner doubles 3NT.
When it is correct to lead declarer's suit.
Opening leads vs. suit contracts
How to KNOW the right time to lead trump.
The right and wrong times to try for a ruff.
The right mindset when declarer has preempted.
The 7 situations where Marty & Larry believe
that the opening lead of an ace should deny the king.
Here is an example of what Marty will teach:
North
South
1♦
1♥
1♠
2♦
3♥
4♥
Both sides are vulnerable.
As West you hold: ♠ A 4 3 ♥ A 2 ♦ 8 6 5 4 ♣ J 10 9 2
What do you lead against the opponents' 4♥ contract?
Solution:
What do you know about dummy's distribution?
His jump to 3♥ must be based on having 3 hearts and a very strong unbalanced hand.
Why unbalanced? If he had a strong balanced hand,
he would either open 1NT or jump to 2NT at his second turn.
Therefore he must be very short in clubs.
And if he has a singleton club along with his known 4 spades and 3 hearts,
he must have 5 diamonds.
Declarer's 2♦ preference promises at least 3 diamonds.
With your 4 diamonds and dummy's 5 diamonds,
you can be sure that your partner can't have more than one.
You also have a count on everyone's number of hearts.
Dummy has 3 and you have 2.
If declarer had 6 hearts, he would have made an immediate weak jump shift,
or rebid them after dummy rebid 1♠.
So, your partner has 3 hearts.
Aha! Having done your detective work, you are now ready
to confidently make the opening lead of a diamond.
Since you have the ♠A entry, you should make the suit-preference lead of the ♦8.
Here is the full deal:
Both Vulnerable
Contract: 4♥
Lead: ♦8
North
♠ K 9 6 2
♥ K Q 9
♦ A J 10 9 3
♣ A
West (You)
♠ A 4 3
♥ A 2
♦ 8 6 5 4
♣ J 10 9 2
East
♠ J 10 8 5
♥ 6 5 4
♦ 2
♣ K Q 7 6 4
South
♠ Q 7
♥ J 10 8 7 3
♦ K Q 7
♣ 8 5 3
Declarer will win the diamond and lead a trump,
but you'll grab your ♥A and continue with the ♦6.
East will ruff and lead a spade to your ♠A.
You will lead another diamond. East will ruff again.
So declarer is down one.
With any other opening lead, the defense has no chance.
By the way: With your 2 aces + 4 diamonds,
knowing that your partner had to have 3 hearts and 0-1 diamond,
I would have doubled 4♥. Not only would that have increased the penalty,
but, although your partner couldn't have a strong hand,
if he had the ♠K or ♣A, that would have resulted in a juicy +500 for your side.
2 Over 1 Game Forcing (2/1 GF) is definitely the most popular system in modern bridge. And it should be. The ability to establish a game-forcing auction after 2 bids while only at the 2 level is a great way to start an auction. Once both players immediately know they are going to game (at least), they can go slowly and exchange information without any fear that their partner might pass.
Accordingly, almost everyone is playing 2/1 GF these days. Unfortunately, although this makes it easier to have a good auction, too many pairs often fail to get to their correct contract. Why is that?
They have not learned or discussed what should happen AFTER the 2/1 GF response. For starters, there are no fewer than 7 key issues that every pair must discuss and resolve as to how opener should rebid!
And there's more:
How should responder rebid?
What should happen on the third round of the auction?
Etc. etc.
That's what this lesson is all about. Once you go through Marty's 72 helpful, well-explained examples, you will be delighted with the excellent contracts you are now able to reach.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
Secrets that will greatly improve your bidding judgment.
How opener can make it easy for responder to choose the best contract.
Opener's correct mindset when choosing a rebid with an awkward hand.
Helpful guidelines for responder's first bid with a borderline hand.
When is it correct to rebid a strong 5-card suit.
How you can induce your opponents to lead your best suit.
What are the very few times where jumping is sensible.
Helpful little-known tips that will help you reach the best contract.
How to KNOW it's right to play in 3NT despite having a fit in a major.
The perfect solution when you are stuck for a bid.
Inescapable FACTS:
1. Every player (and partnership) would like to do better than they presently do.
2. Unless you and your partner declare and defend far better than "the field," the only possible way to significantly improve your results is to try to win the board in the auction. (Which could also be thought of as causing the opponents to lose the board in the auction.)
How can you win the board in the auction? By being super-aggressive competitively! If you can allow yourself to do this:
a. Your opponents will often NOT get to their correct contract. Of course you must also strive to not allow them to play in part-scores at a low level.
b. Your aggressive bid (or frisky lead-directing double) will enable your partner to make the best opening lead for your side. In addition, by immediately telling partner what you have, that definitely will improve his bidding.
If instead, you compete only with obvious hands, your matchpoint score will be dependent on your pair's ability in card play. But since very few players consistently take more tricks than other players do, the result of that approach is likely to produce average results. And at the end of the game, once again you end up with a mediocre score.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Avoid playing "scared bridge"
Cause your partner to bid more accurately than he ever has
KNOW what is the #1 key to better competitive bidding
Ensure that partner makes the best lead for your side
KNOW which overcalls are the most effective
Make aggressive bids that are virtually risk-free
KNOW which bids are guaranteed to help your partner the most
Give your opponents an unsolvable problem
KNOW when being vulnerable can work to your advantage
Resolve whether "to bid or not to bid" with non-obvious hands
KNOW the right approach to handle very distributional hands
Become more knowledgeable about sacrifice do's and dont's
Compete with hands where other players will settle for an unhelpful pass
Push your opponents around, and cause them to be eager to leave your table!
Almost 42% of all deals are played in partscores. Not surprisingly, the most common partscore contract is 1NT. Although only seven tricks are needed, three factors result in the fact that playing a 1NT contract is usually more difficult than declaring other partscores.
1. Although you have a lot of losers, you don't have an opportunity to ruff any of them.
2. One player usually has a lot more strength than his partner has, (such as when a 1NT opening is passed out). As a result, you will often have a lack of entries to the weak hand.
Taking tricks in notrump when one hand is very weak is a lot more difficult than if your side's assets are fairly even divided.
3. Your side has limited assets. That is why you stopped at the one level. Your side may even have less combined strength than the opponents have.
However, there is a silver lining as the examples in this lesson will illustrate. If declarer plays well, he often can find his way home to take seven tricks. These real-life deals will illustrate the techniques you can use to sharpen your declarer play and increase YOUR success in outplaying others in 1NT contracts.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about when you are declaring. This includes:
How to give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
How to overcome bad splits
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
What you must know about suit combinations
How to avoid losing finesses
The right time (and technique) to execute an endplay
How to judge when it's right to take a safety play
When should you play differently at matchpoints
When you are making the opening lead, you face a dilemma
similar to ones encountered by fictional detectives such as
Sherlock Holmes. You have a chance to assemble and
evaluate clues and make deductions that can allow you to
make an effective opening lead.
Although consistently making a logical opening lead is challenging,
no area of bridge will be as critical in determining your fate on the deal.
There is no question that of all the 52 cards played in a bridge deal,
by far the most important one is the choice of opening lead.
This lesson is GUARANTEED to improve your opening leads.
It will also help you avoid the poorly chosen opening leads
that would make declarer delighted that he was playing against YOU!
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
Opening leads vs. all contracts
What types of opening leads are favored by experts.
The real truth about opening leads with matchpoint scoring.
The right and wrong times to lead dummy's suit.
Which popular opening leads are "a must to avoid."
When NOT to lead the top card of a sequence.
How assembling clues from the auction can help you make double dummy leads.
How to resolve the crucial "attacking or passive" dilemma.
Opening leads vs. notrump contracts
When should you prefer a top-of-nothing-lead.
Recommended agreements for honor leads.
With similar holdings, when should you prefer an unbid minor to an unbid major.
What suit you should lead when partner doubles 3NT.
When it is correct to lead declarer's suit.
Opening leads vs. suit contracts
How to KNOW the right time to lead trump.
The right and wrong times to try for a ruff.
The right mindset when declarer has preempted.
The 7 situations where Marty & Larry believe
that the opening lead of an ace should deny the king.
Everyone loves to bid and make a slam. Of course, the opportunities to do so don't occur as often as you would like.
Of course, even if you bid well and get to a good slam contract, if it is not a laydown, you still have to try to find the line of play that gives you the best chance to make it. On most deals, that is easier said than done.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
Bidding
Little known but useful conventions
How to get to the best slam contract
How to have a good auction after interference
When should you make an unnecessary jump
Good auctions after opening 2&clubs
The key factor in bidding minor-suit slams
Play
How to give yourself extra chances
How to give a defender a choice of losing options
How to avoid depending on a finesse
When to not rely on "8 ever, 9 never."
How to overcome a bad split
How to recognize when to plan on an endplay
How to make a slam on a squeeze
3NT is the most often-played contract in bridge. That is not debatable. Almost 20% of all deals are played in 3NT. When playing 3NT, there are many possible things to think about when dummy is tabled. For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about to decide the best way to play the hand.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to make the most of your long suits
How to maximize your entries
How to make hands without risking a finesse
How to give yourself an extra chance
How to take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction
When should you play differently at matchpoints
So far, all of Marty's audio visual lessons have focused on bidding and declarer play. This month's lesson is devoted to defense, which is correctly regarded as the most difficult area of bridge. Many of his upcoming lessons will also focus on defense.
This month's lesson will concentrate on trying to defeat contracts of 4 of a major. Just as there is more to think about when declaring 4 of a major than playing in 3NT, the same is certainly true when on defense.
A good defender resembles a detective. He is constantly seeking clues, starting with the opponents' bidding. When dummy is tabled, both defenders must then stop and reflect on that new source of information. In addition, the opening leader's partner has the opportunity to consider the implications of the opening lead. Wow! All that, and we're only at trick one!
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
How to resolve the active vs. passive dilemma
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # tricks
Why experts prefer "the simple defense."
How to create trump tricks out of thin air
Why you must rely on partner's signals
How to destroy declarer's transportation
The correct time for an "alarm clock" lead
How to improve your partnership defense
Here are some facts:
Almost 42% of deals are played in part-scores, so there is no question that they are very important. When playing matchpoints, the difference between making a part-score and going down one will have the same impact as if you were playing a game or slam.
Why aren't part-score deals featured more often in lessons, books, and newspaper columns? The answer is that they are frequently far more difficult to declare than a game or slam. Since part-scores require fewer tricks than other contracts, you would think that they are easier to make.
But that is NOT true. Instead, the reality is that since declarer has limited assets, and may even be forced to play in a 7-card trump fit, it is usually more difficult to make a part-score than a game or slam! When you are declarer on a deal where your side lacks the values for game, selecting the best line of play is often very difficult.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Know the right time to count winners in a suit contract.
Take advantage of clues from the opponents' auction.
Count the opponents' distribution to enable you to make "unmakable" contracts.
Use negative inferences from the opening lead to locate missing honors.
Improve your understanding of suit combinations.
Decide when to draw trump ASAP despite a questionable trump suit.
Know when it is correct to intentionally ruff often in the hand with trump length.
Induce an opponent to help you by covering an honor with an honor.
Benefit from useful advice to know how to induce errors with a falsecard.
Understand the essential principle of Restricted Choice.
These days, everyone seems to be preempting more than ever. Most players are very aware how effective preempts can be in forcing the opponents to guess what to do.
Of course, decisions after an enemy preempt need not be a blind guess. Experts have learned to rely on important principles that have withstood the test of time. And that's what this lesson is all about.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
What factor is a lot more important than HCP?
How can you choose between a double or a bid?
Cue-bid: When should it NOT be Michaels?
Why should 3NT become your favorite contract?
Which notrump bids are Unusual?
When is an overcall justified on a so-so 5-card suit?
How do experts define a double of 4 of a major?
When should you make a notrump overcall with an unbalanced hand?
How much more aggressive should you be in the balancing seat?
Here are some facts:
Once dummy is tabled, and before you play a card, after counting your winners (or losers), you must STOP, THINK, and make a plan. There are many areas you must address. Here are several of the most important ones:
A. How do you plan to reduce your number of losers (or increase your number of winners)?
B. Identify the key suit to work on.
In a notrump contract, it is NOT always your longest combined suit. Frequently, it is a suit where you are missing the ace.
In a suit contract, if declarer's hand includes 4+ cards in a side suit, that is often the suit you must address.
C. What technique should you use in this key suit?
There are many possibilities, such as taking a finesse or losing a loser early.
C. Trump.
How many trump do the opponents have? Should you draw trump ASAP? (More often than not, the correct answer is NO.)
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand.
Be more knowledgeable in deciding whether to draw trump.
Overcome bad splits.
Succeed no matter which opponent has a missing honor.
Draw helpful inferences about the opening leader's hand from the card he led.
Take advantage of subtle clues from a revealing auction.
Know when and how to execute an endplay (even in NT).
Become more proficient in not being dependent on a finesse.
Use a discovery play to avoid a guess.
Make a deceptive play that rates to succeed.
Here are some facts:
Every time I play duplicate bridge, the most prevalent theme in every session is - the defense is awful. An expert friend told me that when he declares a hand in a duplicate game, if the defenders present him with one undeserved trick, he is disappointed! He has come to expect at least two!!
Everyone knows (or should) that defense is the most difficult part of bridge. Accordingly, most players ignore the problem and hope that it will cure itself. They continue to trust their instincts, play a lot and hope for a miracle cure. Guess how that works out.
If instead, YOU are willing to take the time to learn more about defense, no one can guarantee that you'll become a terrific defender. But I bet that those who make an effort will be delighted when they see their opponents make fewer contracts and overtricks.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to exhibit detective skills that would impress Sherlock Holmes
The wondrous things you can accomplish when you count distribution
How to locate missing honors
How to resolve the critical question: Active vs. passive defense
How declarer's line of play can tell you how to defend
How to understand when it's right to shift to a trump
How you can cut the declarer's communication
What you must know about "alarm clock" leads
How declarer's line of play can enable you to locate missing honors
When is it 100% wrong to lead "thru strength and around to weakness"
As a bonus, Marty will also discuss some important bidding concepts:
What little-known bid will severely disrupt your opponents' auction
The real truth about a double of a 4&spades opening
When it is correct to double 3NT
The correct mindset when your opponent opens 2&clubs
Here are some facts:
In this extensive lesson with 60 examples, Marty will examine and explain the right thought process for each of the four seats and four vulnerabilities.
Unless you have good bidding judgment, you have no chance to bid well. Fortunately, regardless of your level, there are many little-known tips and suggestions that definitely will improve your judgment.
Most players were not born with great card sense. They can, of course, make good progress with their card play, but "Great card players are born, not made." On the other hand, every player can be taught
to bid a lot more effectively than he presently does. That is especially true when you have the opportunity to make the first bid. This is a wonderful time to begin describing your hand as well as putting your opponents on the defensive. Too many players fail to make the most of a situation that, as far as I'm concerned, can't occur often enough.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
The surefire way to improve your judgment
How to GUARANTEE that you won't have a rebid problem
How to get great results with aggressive weak 2-bids
How his invaluable Rule of 24 will enable you to make the most effective bid in 3rd seat
How to greatly improve your partner's opening leads
When you can know your partner's point-count before he bids
In 4th seat, when you should "violate" the Rule of 15
When is it clearly correct to open 3NT
When is it definitely correct to open a weak-2 with a hand worth a 1-bid
The right and wrong time to open 4-of-a-major
After opener rebids 1NT, if responder has a 5-card major and 11+HCP, roughly 2/3 of non-experts rely on New Minor Forcing (NMF). We agree that responder needs an economical asking bid here, but NMF has many VERY SERIOUS FLAWS.
Here are some of them:
The NMF bid is forcing, but is NOT forcing to game, so opener does NOT know responder's intentions. Does he have a game-forcing hand or just an invite? Therefore, NMF auctions often resemble uncertain reverse auctions rather than smooth 2/1 GF ones.
Responder doesn't promise a rebid, so opener feels the need to jump with a maximum. This will often prevent responder from describing his distribution.
Some of responder's rebids are not forcing. If he has a strong hand, he may not be able to make the economical bid he would like to make. By the way, do you know which rebids by responder are forcing and which aren't?
After responder's 2&diams NMF bid, if opener has no major, he will rebid 2NT (or 3NT). That is very inefficient. If responder has an invitational hand with a singleton, this will often land the partnership in a hopeless contract.
If all we were going to do is criticize NMF, that would not do YOU any good. But, regardless of your level, and whether or not you play NMF, THERE IS A MUCH BETTER WAY.
It is everything that NMF is not.
It allows responder to immediately specify "invitational or game forcing." Once he does, both players KNOW which bids are forcing and which are not. That is HUGE!
And, best of all, the new approach is NOT difficult. Everything you will ever need to know about this is available in the lesson.
This is NOT a typical Marty Bergen audio-visual lesson. Although it includes all of our normal features, it is FAR more extensive. If you like more bang for your buck, this lesson is made for YOU.
The lesson contains:
50 well-explained 26-card examples of how a partnership can accurately bid part-scores, games, and slams.
Over 40 helpful 13-card examples to illustrate the correct bids.
Audio and transcript that are even more comprehensive than other lessons.
Important tips to improve your hand evaluation skills
Specific rules about what to do when the opponents interfere.
Very helpful advice for hands not strong enough for game. 42% of all deals are played in part-scores, so these tips will also help YOU make good decisions with non-game hands when opener did not rebid 1NT.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss how you can EASILY:
Clarify responder's intent early in the auction.
Have an economical, efficient auction.
Sign off, invite game, force to game, invite slam.
Stay low with hands not quite strong enough for game.
Not allow opener to ever get in responder's way.
Have auctions that resemble 2/1 GF as opposed to uncertain reverse auctions.
Allow responder to describe his distribution.
Play in a secure 2 of a major rather than a risky or hopeless 2NT contract.
Improve your ability to evaluate accurately.
Let responder easily check for a 5-3 spade fit after 1&hearts - 1&spades - 1NT.
Know when it's right to play 3NT with an 8-card fit in a major.
Bid good slams and avoid bad ones.
When asked what is the single most important topic for declarer, I always answer: "Managing entries".
On many hands, the unsuccessful declarer's downfall was a result of his not being as efficient as he could have been with his entries.
Here are a few tips that are worth keeping in mind:
When you have a choice of where to win a trick, ask yourself, "Where will I need to be later?"
Don't be a grabber. A good declarer loses tricks early in the play.
Learn to appreciate intermediate cards. Their importance cannot be overstated.
For each deal in the lesson, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think about to maximize your entries. This includes:
How to give yourself an extra chance to make the hand
How to make the most of your long suits
How to make the most of your intermediates
When it is wrong to use up the honor from the short side first
When should you take a safety play
When you should "lose your losers early"
When is it more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
When should you play differently at matchpoints
After sorting my cards, one of the first things I do
is look for intermediate cards (eights, nines and tens).
An average holding would be one of each intermediate,
so of course I hope I received more than my share.
Obviously, I look more fondly at tens than the two lesser intermediate cards.
The presence or absence of intermediate cards will always
influence my hand evaluation and bidding.
Not only do I regard K 10 9 8 a lot differently than K 4 3 2,
but I consider the former to be the equivalent of K J 3 2 and call it 4 HCP.
The presence or absence of intermediate cards is also extremely relevant
for both the declarer and the defenders.
If I declare a notrump contract with K 10 9 8 opposite J 6 5,
I'm eager to attack the suit.
50% of the time, I will take 3 tricks, but even if their queen is offsides,
I still will have developed 2 winners.
Whereas, with K 4 3 2 opposite J 6 5, if I need to attack this suit,
the most likely result is that I set up several tricks for the defenders!
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to use your intermediates to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make a "hopeless" contract
Induce an opponent's error
Succeed regardless of which opponent has the missing honor
Improve your knowledge of suit combinations
Be in a position to take finesses that are guaranteed to succeed
Overcome a blocked suit
Understand the important principle of Restricted Choice
Execute an avoidance play to ensure that the dangerous opponent never gets in
Improve your proficiency with ruffing finesses
Take logical precautions to guard against a bad trump split
These days, many players seem to preempt more than ever. Although some hands are easy, on others deciding whether or not to preempt is anything but.
Even when it is obvious to preempt, you also must decide how many to bid. We all know that traditional thinking for preempts is: Open 2 with 6 cards, 3 with 7, and 4 with 8. However, suit quality, vulnerability, seat, and distribution should all play a significant role in your decision-making.
The bottom line for all bidding decisions is: Unless you develop good bidding judgment, you can't possibly be a good bidder.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
What is the most important factor in deciding "to preempt or not to preempt.".
What is a perfect preempt?
When should you preempt with a side 4-card major?
Why is first seat different than second.
The right time for a weak-2 with a 7-card suit.
Which flaws should stop you from preempting.
What is the minimum suit quality for an opening 3-bid.
When should you preempt with an opening bid.
What do you need for a fourth seat weak-2.
How good a hand do you need for a vulnerable preempt.
How will Marty's secrets, tips, and 87 examples help you be more successful?
They will help you:
Win the board in the auction.
Make winning bids and non-penalty doubles that will cause YOU to be your partner's favorite partner.
Have more insight about winning bidding tactics that your peers do not know about.
Avoid sins of omission, which are just as costly as sins of commission.
Improve your "To compete or not" judgment when your side is vulnerable.
This invaluable lesson will cover many essential topics. Here are a few of them:
How to ensure that you won't be guilty of playing "scared bridge."
What familiar auction is Marty's absolute favorite one!
How YOU can ensure that your partner will make the BEST opening lead.
What is definitely the most effective of all overcalls.
Modern doubles and how all non-expert pairs can make the best use of them.
What every player NEEDS TO KNOW about forcing passes.
When it is 100% correct to preempt with a hand strong enough to open.
What Bergen secret will help you bid good slams and avoid bad ones.
How Marty's Rule of 24 will greatly improve your actions in third seat.
The real truth about what you need to make a FREE BID.
An easy guide to help you decide whether to make a non-obvious penalty double.
Everyone knows that declarer must figure out his line of play at trick 1.
He is NOT the only player who should be thinking and planning.
But, since the defenders don't get to see their partner's cards,
they are usually not able to immediately do as much planning as declarer can.
Of course, by thinking about the opponent's hands during the auction,
a player who wants to defend well should already have begun the "investigation process."
Once you get to see dummy's cards, you must take time
to process this new source of essential information.
In addition, you are now in a position to learn a great deal about declarer's hand.
Once you've been shown EXACTLY what you should be thinking about,
you don't need to be an expert to significantly improve your defense.
You CAN learn to defend better than your peers do.
In this lesson, Marty will explain:
Exactly what must each defender think about at trick 1
The correct thought process to enable you to find the killing opening lead
How counting HCP can allow you to locate a missing honor
The correct mindset to figure out declarer's distribution
How to know when to say "NO" to second-hand low
Falsecards: The right (and wrong) times to do them
How to resolve the crucial active vs. passive dilemma
How every pair can benefit from SPINS signals (suit preference in nothing suits)
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing
As soon as dummy is tabled, and before you play a card, after counting losers (or winners), you must STOP, THINK, and COME UP WITH A PLAN. There are many areas you must address. Here are some of the most important ones:
A. How do you plan to reduce your # losers (or increase your # winners)? The three most desirable ways are:
Ruff losers in the hand with fewer trumps.
Make use of a long suit to discard losers. (Very often, you need to begin setting up the suit ASAP.)
Hope to endplay the opponents to avoid a finesse.
B. Consider the trump suit:
How many trump do the opponents have?
How are they likely to divide?
Should you lead trump ASAP? Marty sez: Unless 100% sure that the correct answer is yes -- DON'T!
If the answer to #3 is yes, how many rounds should you play?
Last but not least: If declarer's hand includes a side suit of 4+ cards, that is usually the key suit to focus on.
In this lesson, Marty will show you how to:
Give yourself an extra chance to make the hand.
Turn losers into winners.
Find a surefire way to avoid losing finesses.
Learn a deceptive play that's sure to succeed.
Decide whether or not to draw trump.
Improve your knowledge of suit combinations.
Overcome bad splits.
Take advantage of clues from the opponent's auction.
Visualize (and begin setting up) an endplay early in the play.
Know when it's right to play differently at IMPs.
A 1-level response in a suit is not very descriptive.
Responder is promising at least 4 cards in his suit with 6+ points.
A 1H response could be based on a very weak hand, such as:
&spades86 &heartsJ753 &diamsK72 &clubsQ764
However, responder also might have a terrific hand, such as:
&spades (void) &heartsAK9864 &diamsKJ2 &clubsAKJ4
Without question, the 1-level response is one of the most ambiguous bids in bridge.
The opening bidder does not know much about his partner's hand.
Therefore, at responder's second turn, he MUST make a descriptive bid.
The bottom line here is:
After a 1-level response in a suit, responder's rebid is the key bid in the auction.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to deduce what opener holds.
How opener's first two bids affect the evaluation of your hand.
How to correctly resolve close decisions.
How to improve your bidding judgment.
What responder needs to reverse.
4th Suit Forcing - the absolutely essential convention for all levels.
Although everyone can improve their declarer play and defense, it's not easy to make huge improvements in these areas. When it comes to card play, great players are born not made.
However, regardless of how well you play, every player can greatly improve their bidding. As long as you have access to sound advice and are open-minded, you can make great strides.
In order to do so, you must learn how to figure out the TRUE VALUE of your hand. You can learn to do this, but you first need to be willing to not be overly dependent on point-count.
The topics Marty will cover include:
The 9 key factors in determining the true value of your hand
How to KNOW if your hand is upgradable, downgradable, or OK as is
The true value of honor cards
Why "Location, location, location" is so crucial
The great importance of your distribution in your 3 shortest suits.
The true value of a 7-card suit
Tips on how to get the most out of the Rule of 20
How to improve your results with notrump opening bids
When you should think twice about preempting with a 7-card suit
What hand-types scream for aggressive bidding
No one could disagree with these two statements:
Every player would love to play better and do better than they presently do.
You will defend twice as often as you will declare.
From these statements, what should you conclude?
In order to play better and be more successful, it is essential to improve your defense
Unfortunately, there is no question that defense is the most difficult aspect of bridge.
Therefore, a pessimist would say "I am not a great player, so I will never be a good defender."
On the other hand, the fact that defense is difficult can work in your favor.
Because good defense is both difficult and subtle, the great majority of players fail to think about what they could have done, take no steps to defend better, hope that the problem will cure itself, and continue to frequently mis-defend.
However, if you are realistic enough to know that no problem is ever solved by ignoring it, this online lesson can be the first step to improving your defense. And even if your improvement is modest, as long as you make some progress, you will be doing MUCH BETTER than your peers. They are under the delusion that all they need to do to improve is play a lot of bridge, and as a result, continue to make the same errors that they made in the past.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss the following:
The wonderful things you can accomplish when you are willing to count.
How to determine that it's "now or never."
How to make sure that your partner does the right thing.
How to cause declarer to do the wrong thing.
Why you MUST think before you play.
The right (and wrong) time to falsecard.
Why you sometimes should not want to get a ruff.
How to create trump tricks out of thin air.
When you should intentionally give declarer a ruff and sluff.
How to get a good matchpoint score by minimizing declarer's overtricks.
When you have a loser that you hope to avoid, an endplay (throw-in play) is often the solution. Frequently, the loser is in your "iffy" suit. This is a suit where the outcome is uncertain.
Clearly, the solution for an iffy suit is: "Last is best." When a defender leads a suit, your side plays last. What could be better? You don't need to go up with an honor and hold your breath waiting to see if it is covered or captured. Instead, you can sit back and wait to see what they play before you have to commit yourself.
If you want to force a defender to make a helpful lead, you must have a throw-in card. This is an inevitable loser that you can afford to lose. But, before throwing a defender in, you must be sure that your problem will be solved regardless of which suit he leads.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed.
This includes:
Why endplays are infinitely better than finesses
How to know if an endplay is possible
What must be present to achieve an endplay in a suit contract
When it is possible to have an endplay in notrump
When it will matter which defender is thrown in
What must be done to set up the endplay
The great importance of managing your entries
The right thinking when you do your stripping
The correct mindset when given a ruff-sluff
Most pairs do not defend well. You can disagree,
or believe that the statement does not apply to you and your favorite partner.
But it is a fact.
However, every cloud has a silver lining. If the two of you can make some
progress in this area while your peers fail to do so,
your results will improve significantly.
What is the realistic way that a non-expert pair can make that progress?
Improve their signals.
Which types of signals should you learn about that offer
the best opportunity to greatly improve your results on defense?
Answer: Suit preference and SPINS.
"Marty, that sounds good. I just have one question.
I've seen SPINS listed on the bottom of the back side
of a convention card under OTHER CARDING.
But what is SPINS?"
SPINS stands for "Suit Preference In Nothing Suits."
Some players regard the phrase "nothing suits"
as referring only to the trump suit, or to those suits
where the defenders are known to have no relevant strength.
However, since all suit preference signals focus on giving information
about suits other than the suit led, it is accurate to say that:
"All suit preference signals can be regarded as SPINS signals."
In this lesson, I will discuss:
The correct thought process to go thru before making your signal
The correct thought process to go thru after receiving partner's signal.
How to ensure that your partner will do the right thing
How to help your partner find the key shift
How to give the best signal when you lack the perfect card
How to determine the right time to give a suit preference signal.
SPINS signals in the trump suit when your side leads trump
SPINS signals in the trump suit when declarer leads trump
How to make your signal so clear that any partner will get the message.
How to KNOW if partner's signal is suit preference, attitude or count.
Notrump deals where SPINS signals are crucial
Those deals where a suit preference signal should NOT be given
Knowing what to do on defense is not easy, but definitely is necessary. However, unless you also know when to do it, the outcome will often not be the one you are looking for.
Good planning is just as important for the defenders as it is for declarer. Unfortunately, because you get to see only half of your side's assets, it is usually more difficult to do.
A non-expert will never be able to defend as well as an expert. However, when shown the right way to size up a hand, every player can learn to defend better than they presently do.
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
The correct way to think at trick 1 before you turn your card over
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # of tricks
How to draw inferences from declarer's line of play
How to "tell" partner the way you want him to defend
How to get the most out of partner's signal
When to say no to "second-hand low"
Know how you can prepare to "duck smoothly"
How to give useful information in "nothing suits"
Knowing what to do on defense is not easy, but definitely is necessary. However, unless you also know when to do it, the outcome will often not be the one you are looking for.
Good planning is just as important for the defenders as it is for declarer. Unfortunately, because you get to see only half of your side's assets, it is usually more difficult to do.
A non-expert will never be able to defend as well as an expert. However, when shown the right way to size up a hand, every player can learn to defend better than they presently do.
This lesson will significantly improve your defense. The 15 challenging deals will provide an opportunity to provide a better understanding of ALL of the following:
The correct way to think at trick 1 before you turn your card over
How counting HCP can frequently enable you to find the killing defense
The great benefits of also counting distribution and # of tricks
How to draw inferences from declarer's line of play
How to "tell" partner the way you want him to defend
How to get the most out of partner's signal
When to say no to "second-hand low"
Know how you can prepare to "duck smoothly"
How to give useful information in "nothing suits"
When it comes to finesses, a major philosophical difference separates the masses from the most accomplished players.
Most players love to finesse. Finessing is usually simple, and it provides immediate gratification (when it works).
However, experts don't like to finesse never have and never will.
Why? Finesses lose half the time.
Marty compares the expert's mindset with that of a professional gambler.
He certainly doesn't get rich on 50-50 propositions.
Of course, that does does not mean that you should never finesse.
Finessing will always be an important part of the game.
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly how and what you should think to decide whether or not you should finesse.
How to give yourself an extra chance
When should you play differently at matchpoints
When it is more helpful to count winners in a suit contract
What you must know about suit combinations
How to avoid annoying misguesses
How to make the most of 5-card suits
How to prevent the dangerous opponent from gaining the lead
The right time to lose your loser(s)
The right time to throw a loser on a loser
The right time to go for an endplay
The right time to take a safety play
Deciding whether or not you have a slam is not easy.
Even experts do NOT shine in this area.
However, if you can set the trump suit early in the auction, that is a very good way to begin.
And if you can do so at an economical level, youre off to a good start.
A Jacoby 2NT response to opener's major accomplishes all of the above.
This is a convention that should be part of every pair's repertoire.
This convention is one of the keys to good slam bidding.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to decide whether to respond 2NT.
The correct way for opener to re-evaluate after 2NT.
How opener can easily show a void
How to know when to forget about slam.
The lowdown on opener's jump to the 4-level
Bergen-Cohen philosophy for Jacoby 2NT auctions
What every partnership must discuss
One of the most "In" conventions in modern bridge is Roman Keycard (RKC).
In fact, some beginners are using it!
RKC can be very helpful in accurate slam bidding.
Without question, the king and queen of trump are relevant cards.
On the other hand, there is a lot more to this convention than you might think.
Whether you use all of it, or only some, if your partnership has not taken the time to discuss nonobvious responses and continuations:
Good luck! You'll need it.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
How to show the trump queen and when not to worry about it.
How to proceed after an ambiguous response, such as 0 or 3.
How to respond with a void
The efficient way to ask for king
How to do better than "Last bid suit"
The best way to invite 7
When should you NOT use RKC
Bergen-Cohen RKC rules.
Once you bid them, how you should play them
Taking a sacrifice has several ways to gain:
1. Similar to the upside of balancing, you'd love it if your bid pushed the opponents to a higher level. Defending that contract is definitely an example of heads you win (if they go down), while tails you tie (if they make it).
2. There is the slim chance that the opponents will not double you.
3. You do rate to get doubled, but as long as the penalty is less than the score the opponents would have received for making their contract, you are better off.
On the other hand, the sacrifice may work out badly:
1. The opponents would not have made their contract. When this happens, we refer to your action as a "phantom sacrifice". No matter how many you go down, this is a bad result.
2. You go down more tricks than you intended, so you lose more points than they would have made in their contract.
In this lesson, Marty will discuss:
When you are considering a sacrifice:
The 7 golden principles that you MUST know.
Which enemy auctions are GREAT ones to interfere with.
Why an advance sacrifice is the best way to sacrifice.
How to avoid taking phantom sacrifices.
When it is correct to sacrifice against a slam.
When you should sacrifice against a 3NT contract.
The right time to make a sacrifice suggestion.
When you should and should not be willing to go to the 5 level.
When the opponents sacrifice:
How to use a forcing pass to help decide if your side should double or bid.
If you end up on defense, what is the expert philosophy for opening leads?
Every time you have a trump suit, that is definitely your most important suit. In a suit contract, your goal is to reduce your number of losers to an acceptable number. How you handle your trump is often the key. Deciding whether to draw trump first is important, but it is only the first step. There are so many other factors. You must concern yourself with all of the following:
Entries
Timing
Long suits
Short suits
Ruffs by your side
Potential ruffs and overruffs by the defenders
For each deal, Marty will explain exactly what you should think about and how you should decide the best way to proceed. This includes:
Should you lead trump immediately? If so, how many?
When counting winners can guide you to the best line.
On a cross-ruff, which suit should you ruff first?
When should you not ruff a loser?
When do you need to ruff with a high trump?
How to ruff a loser despite not having a short suit.
When you should draw trump despite having losers you could ruff.
How to maximize your intermediates in the trump suit.
When you should execute a dummy reversal.
How YOU can learn to execute a trump coup.
How YOU can set up an end play.