2/5/23 (60 min)
In the balancing seat we usually “borrow a king” from our partner. Since NT bids are precisely defined this point change to our hand dramatically affects our bidding. Here we look at our balancing NT bids and the followup bidding that partner makes.
12/5/22 (65 min)
The modern system for bidding when we have a fit for partner's minor, called inverted minors, works on improving our ability to look for game or slam in a minor suit -- which is the most common time we want to support a minor suit. Make sure you and partner have a good grasp of these methods, both for playing them and playing against them.
12/12/22 (66 min)
One of the most powerful tools we have in competitive bidding is the preemptive raise. When we have a minor suit fit the opponents will often have a major suit fit. We want to make it as difficult as possible for them to find that fit and using preemptive raises is one the best ways to make their life difficult.
12/19/22 (69 min)
There are certain minor suit hands that can play extremely well in NT contracts. If evaluated correctly these hands can be bid in a way that makes the auction relatively simple. Let's make sure that you do not torture your partner with these hands when you could keep it simple and get to the right contract.
12/27/22 (63 min)
When we have a good hand and a minor suit fit then we may want to explore a minor suit slam. Part of the art form of minor suit slam bidding is using tools to explore slam while keeping a NT contract in the picture. Here we look at how to use these tools and better judge our minor suit slam.
3/6/23 (62 min)
There is an artform to open the bidding 2NT, just as there is for 1NT Openings. Here we look at "normal" 2NT opening bids as well as some of the more difficult hands where we may choose to make a slightly flawed opening of 2NT to avoid a rebid problem.
3/20/23 (65 min)
When our balanced hand is too strong to open the bidding 2NT we start with a 2C bid and later rebid NT. Here we look at how to show different strength balanced hands after a 2C opening bid. We also look at how we respond to a 2C opening bid -- what our options are for our partnership agreements.
3/27/23 (50 min)
Any time partner opens the bidding with NT then Responder's primary goal is to search for Major suit fits. Responder has many tools for searching for these Major suit fits - Stayman, Puppet, Smolen, Transfers, Texas Transfers, etc. We look at these auctions and the follow-up bidding.
4/3/23 (60 min)
A 2NT opening bid is often called a "slam killer" because it eats up a lot of bidding space without locating a fit. Finding a fit and exploring slam, while trying to keep the auction from getting too high (not going beyond 3NT) is often one of the most difficult decisions. Here we look at our options for how to do so, including the valuable 3S responder to search for minor suit slams.
4/9/23 (60 min)
Extremely powerful distributional hands are hard to describe (after we open the bidding 2C). Here we look at how to describe these hands and what difficult decisions we are likely to face in these types of auctions.
When we have a strong 2-suited hand that is not quite strong enough to open 2C we bid them naturally. Reverses and Jump Shifts can make for difficult auctions. Here we look at some of our important agreements and Responder's tools for continuing the bidding -- like Lebensohl over Reverses!
