Robert Todd’s

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Latest This Week in Bridge (TWIB) Lesson ♣

Featured

(586) 2-Way New Minor Forcing and Wolff Signoff

New Minor Forcing is an excellent convention for continuing the auction when Opener has shown a balanced hand that is weaker than opening 1NT. But after a New Minor Forcing bid, the auction often gets complicated if we don’t go straight to game. It can be confusing whether we are inviting game or trying to make a slam try – which bids are forcing and which bids are non-forcing? 2-Way New Minor Forcing is an upgrade to New Minor Forcing that allows Responder to better describe their hand and simplify and clarify the rest of the auction.

Latest Webinars ♠

Fundamentals - Opening and Responding Basics

9/2024 (62 min)

Here we review some fundamentals of opening bids and look more deeply into your thought process before we open the bidding. Then we pivot to the responder’s actions and make sure that we are prepared to construct a good auction with some problem situations.

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Fundamentals - High Level Response to 1-Major Openings

July 2025 - Coming Soon!

When partner opens the bidding with 1-Major then we normally go slow and make a low level response. But we can also use some immediate jumps to high bids to describe some interesting and difficult hands. Let’s look at the meaning of this high-level jump responses.

Webinar Notes

Fundamentals - Other Responses 1-Level Openings

July 2025 - Coming Soon!

Here we look at some other complex auctions and special responses to 1-level opening bids. We focus on some jump shift responses to 1-Major and 1-minor and then turn out focus to NT responses to minor suit openings.

Webinar Notes

Fundamentals - Hand Eval after Responder's Jump Shift

July 2025 - Coming Soon!

When Responder makes a jump shift, either a weak jump shift or a 3/1 invitational jump shift, then Opener is left to figure out what to do next. Here we look at what types of hands Opener should bid with (like) and when they should be conservative and Pass.

Webinar Notes

Fundamentals - Some Confusing Auctions

July 2025 - Coming Soon!

There are some classic auctions that lead to confusion between partnerships. Ones that you should make sure you and partner agree upon.

Webinar Notes

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Robert's Upcoming Seminars

Steamboat Springs, CO Seminar

Steamboat Springs, CO Seminars
Steamboat Springs, CO Bridge Club
July 14 , 2025
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Vail, CO Summer Seminars

Vail, CO Summer Seminars
Vail Christian School
July 15-17, 2025
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Colorado Springs, CO Seminars

Colorado Springs, CO Seminars
Colorado Springs Bridge Center
July 18, 2025
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Charlotte, NC Seminars
Charlotte Bridge Association
Aug 7, 2025
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Asheville, NC Seminars

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Aug 8-9, 2025
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Highlands Falls, NC Seminars
Highlands Falls Country Club
August 11-12, 2025
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Denver, CO Seminars

Denver, CO Seminars
Denver Metro Bridge Club
Aug 22-24, 2025
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Bermuda Seminars
Bermuda Bridge Club
September 12-16, 2025
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N CA Teaching Week

N CA Teaching Week
September 22-25, 2025
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Sharon Heights Teaching Series - September

Sharon Heights Country Club
September 23-24, 2025
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Madison, WI Seminar

Madison Bridge Club
Madison, WI
October 7, 2025
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Woman's Athletic Club of Chicago Seminars

Woman's Athletic Club of Chicago Seminars
WAC Seminars
October 9, 2025
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St. Louis Seminars

Saint Louis Bridge Center
Oct 10-11, 2025
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Palo Alto Seminar

Palo Alto Bridge Center
October 18, 2025
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N CA Teaching Week

N CA Teaching Week
October 18-22, 2025
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Sharon Heights Teaching Series - October

Sharon Heights Country Club
October 21-22, 2025
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Miami Seminars

Riviera, Miami, FL
October 29-3 2025
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N CA Teaching Week

N CA Teaching Week
November 9-11, 2025
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Sharon Heights Teaching Series- November

Sharon Heights Country Club
November 11, 2025
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N CA Teaching week

N CA Teaching week
December 8-10, 2025
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Sharon Heights Teaching Series - December

Sharon Heights Country Club
December 9-10, 2025
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N CA Teaching week

N CA Teaching week
January 4-6, 2026
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Sharon Heights Teaching Series - January

Sharon Heights Country Club
January 4 & 6, 2026
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Registration & flyer coming soon

Ocean Reef Seminars

Ocean Reef Seminars
Key Largo, FL
January 8-9, 2026
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Jupiter Island Club Seminars

Jupiter Island Club Seminars
Jupiter Island Club, FL
January 11-14, 2026
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Mt Lake, FL Seminars

Mt Lake Seminars
Mt Lake, FL
Jan 15-17, 2026
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Belleair Country Club Workshop

Belleair Country Club
Belleair, FL
January 18, 2026
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Cabo, MX Bridge Seminars

Cabo, MX Bridge Seminars
Cabo Mexico - Querencia Golf Club
February 7-13, 2026
Details - Members, Guests, & Friends

Sharon Heights Teaching Series - February

Sharon Heights Country Club
February 15 & 17, 2026
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Registration & flyer coming soon

Naples Bridge Club Seminars

Naples Bridge Club Seminars
Naples, FL
February 23 , 2026
Details - TBD

**Latest This Week in Bridge (TWIB) Practice Hands ♦**

Featured

Advanced Slam Bidding 9 - 584

Exclusion Keycard

When we are interested in slam in a suit contract but have a void in one of the side suits, it adds some complexity to our slam bidding. We may be able to make a slam missing two Aces (or a grand slam missing an Ace), if partner does not have the Ace opposite our void. When exploring slam, we want to know if partner has that Ace or has the “good Aces”, the ones opposite our losers. One way that we find out about the location of partner’s Aces is by using control showing bids. This is especially effective if we use them to show first round control (if we play that our control showing bids could be 1st or 2nd round, then we know less about which Aces partner hold). There is a gadget that we can use in some auctions that allows us to try to solve this problem. This convention, called Exclusion Keycard, asks partner for their number of Keycards (or Aces if we play Blackwood), excluding one particular Ace – the place where we are void. This Exclusion allows us to find out if partner has enough of the “right Aces” for us to make slam.

Recent This Week in Bridge (TWIB) Videos ♥

Featured

Hand Evaluation: Counting Points - Before the Auction Begins

Lesson 1 of 8 (25 min)

Video of Robert further discussing the topics in TWiB Lesson #329.

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TWiB Lesson

Robert’s Bridge News & Articles

Featured

Robert and Michael Berkowitz - BAMSA Conference

Robert and Michael discussion building a Vertically Integrated Youth Bridge Program (bridge for all types of players), and Other Education Foundation (ACBL) Goals at the Real Bridge / BAMSA bridge teachers & coaches conference.

ON THE ROAD WITH ROBERT TODD
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“Bridge is the greatest of all card games. It’s both entertaining and challenging at the same time. Here you can get started learning to play this great game or work to improve your game, no matter your level of bridge experience. ”

— Robert S. Todd

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Robert is the President of the ACBLEF. Find out how you can help!

Spark! 2025 Charity Auction

From Robert Todd, President of the ACBL Educational Foundation

Join me and the ACBL Educational Foundation’s Spark! 2025 Auction to support youth and educational bridge programs. Not only does your participation help fund these programs — you also get the chance to play with some of the greatest bridge players in the world, including me. Take a look, it is a lot of fun and we appreciate your support.

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