When we respond to partner's 1NT opening it is nice to have transfer bids available. Here we look at an upgrade to 4-suited Transfers, called Size Ask, and see how it improves our bidding.

We can use a Stayman response, followed by a 2S rebid to show an invitational hand with length in the majors. But this bidding sequence can be useful with other invitational hands as well. Let’s see how else it can be used.

When we open a NT and partner uses an artificial conventional responses, like Stayman or Transfers, then the opponents might double as lead directing. We want to use this double against them. Here we discuss our options for bidding after this double.

Gambling 3NT is a powerful preemptive opening bid that can cause the opponents a lot of difficulty as well as describe our hand to partner in a highly precise way. It is also one way we can show a hand that can take a lot of tricks with a solid suit.

When we open the bidding with NT one of partners favorite bidding tools is the Jacoby Transfer. When partner transfers to a major suit and we have an excellent fit we have to decide about super-accepting. Here we look at our options for what to do and how to use our judgment about doing so.

Bidding slam is extremely difficult after partner opens the bidding 2NT — much of our valuable bidding space had been taken away. This is especially true when it comes to finding minor suit slams. But we do have some gadgets that are designed to help us do this.

When partner opens the bidding 2NT then we have far less space to investigate for a major suit fit. It is important that we make good use of our limited space below 3NT in order to determine if we have a Major suit fit.

When we open the bidding with 2NT then if we find a major suit fit ( 4-4, 5-3, or 6-2), we get to declarer this from the hand that opens 2NT — the strong side. That makes it opening 2NT something we should strive to do. The modern style is to stretch to open 2NT, even with many good 19 HCP hands.

When partner jumps to 2NT after our 1-minor opening we don’t have a lot of space to communicate below 3NT. It is important to have good agreements about the follow-up bidding.

When we open the bidding partner often responds with 1NT. It is important for us to have good agreements about common auctions. Here we look at auctions that start with a minor and hear partner respond 1NT. We look at what to expect and how the auction might continue.

Jump Shifts by Responder have a variety of different meanings in different situations. Their means can change based on the level they are made at and if they are in competition. Make sure you have good agreements with your partner about the meaning of these jump shifts.

When we respond to opener’s bid we have a priority of finding major suit fits. Opener also have a priority of showing their hand type if they do not find a major suit fit. The Walsh style of bidding and rebids are an important improvement in modern bidding.

We start out the auction seeing if we have a major suit fit. But after that, we try to get to 3NT. When the opponents bid in our auction we have a good idea of what they are going to lead. We can use the Western Cuebid to help find out if we can get to NT. Let’s see how it works!

When we are at favorable vulnerability we have a lot of different options for how to get into the auction. When we are in the 3rd seat, this is even more true. Here we look at how we can use this situation to give us a license to attack.

If you auction goes 3 passes around to you then you have a choice to open the bidding or pass the hand out. If you choose to open the bidding, you have some different bidding tools in the 4th seat. Here we look at our options and how to help us make this decision.

When we open the bidding in the 3rd seat we have lots of options for how to attack the opponents. Here we look at how we can make the opponents life more difficult and make the best opening bid for our side.

There are certain strengths and shapes that are difficult to describe as opening bids. In order to have a chance of showing this problem hands we have to start the auction off best. Here we look at some of these problem opening bids.

Discards are an important way to communicate with partner. But not just the first discard, every discard matters. Here we look at discards later in the play.

When we are defending a hand there are many important situations that we need to know about when to attack a suit and when it may cost to do so. These card combinations and how to play to get the most out of them are an extremely important part of good defense.

When you are behind the dummy and attack it you should be able to do so in ways that show your partner a very strong holding. These surround plays and power shift help partner know the strength of your holding.

Here we look at how to play when we have multiple touching honors.  How to we play these different sequences in different situations can e very confusing.

Should we return partner’s lead? Show we shift to a different suit? This is always a difficult decision! Here we look at how to make this decision and help our partnership take the tricks we are entitled to.

Here we look at how we defend in the middle of the hand, with a focus on leading a new suit -- how and when to do so! 

When you can ruff one of Declarer’s tricks it is extremely satisfying. Here we work on techniques that will allow us to do so as often as possible!

Here we look at defensive situations in the middle of the hand - we start with a look at covering the opponent's honors -- which one to cover?

This week we build on our threat card discussion from last week and move forward on how to apply that to Squeezes -- one of the favorite declarer play techniques of expert players.  

Here we look at little cards that have potential to become winners and start to learn to make better use of them.

Experienced Declarers keep adding new techniques to their stable to allow them to take more tricks. This week we work on adding another one to your play options — the smoother play.

Taking a finesse that you know is going to fail is losing bridge. Finding options for ways to avoid that is a key to improving your play. Here we look at End-plays, one of the most useful declarer play tools to allow you to avoid a bad finesse.

Learning to interpret the opponent’s discards is an important skill. In order to do so you must visualize the opponent’s hands. Here we learn how to use the idle 5th concept to help us do so.