Robert Todd’s

ADVENTURES IN BRIDGE

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Latest This Week in Bridge (TWIB) Lesson ♣

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(596) Transfers Over Transfers

Responding to 1NT is a balancing act of showing both strength and shape while keeping the auction at a low enough level. With a game forcing hand (10+ points), the goal is usually to be able to describe our hand below 3NT, particularly with hands that are strong enough to be interested in slam. This is not a problem with relatively balanced hands, but with distributional hands it may be more difficult for Responder to show their shape and explore slam without getting the auction too high (going past 3NT). Transfer bids allow Responder to show their shape while using space efficiently. After making a transfer bid, Responder usually gets to make a second bid without the auction getting much higher - one of the most valuable parts of playing transfers. A way to further improve our use of bidding space is to play transfer bids not only on the first round of the bidding, but on the second round also after a Major-suit transfer. Let’s see how these Transfers Over Transfers work on Responder’s second bid after a Responder starts with a Jacoby Transfer.

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

Featured

Innovative Uses of Transfer Bids - Transfer Landy

There are two general categories of systems against the opponents 1NT opening bids – ones that use a Double as Penalty and others that use a Double as conventional. When the opponents open the bidding with a weak 1NT we need a good method for dealing with their unusual opening bid. The most common range for a weak NT is 12-14 points, but we define 1NT to be weak if the range does not contain 16 points. Some examples: 10-12, 11-13, 11-14, 12-14, 12-15, or 13-15 points. Against these opening bids we use a system that has a penalty double. Let’s look at one of the most interesting of these systems, Landy with Transfer bids.

Recent This Week in Bridge (TWIB) Videos ♥

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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

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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.

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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