Next Steps in Bridge ♥

Points are a rumour

In beginners' class you learned to count high-card points: ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1. It's a lovely system. It's simple, it's democratic, and it is wrong about half the time, like a weather app or my mother's opinion of my career.

Look at these two hands. Both have exactly 13 HCP. One of them is a racehorse. The other is a hatstand.

Give Hand A a partner with three spades and nothing else, and it can make ten tricks. Hand B, opposite the same partner, struggles to make seven. Hand B's queens and jacks are what bridge players call "soft values": they look like points on paper but take tricks only when the opponents are being generous, which they never are, because they've been playing since 1974.

Upgrades and downgrades

Start with your HCP, then nudge the total up or down. Nobody will check your arithmetic, but your results will.

The Rule of 20: opening light hands

With 11 or 12 HCP and some shape, should you open? Add your HCP to the number of cards in your two longest suits. If the total is 20 or more, open at the one level.

The Rule of 20 works because shape takes tricks. It doesn't apply in third seat (open lighter there, for the lead) or fourth seat, where many players use the Rule of 15: HCP plus number of spades. If it's 15+, open; if not, pass the hand out and go get a biscuit.

Re-valuing as the auction unfolds

Your hand's value changes with every bid you hear. This is the single most important idea in this module. A hand is not a fixed asset like a house. It's more like a share price, and partner's bids are the quarterly results.

Dummy points (only once you've found a fit)

When you're going to be dummy with trump support, add points for shortness:

Losing Trick Count (LTC)

LTC is how players who hate arithmetic do arithmetic. Once you've found an 8-card fit, count the "losers" in your hand, suit by suit:

Beginners' bridge is a polite affair where one side bids and the other side waits its turn, like Australians at a bus stop. Real bridge is more like a Boxing Day sale. Most deals are contested, and the pair that bids sensibly in competition wins more points than the pair with the fanciest slam conventions. This is the module that will make the biggest difference to your scores.

Overcalls

An overcall is bidding a suit after the opponents have opened. It does three jobs: it competes for the contract, it gets in the opponents' way, and it tells partner what to lead. That third job is the one beginners forget.

Responding to partner's overcall

• Raise with three-card support. Partner has five. That's an 8-card fit.
• Cue bid their suit to show a good raise (10+ points). For example (1♥) 1♠ (Pass) 2♥: "Partner, I have spade support and real values."
• A new suit is constructive but not forcing.
• 1NT shows about 8–11 with a stopper in their suit.

Takeout doubles

A double of an opening bid at the one level says "I have an opening hand, I'm short in your suit, and I can support anything partner bids." It's the bridge equivalent of saying "I'm easy, you pick the restaurant," except you actually mean it.

The other kind of takeout double is the "too strong to overcall" double: 17+ points with a good suit. Double first, then bid your suit. Partner will assume you have the classic shape until you correct them.

When partner doubles, you must bid

Even with zero points. Especially with zero points, because if you pass, the opponents play 1♥ doubled and make it with overtricks, and the scorer adds a little sad face next to your names.

Negative doubles

Now flip it around. Partner opens, and your right-hand opponent overcalls. A double by you is not for penalties. It shows the unbid major(s) and at least 6 points.

The Law of Total Tricks

Larry Cohen popularised a simple idea: on most deals, the total number of tricks available to both sides roughly equals the total number of trumps in both sides' best fits. The practical rule you can use at the table:

Balancing: protecting a low contract

When an auction like 1♥ – Pass – Pass comes round to you, the opponents have stopped low. Partner may have a good hand with hearts and nowhere to go. In this "balancing seat", bid or double with about 3 points fewer than you'd need in direct seat. You're bidding partner's values as well as your own. If it goes wrong, explain that you were "borrowing a king," which is what bridge players say instead of "I panicked."

A convention is an artificial bid: one that means something other than what it says. 2♣ over 1NT doesn't say "I like clubs." It says "do you have a four-card major?" Conventions are wonderful when both partners remember them and catastrophic when one doesn't, like a surprise party for someone who has a heart condition.

So add them one or two at a time, in this order:

1. Stayman

Partner opens 1NT (15–17). You bid 2♣ to ask: "Do you have a four-card major?" You need at least invitational values (8+) and at least one four-card major, unless you're planning to pass whatever partner says (more on that in a second).

2. Jacoby transfers

Over 1NT, 2♦ shows five or more hearts and asks partner to bid 2♥. 2♥ shows five or more spades and asks for 2♠. The strong hand becomes declarer, so the opening lead comes up to it instead of through it.

3. Weak two-bids

Open 2♦, 2♥ or 2♠ with 6–10 HCP and a good six-card suit (two of the top three honours, or three of the top five). 2♣ stays as your strong opening. The weak two is pre-emptive: it takes away the opponents' one-level bids and makes them guess.

Responding: a raise is pre-emptive ("add a level, make their life harder"). A new suit is forcing. 2NT asks opener to describe the hand further (agree a method with partner; the simplest is "show an outside ace or king").

5. Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB)

Once trumps are agreed, 4NT asks for key cards: the four aces plus the king of trumps. Five key cards in total. The most common responses are "1430":

Some partnerships play "3014", which swaps the first two answers (5♣ = 3 or 0, 5♦ = 1 or 4). Either is fine, but agree which one before the hand where it matters, not during. Asking "1430?" across the table while holding 4NT in your hand is frowned upon by the director, and by everyone within earshot. Slam bidding gets its own module (10).

6. Jacoby 2NT

After partner opens 1♥ or 1♠, 2NT shows four or more trumps and game-forcing values (13+). Opener describes the hand:

7. Splinter bids

A double jump in a new suit (1♠ – 4♣) says: "I have four-card support, game values, and a singleton or void in clubs." Opener then judges. With no wasted honours in clubs, slam may be on. With ♣KQJ opposite the singleton, those 6 points are worth almost nothing, and opener signs off in 4♠. Module 10 has a full splinter deal.

8. Fourth suit forcing (FSF)

When three suits have been bid and you have game values but no natural bid, bid the fourth suit. It's artificial and forcing, and it asks partner to describe the hand further, especially a stopper in that suit for no-trump.

9. Michaels cue bid and the Unusual 2NT

These show two-suited hands (at least 5-5) in one bid. They're for overcalling, so the opponents have opened.

10. Lebensohl (preview)

When partner opens 1NT and the opponents overcall at the two level, Lebensohl lets you distinguish weak hands from strong ones. The core idea: 2NT is a relay asking opener to bid 3♣. You then pass (weak, long clubs) or bid your long suit at the three level to sign off. A direct three-level bid is forcing. Learn this only after everything above is automatic. It's the cryptic crossword of conventions.

What's a Moysian?

A 4-3 trump fit: seven trumps between you instead of the eight you were taught to look for. It's named after Alphonse "Sonny" Moyse, a bridge writer who championed it with the enthusiasm other men reserve for vintage cars. Your beginner teacher told you eight trumps or no-trump. Your beginner teacher also told you there was no such thing as a stupid question. Both statements have limits.

A 4-3 fit is the right spot when:

• No-trump is unsafe because one suit is wide open, and
• the trumps are strong (the three-card holding is something like AKx or KQx), and
• the hand with three trumps has a short suit, so ruffs happen in the short-trump hand.

How to play a 4-3 fit

How you get there

The commonest route is opener's three-card raise with a singleton, as in Deal 4.1. The other is after fourth suit forcing (Module 3) reveals nobody has a stopper:

Misfits: the art of stopping

A misfit is when partner's long suit is your short suit and vice versa. It's two people who each think they're the main character. Misfit hands play badly in every denomination, and the auction tends to keep going because each player keeps hoping the other will finally agree.

Warning signs

• Partner bids your void or singleton.
• You're short in partner's suit.
• Both of you have rebid your own suit, and nobody has supported anybody.

What to do

• Stop early. On a misfit you need about 28–29 HCP for game, not 25–26. On the deal above, South should pass 2♥. Eight tricks is a good result.
• Prefer no-trump if you hold stoppers in the side suits. Long suits run in no-trump; they get ruffed in a suit contract.
• Never rebid a six-card suit for the third time hoping partner has learned to love it. They haven't. They won't.
• As declarer, count entries before anything else. Set up your long suit while you can still reach it.

The pause

The most expensive card in bridge is the one you play from dummy at trick one without thinking. Every good declarer pauses after dummy goes down. Not for long: about as long as it takes to read a text message from your partner that says "what were you thinking."

The hold-up play

In no-trump, when they lead their long suit and you have one stopper, don't rush to win it. Duck once or twice, so that the defender who gets in later has no cards left in that suit to lead back to partner. You're cutting the phone line between them.

Suit contracts: count losers, then ruff in the short hand

Trumps in the long hand are already tricks. Ruffing with them doesn't create anything new. Ruffing in dummy (usually the short-trump hand) creates tricks out of thin air. That's the whole secret, and it took me years and a lot of fried chicken to absorb it.

The toolkit

Suit combinations worth memorising

North is dummy, South is you. The green square is the table. Opponents' cards are unknown, as they are in life.

Step 1: listen to the auction

Your hand tells you about 13 cards. The auction tells you about the other 39. Beginners stare at their hand and lead a king because it looks impressive. Improvers replay the auction and work out what declarer is about to do, then lead something to stop it.

Leads to avoid against suit contracts

• Underleading an ace. Declarer's singleton king will thank you.
• Leading away from AQ, or from an unsupported king, unless the auction screams that you must be aggressive.
• A doubleton honour (Qx, Kx). It usually costs a trick and rarely gains a ruff.

Step 2: pick the card

The card you lead is a message to partner. The highlighted card is the one to lead.

The Rule of 11

When partner leads their 4th highest card, subtract it from 11. The answer is how many higher cards are in the other three hands: dummy, you and declarer. You can see dummy's and your own, so you know how many declarer has. It feels like cheating. It isn't. It's arithmetic, which is like cheating for people with a calculator.

Defence is a race

Against a suit contract, declarer's plan is usually simple: draw trumps, then throw losers on dummy's long suit or ruff them in dummy. Your plan is to take your tricks before that happens, or to stop it happening. You decide which kind of defence the hand needs the moment dummy goes down. Not at trick seven. At trick seven you're writing an apology.

Second hand low, third hand high

• Second hand low. When declarer leads towards dummy, play low. Your honour usually does more by waiting.
• Third hand high, but only as high as needed: from K-Q-x, play the Q (the lower of touching honours).
• Cover an honour with an honour when it might promote a card for your side. If dummy has touching honours (QJ), cover the last one, not the first.

Giving partner a ruff

A singleton lead can be deadly if you or partner can regain the lead to give a second ruff. Lead a singleton when you have a trump entry (the trump ace, say), or when the auction suggests partner has an ace. Then signal suit preference (Module 9) so partner knows how to get back to you for the next ruff.

Trump tricks for defenders

• The uppercut. Ruff high, even with a card you'd normally save, to force declarer to over-ruff with an honour. If partner has Qx in trumps and declarer AKJxx, your ruff with the 10 can promote partner's queen.
• Don't over-ruff with a trump that's already a sure trick. Discard a loser instead. You still score that trump later, and refusing can promote a second trump trick.
• Trump promotion. Lead a suit where both partner and declarer are void. Declarer must ruff high or be over-ruffed.

Count everything

Count declarer's shape from the auction and from who follows to what. Once you know three suits, you know the fourth. Count points too: declarer opened 1NT, showing 15–17, and has already shown 15. So partner must have the missing ace. It's like being a detective, except the murderer is sitting right there, eating a biscuit.

One suit, one entry

Against no-trump, the defenders usually beat the contract by setting up one long suit and keeping an entry to cash it. That's it. The temptation is to switch to something new every time you get the lead, because the old suit hasn't worked yet. Resist it. Switching suits against no-trump is like changing queues at the supermarket. The old queue always moves the moment you leave.

Returning partner's suit

Unblocking

If partner has the long suit and you have a short holding with an honour, get your honour out of the way so it doesn't block partner's run.

Holding up as a defender

When dummy has a long suit and no outside entry, a defender holding the ace can duck until declarer runs out of cards in that suit. Declarer's long suit then dies in dummy, which is the most satisfying smell in bridge. Use partner's count signal (Module 9) to know when to take the ace.

Third hand play against no-trump

Discarding against no-trump

When declarer runs a long suit, you'll have to discard. Three rules:

• Keep length to match dummy. If dummy has four hearts, keep four hearts (or as many as declarer can't beat).
• Keep partner's suit if you have an entry and a card to return.
• Discard from the suit nobody needs. Usually a suit where declarer and dummy are both strong, or one you've already given up on.

Discarding from the suit you're guarding is how declarer makes the trick they never had. It's death by a thousand discards, and the discards are yours.

Three signals, in order of priority

Each card you play when you're not trying to win the trick can carry one message. Which message depends on the situation. The trick is agreeing with partner which one applies when. That conversation is free, takes ten minutes, and saves more points than any convention in Module 3.

Discarding systems

When you can't follow suit, your discard is a signal. Choose one method with partner:

What a slam needs

Three things: enough tricks (high cards or a great fit), no suit where they can take two quick tricks, and a way to find out both without going past game too early. The third one is where people come unstuck. They have the first two, get excited, and bid 4NT the way a toddler presses an elevator button.

The toolkit, in order

When not to bid 4NT

Matchpoints v IMPs

At a typical club pairs game you're scored by matchpoints: on each board, you get a point for every pair you beat. Beating them by 10 points is as good as beating them by 1,000. At teams, scores are converted to IMPs, which compress big swings and barely notice small ones. Matchpoints reward precision. IMPs reward not being an idiot.

Penalty doubles

• Double low-level contracts when you hold length and strength in their trumps and your side has the balance of points.
• Double misfitting opponents (Module 4). Two good hands that don't fit go down a lot.
• Don't double a freely bid game just because you have high cards. Declarer knows where they are and plays around them. If they make it, you've doubled their score and given them a story they'll tell for years.

Sacrifices

A sacrifice is bidding a contract you expect to fail because going down costs less than letting them make theirs. It's the only part of bridge where losing is a strategy, which is why I'm so good at it. Compare the cost:

• Vulnerability is everything. Non-vulnerable against vulnerable is the classic sacrificing condition. Vulnerable against non-vulnerable, almost never.
• When in doubt, defend. If there's a real chance of beating their contract, take it. A sacrifice against a contract that was going down is a gift with a bow on it.
• Use the Law of Total Tricks. With ten trumps each side, both games often make or nearly make.