The Bridge CentreNext Steps in Bridge ♦
A 12-week program for players who have finished beginners' lessons: eleven topics, one a week, with a practice quiz and a reading list.
Work through one module per week for 12 weeks, alternating bidding, play and defence so each club session tests something new. This page is the overview: the rules worth remembering from each module. The illustrated lessons have the full explanations, worked deals you can play through trick by trick, and more quizzes.
Your weekly rhythm
- Read the module (20–30 minutes) and note the 3–5 rules worth remembering.
- Drill: deal the example hands, or set up a matching deal on BBO's teaching table.
- Play: at the club, write down one hand per session where the topic came up. Review it afterwards against the module.
- Review with partner: agree any new convention in writing before you use it.
The 12-week plan
The order mixes the three skills so you never spend two weeks in a row on the same thing. Tap a week to open that lesson.
Hand evaluation beyond high-card points
High-card points are a starting estimate; a hand's real value changes with every bid you hear.
Upgrade a hand for
- Honours in your long suits (♠AKJ75 beats ♠J7532 with the AK elsewhere).
- Honours working together (KQJ in one suit beats K, Q and J scattered).
- Shortness once a trump fit is found (count it then, not before).
- Good intermediates: 10s and 9s, especially in no-trump.
- A second long suit. 5-5 hands play far better than their points suggest.
Downgrade a hand for
- Unsupported honours in short suits (singleton K, doubleton QJ).
- Honours in partner's short suit, or in a suit your left-hand opponent bid.
- 4-3-3-3 shape: deduct a point.
- A misfit with partner (Module 4).
Losing Trick Count (once a fit is found)
Look at the top three cards in each suit. In a suit of three or more, the A, K and Q each cancel a loser; in a doubleton only the A and K; in a singleton only the A. Add your losers to partner's (assume 7 for a minimum opener) and subtract from 24. That's how many tricks your side should make.
Competitive bidding
Most deals are contested, so getting into the auction safely, and pushing the opponents out of theirs, earns more than any convention.
| Bid | HCP | Suit |
|---|---|---|
| 1-level overcall | 8–16 | Good 5+ cards (two of the top three honours, or three of the top five) |
| 2-level overcall | 11–16 | Good 5- or 6-card suit; stricter when vulnerable |
| 1NT overcall | 15–18 | Stopper in their suit |
| Weak jump overcall (1♣ – 2♠) | 6–10 | 6-card suit, like a weak two |
Responding to partner's overcall: raise with 3-card support, to the level of the fit. A cue bid of their suit (1♥ – 1♠ – Pass – 2♥) is a good raise, 10+. A new suit is constructive but not forcing.
Takeout doubles: opening values, shortness in their suit, support for the other three. Or any 17+ hand too strong to overcall: double, then bid your suit. Partner must bid: jump with 9–11, cue bid their suit with 12+.
Negative doubles (by opener's partner after an overcall): 1♣ – 1♠ – Dbl shows 4+ hearts and 6+ points. Agree a level, such as "through 3♠".
Balancing: when the auction is about to die low (1♥ – Pass – Pass – ?), bid or double with about 3 points less than usual.
Conventions worth adding next
Add them one or two at a time, in this order, and only once both partners can describe them. A forgotten convention costs more than not playing it.
| # | Convention | What it does | Typical auction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stayman | Finds a 4-4 major fit after 1NT | 1NT – 2♣ |
| 2 | Jacoby transfers | Shows a 5+ card major; strong hand declares | 1NT – 2♦ (hearts), 2♥ (spades) |
| 3 | Weak twos | 6–10 HCP, good 6-card suit | 2♦ / 2♥ / 2♠ |
| 4 | Negative doubles | Unbid major(s) after an overcall | 1♣ – (1♠) – Dbl |
| 5 | RKCB (1430 or 3014) | Key cards: 4 aces + trump king; then trump queen | 4NT once trumps are agreed |
| 6 | Jacoby 2NT | Game-forcing major raise, 4+ trumps | 1♥ – 2NT |
| 7 | Splinters | Game raise with a singleton/void | 1♠ – 4♣ |
| 8 | Fourth suit forcing | Artificial game force | 1♦ – 1♥ – 1♠ – 2♣ |
| 9 | Michaels / Unusual 2NT | Two-suited overcalls | (1♥) – 2♥; (1♥) – 2NT |
| 10 | Lebensohl | Competing after interference over your 1NT | 1NT – (2♠) – 2NT |
Full lesson: Stayman tree, transfer examples, RKCB responses →
Moysian fits and misfits
A 4-3 trump fit often plays better than no-trump with a suit wide open. A misfit plays badly in everything; the skill is spotting it early and stopping low.
When a 4-3 fit is right
- No-trump is unsafe because one suit is unstopped.
- The 3-card trump holding is strong (AKx, KQx).
- The hand with three trumps also has a short suit, so ruffs happen there.
1♦ – 1♠ – 2♠ – 3♠ – 4♠
Ruff clubs in North's hand (the three-card trump hand) and run the diamonds: twelve tricks. In 3NT the defence takes five clubs first.
How to play one
- Ruff in the short-trump hand. Ruffing in the 4-card hand shortens your main trumps.
- Don't let the defence force the long hand. Discard a loser instead of ruffing, if you must.
- Draw trumps carefully. If they break 4-2, leave the last trump out and play your winners.
- Count trumps. With seven, a 4-2 split (48%) is likelier than 3-3 (36%).
Misfits
Warning signs: partner bids your void or singleton; you're short in partner's suit; each of you keeps rebidding your own suit; no 8-card fit after three or four bids.
What to do: stop early (misfits need 28–29 HCP for game). Prefer no-trump with stoppers. Don't rebid a 6-card suit a third time. When the opponents misfit, double them.
Declarer play technique
The most valuable habit in bridge: plan the whole hand before playing to trick one.
- What's the contract and how many tricks do I need?
- No-trump: count sure winners. Suit contract: count losers in the long-trump hand.
- Where can extra tricks come from: long suits, finesses, ruffs, discards?
- What could go wrong: a bad split, the dangerous opponent, entries?
- Then play to trick one.
| Technique | Use it when | Key idea |
|---|---|---|
| Hold-up | NT, one stopper in their long suit | Duck once or twice to cut the defenders' link |
| Ducking | Setting up a long suit with few entries | Lose the trick you must lose early |
| Finesse | Missing an honour | Lead towards the honour you hope to make |
| Ruff in dummy | Dummy has shortness | Ruffs in the short-trump hand gain tricks |
| Discard losers | Dummy has a long, solid side suit | Draw trumps, then pitch losers |
| Crossruff | Each hand short in a different suit | Cash side winners first, then ruff back and forth |
| Entries | Long suit in a weak hand | Unblock high cards from the short hand first |
| Safety play | Contract safe unless a suit breaks badly | Give up an overtrick to guard against it |
| Avoidance | One defender is dangerous | Let the safe opponent win the tricks you lose |
Opening leads
The opening lead is the only card played without seeing dummy, so listen to the auction first: it tells you more than your own hand.
| Against | Best leads | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| No-trump | Your longest suit (4th highest); partner's suit; a sequence | Short suits, unless partner bid them |
| Suit contracts | Top of a sequence; partner's suit; a singleton with a trump entry; a trump when dummy will ruff | Underleading an ace; leading away from AQ or an unsupported K; a doubleton honour |
| Slams | Suit: cash an ace, or lead aggressively from a king. NT: a safe lead | Anything that gives a trick away |
Clues from the auction
- Two suits bid, settled in one → lead the unbid suit.
- Dummy showed a second suit and short trumps → lead a trump.
- They stretched to game → lead passively.
- They showed a long, strong side suit → lead aggressively.
Which card? (the highlighted one)
Defence against suit contracts
A race: take or set up your tricks before declarer draws trumps and discards losers. Decide early which defence the hand needs.
When dummy goes down, ask
- How many tricks do we need to beat it?
- How many can declarer count? (Dummy's long suit plus what declarer showed.)
- Long, running suit in dummy? → active defence.
- Dummy flat, nothing to discard on? → passive defence.
- Second hand low; third hand high, but only as high as needed (Q from KQ).
- Cover an honour with an honour when it may promote a trick; with touching honours in dummy, cover the last one.
- Uppercut: ruff high to promote partner's trump honour. Don't over-ruff with a trump that's already a sure winner.
- Count: declarer's shape from the auction; once you know three suits, you know the fourth.
Defence against no-trump
Defenders usually win by setting up one long suit and keeping an entry to cash it. Patience beats cashing aces.
- Keep attacking the same suit. Switching usually helps declarer.
- Return the right card: from two remaining, the higher; from three remaining, your original 4th highest.
- Preserve the entry to the long hand, and unblock: with Ax in partner's suit, win the ace and return the small one.
- Hold up your own stopper in dummy's long suit when dummy has no outside entry.
- Discard from the suit nobody needs. Keep length matching dummy's long suit.
Signals and discards
Signals are the defenders' only legal conversation. A consistent simple method beats a clever one used inconsistently.
| Signal | When | Standard meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Attitude | Partner leads, you follow | High = continue; low = switch |
| Count | Declarer leads a suit | High-low = even; low-high = odd |
| Suit preference | Giving a ruff, or when the rest is obvious | High = higher other suit; low = lower |
Discards, pick one with partner: standard (high = like), reverse (low = like), odd-even, or McKenney/Lavinthal (the suit you throw says "not this one"; high or low picks between the other two).
Common mistakes: signalling when partner already knows; reading a signal as an order; giving count when only declarer benefits.
Slam bidding
Slams need enough tricks, no two quick losers in any suit, and a way to find out both without going past game too early.
- Small slam: about 33 HCP balanced, ~30 with a good fit and shape. Grand slam: about 37, or 13 counted tricks.
- Fit and shape beat points: a 9-card fit with a singleton often makes slam on 27–28 HCP.
- Agree trumps first.
- Show interest below game: Jacoby 2NT, splinters, jump shifts.
- Control bids: a new suit at the 4-level shows an ace or void, cheapest first. They find the suit with two fast losers.
- RKCB 4NT (1430): 5♣ = 1 or 4, 5♦ = 0 or 3, 5♥ = 2 without the trump queen, 5♠ = 2 with it.
- Queen and king asks for grand slams.
Don't use Blackwood with a void, with two quick losers in an unbid suit (control-bid instead), or when a 5-level answer could leave you too high.
Scoring tactics, penalty doubles and sacrifices
The same hand can call for different actions depending on the scoring. Club pairs games are matchpoints; teams events are usually IMPs.
| Decision | Matchpoints (pairs) | IMPs (teams) |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Beat the other pairs on each board, by any margin | Win big swings |
| Overtricks | Very important | Never risk the contract for one |
| Safety plays | Often skipped if they cost overtricks | Always take them |
| Strain | NT > majors > minors | The safest contract |
| Games | Bid at 50%+ | Vulnerable ~40%, non-vul ~45% |
| Slams | Small slams at ~50% | Small at ~50%; grands only when near certain |
| Part-scores | Fight hard: −100 beats −110 | Don't risk big penalties |
- Penalty doubles: double low contracts when you hold their trumps and your side has the points; double misfitting opponents; don't double a freely bid game just for high cards.
- Sacrifices: right when going down costs less than their contract. Non-vul against vul is the classic time. When in doubt, defend.
Practice quiz
Twelve problems covering the program. Decide your answer, then tap to check.
Q1LHO opens 1♦. Your call?
Tap for the answer
Q2LHO opens 1♥. Your call?
Tap for the answer
Q3Partner opens 1♣, RHO overcalls 1♠. Your call?
Tap for the answer
Q4Partner opens 1♠. How many losers, and what does LTC suggest?
Tap for the answer
Q5They bid 1♠ – 2♦ – 2♠ – 4♠. Your lead?
Tap for the answer
Q6They bid 1NT – 3NT. Your lead?
Tap for the answer
Q73NT. LHO leads the ♠Q. You hold ♠A43 opposite dummy's ♠652, and must lose the lead once to set up diamonds. Plan?Tap for the answer
Q8You're in 4♥ on a 4-3 fit, and the defence leads spades, which you can only ruff in hand. The danger?Tap for the answer
Q9Partner 1♥ – you 1♠ – 2♥ – 2♠ – 3♥. Your call?
Tap for the answer
Q10Defending 4♠, dummy has ♦AKQJ6 and declarer is balanced. You hold ♣AK3 and win the second trick. Now?Tap for the answer
Q11Partner leads the ♥K against 4♠. You hold ♥J82; dummy has ♥753. Which heart?Tap for the answer
Q12You open 1♠ and partner splinters with 4♣. Slam?
Tap for the answer
Books and resources
Pick one book per area and finish it before starting another. Ron Klinger is Australian, so his books match local club practice well.
| Area | Title | Author | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand evaluation | Points Schmoints! | Marty Bergen | Improver |
| Competitive bidding | To Bid or Not to Bid: The Law of Total Tricks | Larry Cohen | Improver |
| Conventions | 25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know | Barbara Seagram & Marc Smith | Improver |
| Bidding system | Standard Bridge Bidding for the 21st Century | Max Hardy | Improver–intermediate |
| Declarer play | Guide to Better Card Play | Ron Klinger | Improver–intermediate |
| Declarer play | Card Play Technique | Victor Mollo & Nico Gardener | Intermediate |
| Declarer play | How to Read Your Opponents' Cards | Mike Lawrence | Intermediate |
| Opening leads | Opening Leads | Mike Lawrence | Intermediate |
| Defence | Modern Bridge Defense, then Advanced Bridge Defense | Eddie Kantar | Improver, then intermediate |
| Pairs tactics | Guide to Better Duplicate Bridge | Ron Klinger | Intermediate |
- Bridge Base Online: free robot games and the free BridgeMaster declarer-play training (levels A–E).
- Larry Cohen's site: free articles and quizzes on bidding, play and defence.
- Australian Bridge Federation: congresses, teacher resources and masterpoint events.
- Your club's hand records: replay boards you misjudged and compare with the double-dummy analysis.