Welcome to my class handouts page. This page contains links to the handouts that I’ve developed over the past several years for my bridge classes. The original idea of these handouts was to help students answer the question at any point during a hand of bridge, “Looking at this hand, what do I do now?” For example:
- If you’re the first person to bid, you might ask yourself, “What do I open with this hand?”
- What do I bid after my partner has opened the bidding with 1NT?
- I’m the declarer; how do I plan the play of the hand?
- What card should I lead to the first trick?
- Etc
My goal has always been to think of any particular action not in isolation but as part of an overall plan for the auction / play / defense.
I welcome students to use these handouts without modification. I welcome teachers to use them for their classes without modification with appropriate attribution.
Most of these handouts I’ve used multiple times and are in pretty good shape; some are older and maybe overlap with other handouts, and some are newer and a little less polished. I will continue to update the handouts and add more over time.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at David@TournTables.com. I welcome any feedback that you might have.
Basic Bidding
- What Do I Open (Std American) OR What Do I Open (2 Over 1)
- What Do I Respond to 1x (Std American) OR What do I Respond to 1x (2 Over 1)
- What Do I Respond to 1NT
- How Do I Preempt?
- 2C Openers (Basic)
- 2C Openers (More advanced)
- 2 Over 1 Review
More Advanced Bidding Stuff
- Forcing 1NT (for 2 Over 1 Players)
- NT Convention: New Minor Forcing
- Convention: Inverted Minors
- Game Tries
- What Level, What Strain?
- Losing Trick Count
- Finding Good Slams (Jacoby 2N, Keycard, Balanced Slams, etc)
- Reverses
- Splinters
Competitive Bidding
- How Do I Compete in the Auction
- Response Over Overcall
- Law of Total Tricks
- Doubles: What / Who / Why
- Penalty Doubles
- Takeout Doubles
- Other Doubles
- How Do I Compete Against 1NT
- When They Bid over our NT
- How Do I Compete with 2 Suits?
- CueBids
Play of the Hand
- How Do I Play the Hand? (Overview)
- How Do I Play the Hand?
- When NOT To Draw Trumps
- Finesse
- How Do I Count?
Defense
- Opening Lead (Overview)
- Opening Lead
- Defensive Communications (2nd hand play, 3rd hand play, etc)
- Attitude Signals
- Count Signals
- Discard Signals
- Suit Preference Signals
Other Topics
- How Do I Keep Score (Basic, plus strategy for various formats)
- Club/Tournament Play (for playing in more structured games)
- Team Games vs Pairs Games (IMPS vs Matchpoints)