• NSEW Guide cards (Lesson Three, Attachment Nine)
• two decks of cards for each table of four
• score sheet and pencil
• bidding boxes if available
• teacher copy of Attachments One through Three for reference in guiding bidding practice
• copy for each student of the Bridge Tips tri-fold (laminate and fold in thirds) See link in Bibliographical References.
• optional: make an extra copy of the Bridge Tips tri-fold for students to use as a reference to teach Bridge at home

Day One

 Anticipatory set: 

Today we are going to learn to open the bidding with 1 no trump. This is a very specific bid and tells your partner much about your hand. When playing with a partner, you will be working together. How well you do in the game of Bridge depends largely on luck and skill, but also on how well you communicate with your partner.

• Tell students that to open the bidding, they must have in their hand half of the points needed for game. Ask: "Since game is 25 points in the majors and no trump and 29 points in the minors, how many points do they need to open the bidding?" (approximately half of the points needed, or 12)  
• Teacher: In Mini Bridge you learned that no trump and majors suits score more than part scores or game in minors. Today we are going to learn how to open the bidding with 1 no trump.
• Teacher: To open the bidding in no trump you need to have 15-17 points and a balanced hand. The term opening bid refers to the first bid or call made in an auction that is not a pass. When opening the bidding in no trump, you need high-card points to be successful.  
• Teacher: A balanced hand has no more than one doubleton (two cards in a suit) and no singletons (one card in a suit) or a void (no cards in a suit).
• Teacher: Let’s look at the following example to understand a balanced hand:
  In a balanced hand, the number of cards in each suit, or distribution, is four, four, three, three. A way to check if your hand is balanced is to move just one card from the perfect balanced hand: four, four, three, two. Go back to original hand and move one card again: five, three, three, two. These hands (with no more than one doubleton) are still balanced because you have only moved one card from the “perfect” balanced hand. Test this pattern by moving one card from the original perfect hand.  
  Note to teacher: Set up this shape as an example of a balanced no trump hand:  xxxx   xxx      xxx     xxx  
• Show this example:    A 10 3    K J 10 7      A 2     K Q 10 3    and ask the students to count these points. (17) This is a good hand to open in no trump because it is balanced and has 17 points. In no trump, you do not count distribution points. 
• Here is another example:  (♠) K, 8    (♥) 9, 5, 2       (♣) A, Q, 8     (♦) K, Q, J, 7, 3   This hand has 15 points and is balanced. Although there is not a stopper in hearts, it is important to show your partner your point count. 
• Once you see that students are comfortable with the shape of the hand and necessary points, ask students to design a hand that would open the bidding as 1NT. Ask students to play the hand, with the declarer predicting how many tricks they will make. 
• After the game, ask whether anyone was surprised that a card they didn’t think would win a trick, became a winner. Discuss. Remind students that it is difficult to predict all winning cards, but that most of the time, high cards win tricks. Sometimes low cards from long suits win tricks too.
• Note: Remind the students how to arrange their cards after each trick. They place their cards along the table edge in front of themselves: turn winning tricks toward their partner and losers toward their opponents. "Vertical win, horizontal loss."
•  Have students create no-trump hands at their table and play several practice hands. Tell them to make sure that the partnership has at least 19 points. Remind them to predict their winners. As students play, ask questions to stimulate their thinking:
  • Should the declarer play all high cards first?
  • What happens if declarer does not have a "stopper" in a suit?  (A stopper is a card the declarer can use to stop the opponents from controlling a suit, a likely winner in the suit.)
• Have students count their sure tricks.  What suit should the declarer play to promote a necessary trick?  Have students play and see if they can make their predicted contract. Sure tricks are tricks you can take without giving up the lead.

• Tell the students that when the opener describes his or her hand initially, it is the responsibility of the responder (partner) to decide in what level and strain the hand will be played. This makes the responder the CAPTAIN. With an opening of no trump, the responder has enough information to make that decision. The responder can make one of three bids:
  • Sign off – a response that asks opener to pass
  • Invitational – gives the opportunity for opener to pass or bid
  • Forcing – requires opener to bid again.
    Note: the teacher may wish to create a visual aid of a traffic light.
• When the opener opens in 1NT, you know your partner has at least two cards in every suit. 
• Tell the students that if the responder is looking for the golden fit in one of the suits, he or she is interested in finding the fit in the major. The Golden Fit is when the declarer and partner have 8 or more cards in the trump suit. Declarer wants to hold the majority of cards in the trump suit. Ask the students why the declarer wants to be able to control the trump suit. (In scoring, fewer tricks are needed and more points are awarded in the majors or no trump.) Remind students that scoring is the same as in Mini Bridge. (See Lesson Three: Attachment Six.)
• After an opening of 1 NT, the responder looks at the strength of his or her hand:
  • 0-7 points is minimum strength.
  • 8-9 points is medium strength.
  • 10+ points is maximum strength.

If the responder has 0-7 points (minimum hand):

• If you have 0-7 points and a balanced hand, you know that game (100points) is unlikely. Your goal as Captain is to keep the contract low. You should pass.
• If you have 0-7 points and an unbalanced hand, will your partnership be successful in a no trump contract? Probably not.
• The students are going to learn their first convention; it is called the "Jacoby Transfer." The Jacoby Transfer convention was introduced by Oswald Jacoby in 1956. The bid forces the opener to bid RESPONDER'S  longest suit. In this auction, the stronger hand is concealed.
  • Tell the students that the response will be an "artificial bid." Ask: "What does the word artificial mean?" Discuss the term in general and then tell them that in Bridge, an artificial bid is similar. (It is telling your partner you really don't like the suit you are bidding; it is artificial, telling your partner something quite different.)  
  • In Jacoby Transfer, this bid requires your partner (the opener) to make a bid in a different suit, specifically the next suit up from the actual transfer bid. Using this system, you bid 2(♦) to tell your partner to bid 2(♥), or 2(♥) to bid 2(♠). You are telling your partner that you have at least five cards in the in the transfer suit.
  • To clarify, 2(♦) says nothing about diamonds; 2(♥) says nothing about hearts. You will notice that in this transfer bid, you are not transferring to the minor suits. 
  • You will then pass partner’s bid on the next turn. 
  • Summary: 
    • If responder has 0-7 points with a balanced hand, pass.
    • If responder has 0-7 points and a five+ card major, transfer to major, then pass on the next turn.

If the responder has 8-9 points (medium hand):

• If the responder has 8 or 9 points, as captain, you are trying to determine if your partnership has enough points for game, so your bid must be invitational. 
• With a balanced hand, bid 2NT.
• If you have a five-card major, you start with Jacoby Transfer, but this time, don’t pass when your partner completes the transfer. Bid 2NT! This tells your partner you have 8-9 points and five cards in the transferred suit. Partner will decide to play in the suit contract or no trump. Remember, partner is looking for the golden fit. With two cards in the suit, partner will pass; with three cards in the suit, partner will play in a major suit contract. He or she has the “golden fit.”
• With six cards or more in the major suit and 8 or 9 points, raise the suit. Example:

Partner                              You

1NT                                     2(♦)

2(♥)                                     3(♥)

• This will give your partner the choice to pass or go on to game in the major suit. Partner will not play in no trump.
• Summary:
  • With a balanced hand, bid 2NT.
  • With a five-card major, transfer to major then bid 2NT.
  • With a six-card major, transfer to major then raise major to 3 level.

• Now you know you have enough for game, but where?
  • With a balanced hand, bid 3NT.
  • With a five-card major, transfer to the major, then bid 3NT.
  • With a six-card major, transfer to the major, then bid major at the 4 level.

• Count your sure winners. Remember winners are SURE to win before opponents get in.
• Develop your needed tricks. Look for the best suit. Don’t attack suits that can’t produce tricks.
• Save your stoppers in suits to keep your opponents out.
• Do not take your winners early. “Hold up.” Refuse to win a trick with a high honor, saving the winner for a later trick. 

• Opening lead – lead your longest and strong suit against no trump, but which card?  Lead your fourth highest card! When you do this your partner can get an idea of how long your suit is and can decide whether to keep playing that suit.  With this hand, A 9 7 5, lead 5. With this hand, A 9 7 5 3, lead the 5. With this hand, A 9 7 5 3 2, lead your fourth highest, the 5.
• Have students play a few hands. 

The Hold-Up Play

• Use this strategy to refuse a winning trick with a high honor, saving it to "stop" the defenders from running the suit. For example, in a 3NT contract, opponents lead the K of hearts. Let's assume that your opponent has the lead from the top of a sequence of his longest suit. You look at your hand, and see that you have A, 9, 4 of hearts. If you win the first trick, the next time your opponent wins a trick, you no longer have a stopper in the suit. Your contract will probably be defeated. If you hold up to stop the opponents for the first two tricks, and play your Ace only when you have to, you have a better chance of making your contract. Be sure to count your sure tricks.

Developing tricks:

• Pick a suit that can produce the extra winners you need and play that suit first.
• Remember to use up your honors from the short side first. This does not mean to lead the honor from the short side, but you do need to "use it up."
• Promote a card into a sure trick when all of the higher-ranking cars in that suit have been played. When developing tricks through promotion, you will have to give up the lead to your opponents. Don't worry about losing a trick, provided you have stoppers in your others suits. Remember: Take your losses early! Although it is tempting to WIN all of the tricks. Try to capture honor cards with honor cards. 

Day Three: Keeping Score

• Whatever the contract, the first six tricks do not count toward your score. The seventh trick is the first scoring trick.
• In no trump, the first trick is worth 40 points; each additional trick is worth 30 points.
• Players receive a 50-point bonus for making a partial game (less than 100 points) and a 300-point bonus for bidding and making game (100 points or more). Examples:
  • 1NT    50 + 40 = 90
  • 2NT   50 + 40 + 30 = 120
  • 3NT  50 + 40 + 30 + 30 + 300 (game bonus) = 400
• The game bonus is only awarded if game was bid. Even if you make enough tricks to earn game (100 points), if game was not bid, the bonus is only 50. So the score would be  50 + 40 + 30 + 30=150. This shows that bidding is important to scoring. It is disappointing to earn only 150 points for 9 tricks in no trump, when, if the contract was bid and made, students could have earned 400 points if non vulnerable, and 600 points if vulnerable. (Non-vulnerable means a pair scores a smaller bonus for game, small slams, and grand slams. They suffer smaller pennalties (50 points per trick) for not being successful, or "going down." If the pair is vulnerable, they get a bigger bonus for game, small slams, and grand slams. They suffer larger penalties (100 points per trick) for not making the proposed contract.
  • In a partial score, pairs receive a 50-point bonus.    
  • In a game score, non-vulnerable pairs receive a 300-point bonus.
  • in a game score, vulnerable pairs receive a 500-point bonus.
• Lowest scores are awarded in diamonds and clubs, the minor suits. You receive 20 points for each trick over book (book equals the first 6 tricks). A game score is 100 points. At 20 points per trick, minor suits must win five tricks over book (5 x 20 = 100) Five tricks over book is a total of eleven tricks. If players bid and make 11 tricks, they get a 300-point bonus: 100  + 300 = 400 points for game in minors.
• Major suits are hearts and spades. You receive 30 points per trick over book. A game score is 100 points. At 30 points per trick, major suits must win four tricks over book (4 x 30 = 120) Four tricks over book is a total of ten tricks. If players bid and make 10 tricks, they get a 300-point bonus: 120  + 300 = 420 points for game in majors.
• Notrump - you score 40 points for the first trick, then 30 points for every trick afterward.
• Scoring with bonuses
  • 50 points for a partial game,  300 points for game non-vulnerable, 500 points for game vulnerable
  • small slam:  500 points non-vulnerable    1000 points vulnerable
  • grand slam:   750 points non-vulnerable   1500 points vulnerable
• Review what students know about scoring and play practice hands.

Day Four: Making Your Bid Count

• Bidding influences the final score. It is important to bid accurately so you can make your bid count for the most points. Ask the students, "How does scoring influence the strain (suit or no trump) you choose? How many cards in a suit make a partnership fit? (8+) Why?"
• Example of the score of different bids in minor and major suits:
  • 9 tricks in club/diamonds     =      60
  • 9 tricks in hearts/spades      =     90
  • 9 tricks in notrump                 =   100
• Use mental math to determine your partnership score with the following scenarios.              
• The Bid:                 Non-vulnerable                            Vulnerable

4 hearts

2 hearts

1 spade

5 spades

6 hearts

3 diamonds

2 NT 

4 clubs, making 5                              50+20+20+20+20+20 = 150  50-point bonus because partnership did not bid game

3 hearts, making 4                            50+30+30+30+30 = 170

• Note: Vulnerability is decided the following way: 1st hand, no partnership is vulnerable; 2nd hand, dealer/partner vulnerable; 3rd hand, dealer/partner vulnerable; 4th hand, all pairs vulnerable.
• If the contract fails, when a partnership is non-vulnerable, the opponents receive 50-points per trick. When the partnership is vulnerable, the penalty doubles, down one equals 100 points.
• Show the following hands in one suit as an example: The final contract is 3NT by N/S

North:  A, K, J, 10, 2

South:   Q, 4, 3

• Teacher: "Based on these hands, how many tricks can you win in this suit?  Should you play  the AK first, or the Q? There is a saying in bridge. Play your high honors from the short side first. If declarer does not play the Queen first, the suit can be blocked."
• Have students play some hands and keep their scores.

Day Five: Opening 1 in a Suit

• Have students create a hand with 5 spades, 3 hearts, 3 diamonds and 2 clubs.
  
• Example:   (♠) A, J, 10, 5, 3   (♥) K, 8, 6    (♦) A, 9, 2   (♣) J, 2
• Ask students to add up the points:  14 high cards points + 1 point for distribution. (Remind students that they should add a point for every card over four in a suit.)  At this time, students will not be adding points for the doubleton. What will be the opening bid? 1 spade 
• Let’s look at another example: (♠) J, 9, 7, 5, 3    (♥) 4, 5    (♦) 6    (♣) A, K, Q, J, 3      Ask the students to determine the following: how many high cards, how many points for distribution, total number of points, and opening bid. (1 spade) Remind students they are opening with the higher ranking of the five-card suits.
• Proceed in this manner with the following examples:
• (♠) K, J, 8, 4    (♥) A, Q, J, 3    (♦) Q, 5, 8   (♣) 7, 2   Students will see that there are 13 high-card points and no five-card major, so they will open 1 diamond. This is a good time to remind students the partnership is looking for the golden fit. Hopefully, their partner will respond with one of the major suits.
• (♠) 10, 9, 6, 4, 3   (♥) A, K, J, 7, 3   (♦) A, 4    (♣) 8   In this hand, although the heart suit is much stronger than the spade suit, remind students that they are to open the higher ranking suit of equal length. Therefore, they open 1 spade. There are 14 points in this hand with distribution.
• Have students create hands. Remind students of the “Golden Fit,” which is eight or more cards in a suit. Remind students that it is better to play in no trump or a major than a minor suit.  
• Let’s look at point count:
  • How many points do you need in the combined hand to make game in the major suits? 25
  • How many points does the partnership need to make game in No Trump? 25
  • How many points does the partnership need to make game in the minor suits? 29
• Review:
  • How many cards does the partnership need to have to have a majority of the cards in a suit?   eight +
  • High cards in the trump suit are not as important as the length of a trump suit.
• Use the scenarios in Attachment One: Practice Examples to guide the students in making opening bids. Do not copy this for students, but use for discussion.

• The partner of the opener is called the responder. As a responder, you have already heard your partner, and by adding up the points in your hand, it is your responsibility to guide the partnership to the best contract. You are the captain. The captain decides on the level and strain.
• The responder has the same responsibility in a suit contract as in a no trump contract.
• Responder can use the bidding messages of sign off, invitational, and forcing. See Day Two, above.
• When you know there is an eight-card + suit, raise your partner in that suit.
  • 6-9 points        minimum hand    raise to 2 level (sign off)
  • 10-12 points    medium hand      raise to 3 level (invitational)
  • 13-16 points    maximum hand    raise to game (GO!)

• Rules for responding to a major suit opening bid:
• With 6-9 points (the minimum hand): 
  • Raise partner’s major suit to the two level with a minimum of three-card support
  • Bid a new suit at the 1 level
  • Bid 1 NT
• With 10-12 points (the medium hand):
  • Raise partner’s major suit to the 3 level with a minimum of three-card support
  • Bid a new suit at the 1 level
  • Bid a five-card suit at the 2 level. With two five-card suits, bid the higher ranking suit. 
  • Bid your cheapest four-card suit at the 2 level
  • Bid 2 NT

• With 13-16 points (maximum hand):
  • With three or more card support, raise partner’s major to game.
  • Bid your longest new suit at the 2 level. Keep bidding until you get to game.
  • Bid 3NT with no four-card or longer major.
• Teachers should discuss with their students the idea of planning their play. Players should take time to count their sure tricks and plan their attack. 
  • Remind players to use up the winners from the short side first to avoid blocking the suit (they learned this in Mini Bridge).
  • Against a suit contract, it is a good idea to lead a short suit, or top of a sequence. Tell students they should not lead out an Ace or a King, unless they have the next honor card in sequence.
  • This is a good time to also remind students that to be a successful, a good piece of advice is for second to play a low card, giving your partner the chance to win a trick. 
  • Third hand should play high and try to win the trick.
  • Fourth hand should play highest.
  • Remind players to follow suit when they can. In a trump contract, defense can trump a trick, but remember, declarer can trump higher.
• Rules for responding when partner opens a minor suit:
  • Responder’s first responsibility is to bid a new suit, preferably a four+ card major, looking for the golden fit. Partner would have opened a major if he or she had five of a major suit.
  • With 6-9 points:
    • Bid a new suit at the 1 level - bid up the ladder
    • Bid 1NT
    • Raise to the 2 level with five+ card support
  • With 10-12 points:
    • Bid a new suit
    • Bid 2NT
    • Raise to the 3 level with five+ card support
  • With 13 or more :
    • Bid a new suit
    • Bid 3NT with a balanced hand
  • Any new suit by responder is forcing for one round.
• A good rule:  When partner opens a minor suit, your first job is to explore and try to find a major suit fit.
• Remember, if you need to make more than one bid to describe your hand, be sure your first bid is forcing. When responder changes suit, it is forcing for one round. It says, partner, please bid so I get another chance to describe my hand. There must be three passes before the bidding is over.

The Opening Lead: This is the defender's job! Listen carefully to the bidding. Many contracts are won or lost on the opening lead. Here are some good rules to follow.

• Play the top of a sequence. For example, if you have KQ, lead the K. This promises your partner the next honor.
• Lead your partner's suit, if they have bid or overcalled.
• Play Ace when you hold the AK.
• Play a card from a singleton or a doubleton, if you have trump holdings.  Lead high then low with a doubleton. You are signaling your partner.
• Fourth highest of a suit headed by an honor
• BOSTON:  Bottom of something, top of nothing. For bottom of something (example: Qxx), lead the lowest card. For top of nothing (example: 7 4 2), lead the seven.
• Signaling your partner is also the defender's job. Remember, you must keep a "poker" face when playing Bridge, so the only way you have to communicate your preferences to your partner is through your cards.   One way to do this is through "attitude." When your partner leads a high card, you want to convey whether you like this suit or not. The card you play will tell him how you feel. Use a high spot card to say you like the suit, and keep leading. Play a low card to say, partner, switch suits; we cannot win any tricks in this suit. Reminder;  low means NO!!!
• Use the scenarios in Attachment Two: Response to a Bid of One in a Suit  to discuss possible responses to opening in a suit. Do not copy this for students, but use for discussion.

For fun:  Ask students to create an acrostic with a bridge word.

No Trump:

Discussion questions to promote critical thinking:

• "What if you have a balanced hand and 18 or 19 points? You are no longer in the 1NT range."  Students will probably suggest that they bid 1NT anyway. Definitely not! Tell students to bid their best suit, then jump on the next turn to bid to show they have more than a medium hand. 
• "What if you have a balanced hand and 20-21 points?" Yes, now they open 2NT, and Jacoby transfer bids still apply. 
• "How many points does responder need to play in the golden game?"
• "If your partner opens 2NT, can you pass?"  Yes, with no five card major and 3 or fewer points, pass.

Opening in One of a Suit:

• Bidding starts with the dealer and moves clockwise.  If you don't want to bid, you say "pass." The bidding auction continues until three players have passed. Just like any auction, you must bid higher than the previous bidder. In Bridge we call this "bidding up the ladder." Students should notice that the suits are ranked in ABC order, from the lowest suit, clubs, to the higher ranking spades--Clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. Last and highest is no trump. No trump is highest because it is usually the most challenging contract to play.
• When playing a hand, remind players to collect trump from their opponents, but save trump between the partnership if needed to "ruff" a trick. Ruffing, or trumping, means playing a trump when a different suit has been played and you cannot follow suit. Ruffing in the short hand rather than in the hand that is long in trump is a way to get an extra trick. This is one of the reasons the Golden Fit is so important.
• Ask, "When would it be advantageous to NOT collect trump from your opponents?" 
• Remember to count your winners, or sure tricks, but also be sure to count your losers. Sometimes you will need to find a way to eliminate one of your losers before giving up a trick to your opponents. You can do this by discarding, or playing a card other than a trump card, of a different suit than the suit led.
• Count the losers in your hand; do you need to ruff in the dummy? Can you discard losers on winners from the dummy? Take all of this into consideration before drawing trump. 
• Take your time when playing.  Make a plan before playing a card on the first trick.

Leads:

• Lay out these cards dummy style:       North: (H)  K, Q, 10, 6, 5       South: (H)  9, 8, 7, 4   
• Tell students when making a lead, if they have touching honors, such as K Q, A K, or Q J (have students come up with these), a good opening lead is the top of the honors (higher card) because it promises your partner and tells your opponents you have the next lower honor. Ask, "Why would it be important to tell this to your partner?" It communicates to your partner what you are holding and that you think you can develeop that suit for your partnership.
• Likewise, if you have 2 honors that are not touching, such as K J, A Q, or A J, and three or more cards, lead low. Ask students to think about how this information is helpful to the partnership. Ask, "Is it okay to tell the opponents about your hand? Why or why not?"