Teaching Opportunities
I am teaching some classes that club non-members may attend. All of them feature instruction followed by six or eight example deals. Everyone receives copious notes, including copies of the deals with bidding and play analysis.
For more information, please e-mail me.
May 23 to 25 at the Rolling Rock Club in Laughlintown, Pennsylvania: Refresher Camp for players returning to the game after a break or who would like to sharpen their basic bidding and card-play techniques.
Tuesday, May 29 to June 1, also at Rolling Rock: Bridge Camp, is for more experienced players.
July 9 to 11 at Highland Falls Country Club, Highlands, North Carolina.
September 18 to 20 at Louisville Country Club, Louisville, Kentucky: five lessons and one playing session with deals featuring the topics of the classes.
September 25 to 27 at Glen View Golf Club, Town of Golf, Illinois. The same schedule as at Louisville the week before.
Theme Weeks
Some weeks, my columns are on a particular theme. In case you would like to find them, here are the themes covered in the columns available at the moment:
02.04.09-02.07.09: splinter bids
03.23.09-03.28.09: reverses
05.04.09-05.09.09: redoubles
05.11.09-05.16.09: defensive tips
07.27.09-08.08.09: suit-preference signals
08.24.09-08.29.09: declarer counts points to place the defenders' cards
08.31.09-09.05.09: defenders count points to place the declarer's cards
11.02.09-11.07.09: second hand low
11.09.09-11.21.09: third hand high
12.07.09-12.12.09: pluses and minuses of a simple overcall
12.14.09-12.19.09: advancing a simple overcall
01.04.10-01.09.10: using your trumps with effect
04.12.10-04.17.10: defense against notrump contracts
04.19.10-04.24.10: defense against suit contracts
05.10.10-05.15.10: eight ever, nine never
05.24.10-06.05.10: being a tough defender
06.07.10-06.12.10: being a tough declarer
07.19.10-07.24.10: weak and pre-emptive jump overcalls
07.26.10-07.30.10: countering weak and pre-emptive jump overcalls
08.01.10-08.06.10: defensive possibilities
11.08.10-11.13.10: maintaining trump control
11.15.10-11.20-10: defenders undermining declarer's trump control
01.17.11-01.22.11: declarer is faced with two possibilites, mostly at trick one
01.24.11-01.29.11: third hand is faced with two possibilities at trick one
01.31.11-02.05.11/02.07.11-02.09.11: should dummy play low, middle or high at trick one?
02.21.11-02.26.11: help-suit game-tries
02.28.11-03.05.11: help-suit game-tries in competition and slam-tries
03.14.11-03.19.11: finesses
03.21.11-03.26.11: more about finesses, particularly with relation to the opponents' bidding
04.04.11-04.09.11: takeout doubles with strong hands
12.12.11-12.17.11: basic signaling
04.09.12-04.14.12: active or passive defense
Alder Transfer Preempts
To find out about the transfer preempts that I devised back in 1972, click on this link:
Alder Transfer Preempts. These opening bids have two big advantages: they right-side contracts and they are hard to play against.
Responses to a One-Notrump Opening
To see my comments about responding to one notrump with various basic methods (no transfers, transfers only into the majors, and four-suit transfers), please click on this link:
Transfers.
Balanced Hands — What Ranges and Why?
To read my discussion of balanced-hand ranges, please click here:
Balanced-Hand Ranges.
The Losing Trick Count
For further details about the Losing Trick Count (mentioned in the columns for September 19 and 20, 2003), please click on the link here:
The Losing Trick Count.
To contact me by e-mail, please click on the Contact box to the left.
I am particularly happy to receive deals suitable for the column. If you submit one, please give (if possible) the dealer, the vulnerability, the auction, the play, and the names of the key players. Also, indicate if you would prefer your name not to be given in the column.
I prefer deals with an instructive point, especially in the play, not wild layouts that come down to guesswork.
Good luck with bridge and life!
