Better Bidding

About the course

WHO
is it for?

This is an advanced course, for experienced players who are confident with the standard bidding system and would like to add some refinements.

It is also for Brush Up Your Bidding graduates who have a good grasp of the contents of that course and are ready for the next step.

If you have a regular partner, it may be helpful if you both take the course so that you can put it into practice together.

If you're not sure whether you are ready for this course, try this quiz

WHAT
will I learn?

I plan to cover these topics:

  • Transfers – fine-tuning the contract after partner has opened in no trumps
  • Three-Card Raises – supporting partner with only 3 cards in her suit
  • The Losing Trick Count – measuring the strength of an unbalanced hand
  • Trial Bids – deciding whether to bid game
  • Fourth Suit Forcing – asking partner to tell you more
  • Supporting Partner’s Overcall – when you’re long and when you’re strong
  • Protective Bidding – when the opponents have stopped at a low level
  • Negative Doubles – when an opponent’s overcall has taken your bid away

HOW
will I learn it?

You will have group lessons, which may be face-to-face or online, and you will use resources on this website.

Every week, I will ask you to download study notes from the website and to watch a short video.  The more you work at them, the more you’ll learn.

In the lessons, we will discuss the notes and video and you will bid and play with other students. I hope that we will all have fun together.

Afterwards, you can practise bidding and playing the lesson’s deals on the website.

Whenever and wherever else you play, you can put into effect what you have learned and come back to the next lesson to talk about how it has gone.

Take a look at a sample lesson's resources

WHEN,
WHERE
and
HOW MUCH?

The course last ran in early 2025. 

Provisionally:

  • I will run it again in 2027.
  • Lessons will be face-to-face on Tuesday mornings.
  • There will be about 10 lessons, in two groups of 5 with a break between them. 
  • They will be in the Christ Church Scout and Guide Hut in Long Lane, Aughton.
  • The cost will be the same as for the regular U3A Bridge Group – currently £1 per session.
 

How can I
SIGN UP?

Not yet!

I hope to advertise the course to all U3A bridge group members two or three months before it starts and then to update this section of the website.

If you would like to find out more about it before then, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Contact me