Brush Up Your Bidding
About the course
WHO
is it for?
This is a refresher course, for experienced players who may have become a bit rusty on some of the details and would like to fill in the gaps. It is for anyone who ever finds themself wondering “What exactly does my partner’s bid mean? How many points has she got? How many hearts?” or “Wow, look at all my spades! How many should I bid?”
It is also for Learn to Play Bridge graduates who want to refresh your memories and expand your knowledge to cover more of the bidding system.
If you have taken this course before and would like to retake it to brush up your bidding, you will also be very welcome.
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.
WHAT
will I learn?
I hope that the course will be a mixture of things that you already know, things that you have half-forgotten, and new things. It should help you to bid more confidently and accurately and to declare more successful contracts.
We will cover the standard Acol bidding system that is recommended by the English Bridge Union, including:
- Valuing your hand – when to add or subtract points
- 1NT & 2NT opening bids – and responses including the Stayman convention
- 1♣/♦/♥/♠ opening bids – and how both partners can use your follow-up bids to describe your hands’ strength and shape
- Competitive bidding – overcalling in a suit and no trumps; doubling your opponents
- Pre-emptive bidding – with a long suit in a weak hand; responding to and competing against pre-empts
- Slam bidding – bidding no-trump and suit slams; using the Blackwood and Gerber conventions
- Strong opening bids – opening and responding to 2NT and 2♣
HOW
will I learn it?
There will be a face-to-face course and an online course. They will have identical content and will use the same resources on this website.
Every week you will download and study notes from the website and can also watch some short videos. The more you work at them, the more you will learn.
You will come (in person or online) to a lesson every week, where 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 again on this 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.
WHEN,
WHERE
and
HOW MUCH?
A face-to-face and an online course started in September 2025.
The online group meets on Monday evenings and the face-to-face group on Tuesday mornings at the Christ Church Scout and Guide Hut in Long Lane, Aughton.
They cost a one-off charge of £5-10 plus £1 per session.
If I’m spared, I hope repeat one or both courses in 2027.
How can I
SIGN UP?
The 2025 courses are full.
I hope to advertise the next course to all U3A bridge group members two or three months before it starts in 2027 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.