For Improvers

Successful sacrifices

Achieving a successful sacrifice is one of the most satisfying parts of playing club or higher level bridge. Attempting one, however, can be one of the more fraught actions. Read on to see how to reduce the dangers and increase the chance of triumph!

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High-level Competitive Bidding

It is very exciting when both sides bid to game level or beyond - and also somewhat daunting. One poor judgment can see a "top" disappear into an embarrassment, sometimes too embarrassing even for a "one that got away" story later. However there are a few tools that can help improve the good to bad story ratio.

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Klinger's Memory Aids and Useful Rules

Ron Klinger has made freely available the first part of his bidding flipper Memory Aids and Useful Rules.

Playing NT contracts

Playing No Trump contracts can be one of the more challenging declarer tasks. This article covers some of the core principles to help you bring them home, with use of a couple of 3NT hands to help make it real.

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Opening Leads

Opening Leads is a talk given in 2012 by bridge professional, Ishmael Del'Monte, as part of the Australian Bridge Federation's Celebrity Speakers Program. Ishmael starts with the basics but also includes some good advice on active and passive leads and when to lead trumps. Click on the talk title to see his notes. 

Refresher - Stayman Convention

This article provides an introduction to/refresh notes for the Stayman Convention suitable for Beginners and Improvers. It also includes some coverage of major variants that players might come across in club play.

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Responding with a strong hand - Improvers

These notes were used in an Improvers Lesson on Bidding to Game at the Manly Leagues Bridge Club. The lesson covered general principles of responding with a strong hand.

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Basic Defender Communication in Play

As we defend about half the time, it is worthwhile putting a little learning into how to communicate with your partner during the play. This brief note on Basic Defender Communication in Play was used in the ongoing free Improver lessons series at the Manly Leagues Bridge Club on 9 Feb 2012.