Hi Katia, thanks for your encouraging feedback. Good luck with your Bridge.

Hi Dofiah. You could lower the 3NT bid to 24 points, but it will make a few things trickier and I have a few comments about that. First, if one hand is very weak it can be very hard to make your contract, even with many points. Second, if you have that many points you are really hoping to play a slam, not just game, and this is easier to find after a 2C opening bid. Third, in my extensions series I recommend not opening 3NT even with 25 points - this is an advanced discussion, so don’t worry about it until you are comfortable with standard bidding and play. That being said, this is Bridge so if you and your Partner want to experiment with bidding, you can always do so and try it out. Cheers.

Hi Dofiah. The J-process is the standard way to work out which suit to bid but is usually taught in several pieces. I put the pieces together into one process to make it easier to understand and use. It needed a name to be able to refer to it in classes. My students suggested the J-process after my initial. It’s not a great name, but it just stuck. I am very pleased you find my videos useful. Good luck with your Bridge. Cheers.

It’s n my list.

Hi John. With 10+ points you should use Puppet Stayman with a 3 card and a 4 card major. So, in the example you give the correct bidding is 1NT - 3C (Puppet). This will allow you to find a 4-4 fit or a 5-3 fit. Cheers.

@@jadbridge Suppose partner has a 4243 shape and opens 1NT. I have a 4333 shape and 10+ points. If I answer 2C, we will find the fit using regular Stayman, but if I answer 3C what will partner say? He dont have a 5 card major to respond to 3C

Hi John. If you are playing Puppet Stayman you should bid 3C. Then Partner will bid 3D saying - I don’t have a 5 card major but I do have a 4 card major. Then you bid the major you do not have - you bid 3H. Partner will then bid the Spade fit. This is how you find the 4-4 fit after Puppet. I hope this helps, but feel free to ask again if needed. Cheers.

@@jadbridge Thanks Jad. A last one. I suppose if partner doesnt have any 4 card major he will bid 3NT?

Hi John, you are absolutely correct.

Hi JD. Happy New Year to you also. I had a great holiday season with family. I hope yours was excellent. The answer to your question depends on the system you are playing. You can use Jacoby 2NT with Standard or with 2/1. The video shows how to bid with Standard, so in that case the 2C is not a game force and you only need 10 points for the bid. But, if you are playing 2/1 it would be a game force bid, which you are not strong enough to make. You would need 13 points. The correct bidding when playing 2/1 is 1NT which shows 6-12 points. If you haven’t already watched the 2/1 series, you can ignore this situation until you do. Cheers.

@@jadbridge Thank you for your explanation. I cannot wait to rewatch your 2/1 tutorials. This time I am taking notes so I can check if I have doubts. I tried before to memorize everything but got confused and writing it down is helping me digesting the information sort of speak. I cannot wait to master it!!!

Hi. Thanks for your comment. There are two levels of answer to your question. The first is that we use 8 points because it is standard and will be what most partners expect. But, the second answer is of course, why is this the standard. Fundamentally there are a few different factors that influence this. First, when one hand is very weak, it is generally more difficult to play the hand - you don’t have many entries into dummy. Second, the 2C opening bid limits your bidding room - you can be at 3D even before opener can bid their suit, so you have to be careful to not overbid. Third, opener is hoping to get to slam - stopping at game is highly probable with less than 8 points. Think of 8+ points as positive in the sense of: Hey, we might have a slam. Of course, this is Bridge and if you have a regular Partner then try out any variations you wish. This is something I have done regularly to try out different systems and conventions. It can take a long time to evaluate rare bidding events, but it sure can be fun! Good luck with your Bridge.

Hi. Thanks for your question. The situation you raise is interesting. Many experts will open 2C with less than 22 points, but only if they have a hand that is strong when measured in a different way: usually something called Playing Tricks. This is good bidding, but is much more complicated, so I don’t teach it in the Learn to Play series. Opening 2C with every 20 point hands will get you into trouble because you have very limited opportunity to stop before game level. The problem comes when you try to play the hand. Because you open 2C, your opponents know where the strength lies. If your Partner is weak, say 6 points, then you probably have few entries into their hand. This makes it harder to play. You are of course correct is saying that opening 1 with 21 points may miss a game. Bridge is a risk assessment game, so overall results are what counts. I highly recommend being very selective when opening 2C with less than 22 points. My video on Advanced Point Count may help you with this. Let me know what you decide to do and how it works out for you. Cheers.

⁠Thank-you for that useful reply. Looks like we will have to consider keeping 2C for at least 23 points.

Hi. In the system I teach you must have 4 Diamonds to open 1D. Without 5 of a major or 4 Diamonds, you open 1C, even though, as in this case, you have only two. This system is called Short Club. There is an alternative system called Better Minor which would have you open 1D with this hand, but I don’t like it. I find it much more important to know that the Diamonds are a real suit. I hope this helps. Cheers.

Thanks for your kind words. I will answer your question in your correction comment.

Hi. Thanks for your feedback. I will give some thought to adding some signal examples in the workshop playlist. Cheers.

Hi, thanks for your great feedback. The graphics I use are huge, so I can’t supply them. The easiest way to get them is to screenshot the paused video in full screen. I hope that works for you. Cheers.

Hi Dianne. That is fantastic. Thanks for letting me know. Cheers.

Hi Erica. Thanks, you are very welcome.

I certainly will. Stay tuned!

Thank you ❤

Thanks for your encouraging feedback Sue & Stanley.

Thanks Guy

Hi Jim. Thanks for your question. In the previous video you could lie to your Partner about Clubs because you had a fit with their major suit. Partner will assume you have 4 Clubs but that won’t matter because you will end up in their suit. There is no chance you will end up playing Clubs. But, in this episode, you might end up in Clubs, so you can’t lie. I hope this helps. Cheers.

Hi Sunshine. The bidding definitely continues. A new suit by responder forces opener to bid again. The subsequent bidding is covered in other episodes. Cheers.

Hi. The 1st requirement is at most one club, not at least one. So, a void or singleton is what you need for Garbage Stayman. I hope this helps. Cheers.

@@jadbridge aha, thank you!

That is fantastic. Congratulations. Having a regular partner you can work with is the best. Cheers.

Hi. Thanks for the feedback. Good luck with your Bridge.

Fantastic. Thanks so much for your feedback.

Hi JD. This is a good question which I see often. This is the way I approach it. In order to rebid my suit at the 2 level when Partner has not supported it, I need two things: at least one extra card for the rebid in the suit and at least 10 points to bid at the 2 level. In your example, Partner is showing 13-14 points so you need to be careful to stop below game if you have 10-11 points. I hope this helps. Cheers.

Thank you very much M Delokk! I just subscribed to BBO+ which allows to set deals with exact types of hand. This is extraordinary because I can practice 4th suit forcing on every deals for as long as I want. I just have to ask BBO to deal any of those shape 4333-4432-5332 for North and south with 14 points in both hands so not to open with 1NT. It’s a little difficult to set up but I’m getting the hang of it. With all your teaching and help I feel I’m progressing very well. I couldn’t have done it without your videos!! Thank you for being so generous with your time and knowledge.

Hi JD. That’s fantastic. Thanks for keeping me updated.

Hi Kenny. Yes, this is the approach I reference but don’t recommend for inexperienced players. Thanks for your contribution.

Hi Allan. This is an excellent question. I made a choice when I selected the system to teach to relatively inexperienced players. I chose to use 1S-4S as a game strength bid and not a pre-emptive bid. I did this to avoid the biggest problem I have seen with players: the artificial use of a suit bid at the two level followed by a delayed support bid. The majority of players I teach struggle with this concept and end up with misunderstandings between the partners and poor results. Sacrificing the 4-level pre-empt response in major suits simplified the system and gave much better results and happier players. The 4-level pre-empt response is quite rare, so it isn’t a huge price to pay. So, to answer your question directly, I would pass after partner bid 1S and then bid 4S on the next round. This is what I recommend in my video on the Law of Total Tricks (Episode 10 of the Extensions Series). I hope this helps. Cheers.

@@jadbridge Thanks for your prompt response. I will watch your Extension #10 episode. I was postponing watching the Extension series until I felt I was more advanced, but maybe I'm almost there!

Hi Lalit. Thanks for your encouraging feedback. Your suggestion is a good one. Good luck with your Bridge.

Hi Carol. In my story, I had no intention of playing NT. My partnership agreement allowed me to use Gerber in suit contracts. This is very dangerous, and I do not recommend it unless both players are very experienced. Unfortunately, my Partner forgot this use of Gerber. After this, we only used Gerber for NT. As a side note, you can stop in 4 with Gerber, if you don’t have the Aces you need. In the story, that is why I used Gerber instead of Blackwood. I can see how I have confused you. Sorry for that. Best of luck with you Bridge. Cheers.

Hi. Thanks for the feedback. You are very welcome.

Hi Janet. Thanks for the encouraging feedback. Cheers.

Hi Valerie. Thanks for the feedback. You are very welcome.

Hi Jim. Thanks for your great feedback. The purpose of the board numbers is to be a specific reference when commenting on the videos. I haven’t published a list of them, but this sounds like a good idea. I should be able to find an efficient way to do it. Thanks for the suggestion. Cheers.

@@jadbridge Thanks JAD. I look forward to seeing the results. Cheers, Jim.

Thanks Barbara.

Hi JD. There is no equivalent for Gerber. I recommend you only use Gerber for NT, so there is no fifth Keycard (K of Trumps). Cheers.

@@jadbridge makes sense, thank you very much!

Hi JD. It’s quite the opposite. I consider 4th suit forcing essential with 2/1. You will see this in the first 2/1 episode. Good luck with 2/1, which is a good step forward.

@@jadbridge Fantastic!!!

Hi JD. The sort answer to your first question is YES, bid 3 NT. But, there is a more advanced possibility available if you play XYZ, which I explain in Extensions Topic 17.

Hey JD. In answer to your second question, any 4 cards in a suit is considered a stopper. If you don’t have a high card stopper, you must have high cards in other suits. It also increases the likelihood that Partner has a stopper in Hearts. You should still bid as shown in the video.

@@jadbridge Great! I will look at XYZ when I have mastered the 4th suit forcing so to not get confused. Thank you M Delokk. You are the best teacher!!!

Hi Janet. You are very welcome.

Hi. Thanks for your support, it is much appreciated. The situation you refer to is a tricky one, but I do mean weaker major. You are hoping for a fit in your stronger major, so you bid the weaker asking partner to bid the stronger if they have 4 of that suit. That way partner will be declarer. If partner doesn’t have 4 of your stronger major, you will have to bid your weaker again and you will be declarer. As I say in the video, this isn’t ideal, but it does get you into the correct strain. Cheers.

Thanks for your feedback. You are very welcome.

Hi Anna. Thanks for your kind feedback. Good luck with your Bridge.

@ am an octogenarian fulfilling my bucket list. Love the first lessons.

@ Fantastic. Have fun.

Hi Doug. I am not sure what you mean. Do you want to play one of the hands I show in my video? The numbers I use are a reference for comments. Tell me more and I will see if I can help.

@@kevincline9155 Hi Kevin. I think I understand your point, but if my answer doesn’t help, let me know and I will rethink. The responses to 3C are the same to deal with the case that the 3C bidder has both a 3-card and a 4-card major. In that case you need to know if you have the 4-4 fit when opener doesn’t have a 5-card major. I hope this helps. Cheers.

Hi Geoffrey, because most of the players I teach are not experts, I find that simplicity and certainty of bids are both very important. One specific example of this is with Stayman. If your open 1NT and partner replies with 2C you know they have a four card major. So, if you have two 4-card majors and bid 2H, and partner comes back with 2NT, you know you have a fit in Spades. As far as possible I try to avoid exceptions. That said, there are many more possibilities for experienced players who are comfortable with adding more exceptions. This usually means having a regular partner of similar experience. Thanks for your input, which is always welcome.

Hi. Because I recommend XYZ over opener’s 1NT rebid, I don’t have a need for NMF in the system I teach. That said, it is always useful to understand conventions that your opponents use. I plan to start a new series on conventions aimed at broadening players knowledge rather than what I include in a playable system. I will include NMF in that series.

Looking forward for the new series.Thanks​@@jadbridge

In hand EH4 - partners 2H response just shows 3 card support as they would have raised hearts directly with 4, your 2S after the 2D force on the other hand I think you imply shows 4+ as it’s effectively a direct support of spades just using the 2D artificial force first. Is that right ? Also a little surprised by one thing you said - I thought this structure was more popular over a 1NT rebid than over a suit rebid at the one level - I learned it as two way check back Stayman although some call it two way new minor forcing I believe. I like this over NT, still not sure about extending to over suit rebids. Thanks for the video - very nice clear structure

Hi Geoffrey. Thanks for your feedback. Your understanding of the H and S bids is entirely correct. XYZ and two way checkback stayman are effectively the same system, although I think it more common to play 3C as strong in XYZ. But, it varies in XYZ. I refer to it as XYZ because that’s the simplest term and the one I see used more in recent years. Also, I already have several types of Stayman and don’t want to make it more complicated. I do think the term XYZ started with players using it over a suit rebid, and the two have merged. I do like XYZ in both situations, especially for my students as it’s a little less to remember. There are many players who use XYZ over suits but use regular checkback over NT. With regard to XYZ over suits, I am about to make a video on XYZ with 2/1 which will highlight that case. I would be interested in your thoughts after you see that video. Cheers and thanks again.

Thank you so much 😊

Ok

No worries!

Hi mmetz. Yes, pass is a call, but it is not a bid. The same applies to double and redouble. Basically, what I am saying here is that it doesn’t matter what East does, if West passes, opener cannot pass. I hope this clarifies things for you. Good luck with your Bridge.

Hi Janet. You are very welcome. Thanks for the comment.

Hi Barbara. Thank you for the wonderful comment. Good luck with your Bridge.

I understand. See my reply to your corrected comment.