Thank you for this - it’s good to know the videos are helpful.

Thank you Janum

Thank you - it’s good to hear these are useful videos

Glad it was helpful!

Thank you for the feedback - I’m very pleased to hear this was useful.

Many thanks for your feedback Fiona

Pleased to hear these are helpful Fiona

Thank you Kev, I’m pleased you’re finding these videos useful - it’s a great game to learn.

Thank you William, it’s good to hear the videos are useful

Yes, this should work, but difficult to bid as this Acol opening of 1S only promises a 4-card suit.

Thanks for this.

Good to hear it was useful, thank you Lynn

Thanks John - I think it’s always harder to assess the number of tricks when playing in a suit contract like this.

That’s good to hear - thank you.

Thank you for this - I’m pleased to hear these are useful.

I’m really pleased you find them useful Ely.

Thank you Susan, I’m so pleased to hear this is useful!

Many thanks for this - it’s great to hear the videos are useful! Let me know which introduction video have you uploaded and I’ll take a look.

Thank you for your feedback Margo, I’m so pleased you find these useful.

Yes, you’re right. On the last hand, South opened 1H which shows just 4 cards in the suit. However, when South rebids 2C (or any 2nd suit) then it shows partner 5 or more cards in Hearts and 4 or more in the 2nd suit. To Open 1H and rebid 2H also shows a 5-card suit.

Many thanks for your feedback, I’m pleased to hear these are useful videos

I'm glad this was useful Malcolm

Thank you.

You're very welcome!

Not at all - thanks for asking! To duck a trick means to play a low card and lose the trick, rather than playing a higher card to win the trick. Sometimes it can be good to ‘duck’ a trick early on, saving your winning cards for later in the play. I hope this helps.

@@oasisbridgetuitionthank you

If opponents bid 1H over partner’s 1D for example, you can still bid 1S, but it’s difficult if you are forced to bid higher than planned, so consider the strength of your hands vs opponents. Options are to bid as normal, pass if that isn’t possible (remember that partner has chance to bid again), or a ‘negative double’ can be a useful bid.

Yes, you’re quite right, takeout doubles are overcalls - I haven’t included takeouts here as it’s a little early to introduce them at this stage.

That’s been one of the hardest parts of trying to learn bridge online or from books - every source jumps straight into all the complexity, so you have a million edge cases to learn right from the start. I really appreciate how you have been covering “just the basics”.

Good to hear - thank you.

Good question! A stop is a card that can win a trick in the suit, so A, Kx, Qxx, or more risky, Jxxx can potentially be a stop. For 1NT overcalls you need a stop in the opponents suit so you don’t completely lose control of the suit.

I’m pleased this is useful - thank you for letting me know!

Thanks for this question. Yes - if the partnership has agreed to play transfers, as they are an optional convention. Natural bids are used here for beginners/improvers.

Sorry I hadn’t watched the video to the end. This was a very useful lesson. Thanks

You can agree with partner to play Stayman and Transfers over a 1NT overcall (called ‘systems on’) or play two of a suit as a natural weak bid (systems off!) I prefer to keep 2-level (unbid) suit bids as a natural take-out bid with a weak hand. Either way, if opponents interfere after the 1NT overcall, it’s usual for all systems to be ‘off’.

@@oasisbridgetuition Thanks for the advice

Many thanks for your feedback.

Thanks Bob. Yes I’d prefer to play the 4, seeing KJ in dummy - although the Q is a loser anyway on this layout, so I don’t think it makes a difference to the end score.

Good question Michael, thank you. You're right that NS can make 2NT on this hand, the problem is that they have no real options to arrive at the bid. A rebid of 1NT or 2NT by North would show a stronger hand of 15 - 17 points and if South was tempted to raise to 3NT the contract would go down one.

Interesting, many thanks for this. The video is aimed at beginners/improvers so uses basic bridge bidding.

Thank you Anita- an important question. Acol: opening bid of 1NT shows a balanced hand with 12 - 14 points. Standard: it shows 15 - 17 points. Acol: opening bid of 1 of a major shows 4 (or more) cards in the suit. Standard: it shows 5 (or more) cards in the major suit.

ouf.. I really don't like the 4heart bid directly. You might miss slam opportunities by not letting partner show their strength. Opener is uncapped in this auction, and will be having alot of trouble with strong hands. I would prefer 2diamond if you play xyz. (2c invite, 2d forcing after 3 one level bids) If not, just bid 4th suit. let partner describe more of their hand. You might discover if you have 2 quick losers without bidding 4NT!. In this hand above it would not matter as Opener is not strong. but it will generate alot of minus points when opener is strong, and especially in Imp across the field where good opponents have systems for a slow auction to discover Slam values. 6 hearts = 980, or 1430 vulnerable. 4hearts +2 are 480 or 680 if vulnerable. That's 11-13 imp swing, just because of the unnescessary jump to 4H. You do also have the case where partner is strong, but you did not let him bid key cards, and now have to gamble with his strong opener. he bids 4NT and ends in 6hearts which loses to f.example AK of clubs. Which in the other auctions they found out in the bidding that they miss club control. Let's give opener AJT6-KQT2-A-QJ94 1c - 1d 1h - 2d (with xyz which I play, that has 1st priority!) 2s - 3h (Sets the suit, 2d is forcing and now partner is allowed to start cue if he wants) 3s - 4h (Now opener knows partner does not have any control in clubs or diamonds, and will easily just pass 4h. if partner has singleton, A, or Kx he would bid 4c. If the auction went like this with AJT6-KQT2-A-QJ94 1c-1d 1h-4h I would not have any room to discover missing controls, and I would gambled on bidding 4NT. partner shows 1 ace, and I would bid 6h. There is no room for me to discover AK missing. If you do not play xyz, I'm not really sure how to bid this hand.. I would bid something like this 1c - 1d 1h - 2sp (which is dangerous, it can be missleading and understood as Splinter. not to worry in this case, but I need something that's forcing) 3c? - With a good partner, 3h, he must understand I'm strong here, with a weak partner that might pass. I bid 4h to atleast not miss game.. it's very hard to bid with good slam discovering auctions with people you don't know. they might pass in the wrong places! Xyz is a superior system, it's so much easier to bid. I like systems that let me bid my hands, not awkward like this last messy auction. Sorry for super long comment!. I love bridge, I love that you try to teach other to play bridge. We need more bridge players!! I envy you old people for being born earlier when bridge were even a thing in school. I love cards way more than computer games! 😃😃😃

Thank you for your thoughts - good to hear you love bridge!

Very interesting, thank you. I also love playing 1NT contracts!

Thank you - I’m pleased you like the videos. Wishing you a happy Xmas and new year.