Bernard Magee Bridge 11

Bernard Magee, in association with Mr Bridge, will be presenting videos and live shows about Bridge on this channel.
There will be quizzes, seminars, talking about hands and more Bridge information.
If you want to join in the live chat then please subscribe to my channel.
These live Bridge seminars are offered Free to entertain during COVID-19 for Cancer Research UK because parents have suffered with Cancer.
You can make a donation to Cancer Research UK through Just Giving here: bit.ly/3beth3h
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For more info:
Bernard Magee Bridge Website: bernardmageebr...
Any questions or comments please email Bernard: [e-mail]
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Mr Bridge: mrbridge.co.uk/
Bernard Magee Software: bit.ly/2Vcsyds
Q-Plus Software: bit.ly/2z4oeV8
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[@iankemp1131]

Second of three seminars where Bernard covers the Losing Trick Count very thoroughly. This seminar includes his "comparative method" for working out the right level to bid, which is neat and simple. It's probably what we tend to do intuitively after using the LTC for a bid, but really useful to have it systematised here.

[@geoffreyseal2799]

Excellent seminar today

[@trevordarwin7134]

Each seminar has been so useful. Many thanks, they've been such a positive experience.

[@ishbelclark629]

Hi Bernard, not sure if this is the correct way to contact you. If not, could you please say in a seminar how to do that. We are, hopefully, doing a river cruise from Basle with you in August. We played on BBO today. Keith was North SA, HA, DJ10xxx, CAQxxxx; I was South with S109xx' Hxxx DKQxx Cxx East bid 1H, South (me) PASS, West 3H, North (Keith) DOUBLE, East 4H, South 4S, West PASS, North5C, East PASS, South PASS, West DOUBLE. East had DAxx, led DA, then Dx. Contract 2 off. We should have been in Diamonds. How should bidding have gone? Love to Alfie! Ishbel Clark.

[@BernardMageeBridge]

Hi Ishbel Nice to hear from you. You can email: [e-mail] In response to the question - doubling for take-out with extreme shortness in the unbid major is likely to cause difficulties. Best is to make an overcall of 4NT! This surely cannot be Blackwood and should be considered as the unusual 4NT (similar to the unusual 2NT) - showing an extreme hand with both minors. Usually you would do it for a sacrifice, but clearly on this occasion you would be aiming to make your contract.

[@ishbelclark629]

@@BernardMageeBridge Thanks very much, Bernard. I'm not saying that I would have recognised 4NT, but, hopefully, I will now. Hope to see you in August, but not confident about that. Enjoying your seminars immensely. Ishbel.

[@maggielawless8686]

Thank you, Bernard. Do you please have a DVD on Cue Bidding, preferably in a £59.99 six-pack on other really important intermediate level Bridge tools?. Cue bidding is one of the things which, after 30 to 40 years of randomly playing Bridge, we still don't know about. FYI: Maggie and I "got into" Bridge when we picked up a secondhand book -- when heading off on a camping holiday in France with friends and loads of kids -- on Playing Bridge. It turned out to be about how Bridge was played in India in, I think, the 18th century, and if Cue bidding was mentioned, we never spotted it. We have been to a few lectures since, and now have a very strict but absolutely great U3A teacher, who has been teaching us from the Basics upwards, and exposing the huge gaps in our knowledge (which cause mayhem when playing Duplicates, as I have done) and everything else we didn't know about bidding boxes, etiquette etc etc! What I still don't understand is why you sometimes go straight to 4NT (Blackwood) to ask for Aces, when 4C is doing the same thing at much lower level (ie, not using up bidding space) and especially so with Escalating Gerber, which allows you to get in other bids (to ask for Kings, maybe even Queens) before getting up to the 4NT level. Best to you John Lawless

[@theresapollard9881]

You touched on cue bids today could you do more on this subject please

[@martinison9811]

why 18? you said you were going to explain.

[@BernardMageeBridge]

Sorry about that: as i suggested I do not use those number anyway. The original number to take away from is 24 which is the maximum number of losers in both hands (12+12). using 24 gives the number of tricks you can make, so taking 6 off that gives you the level of bid to make. Hence 18 instead of 24.

[@johnlawless6032]

why don.t you play gerber, especially escalating gerber?

[@BernardMageeBridge]

Cuebids of various types are very important in bidding accurately to slams - 4C is too valuable a bid to use up for ace asking. The best balance is to be able to use the side suit bids as cuebids and 4NT as ace-asking. However if you find cuebidding too difficult then by all means stick to Gerber

[@jilllovett7970]

*

[@geoffreyseal2799]

4d in west hahd