Wolperts on Competitive Bidding

This class covers a wide variety of situations with two suited hands. We talk about which suit to open the bidding, which suit to rebid, when to be more aggressive and when to back off. We review Michaels and Unusual 2NT, along with quite a lot of discussion about how aggressively to respond to those conventions. This class is over 2 hours long.

Balancing is another necessary part of being a tough opponent. We must be aggressive to fight for the part score and our partner needs to understand that and give us leeway. This class discusses the difference between the direct and balancing chair and how it affects the meanings of our bids.

One of the most common mistakes in the game is opener taking an unnecessary free bid. We talk about what the difference is between being forced to bid and freely choosing to bid. Sometimes the differences are subtle, but important to recognize. This class talks about a wide range of free bid situations and helps you understand not to tell the same story twice.

The redouble is a very useful tool to show partner you have a good hand. Redouble puts the opponents on notice that they could be in trouble. When is redouble for penalty and when is it “get me out of here”. Join Gavin and Hazel for a thorough discussion all about the redouble.

Bidding the opponents suit is an effective way to make a forcing bid. Some cuebids show fits, others are just a forcing bid, often looking for partner to bid NT with a stopper. Join Gavin and Hazel as they discuss all different types of cue-bids.

Modern overcalls are getting lighter and lighter every day. It is critical that we have a firm understanding of what our bids mean in order not to let overcalls push you around. This class takes a step-by-step approach to discussing the various positions we find ourselves in after the opponents overcall. There is a lot of very useful review that covers many common mistakes.

In the second part of this two part series on dealing with overcalls the wolperts continue to go step by step through extremely common everyday problems. The problems we discuss in this almost 2 hour lesson are quite difficult, but cover details that every intermediate bridge player must understand in order to get to the next level.

This critical subject discusses the fact that high card points are merely an attempt at conveying our trick taking potential to our partner. We discuss when and how to do add dummy and length points. After discussing the various features that add and subtract from our trick taking potential, we take a look at a number of hands where partner has invited us. Each of the examples have us in the middle of our range and force us to decide whether to accept the invitation. Don’t miss this very important lesson.

This class covers a wide range of things related to doubles. When are doubles penalty? When are they takeout? When are they value showing? When are they conventional? The lesson notes provided for this class act as a sort of encyclopedia of doubles. We tie together all the new concepts we have learned in Dealing with Overcalls 1 & 2 and Redoubles. This class has really useful review for intermediate players along with some new advanced concepts.

When we learn conventions we are taught the structure of the method, but are often left without learning some of the nuances of how to bid after the convention occurs. Consider this lesson Support Doubles Part 2. This lesson will dig into questions like what do I do when my partner makes a support double and I only have 4 card support? When is it right to compete in our major at the 2 level? 3 level? My support double showed my fit but I have a strong hand, what now?

We’ve Had Enough!!!! Help Suit Game Tries are a thing of the past. Natural Game Tries are the way to go. While the two are not very different from one another, the distinction is very important. We will discuss why we define our game tries as natural rather than help, when we still want partner to help us in that suit. We may be broken records when we say, “there is no score bonus for playing in 3”. This lesson will also spend time talking about hands where you should probably avoid game tries all together and secure your plus score at the 2 level.

When partner is a passed hand, the math changes. We are able to rule out game with certain hands and that affects things like our opening bid, overcall and preempt range. Being a passed hand also gives us the flexibility to make more aggressive bids knowing our bids are non forcing. This class will teach you about how you can use the fact that you or your partner is a passed hand to your advantage.

When the opponents open the bidding in front of us and we have a hand that is too strong to make a simple overcall, our only way forward is to start with a takeout double.  When the takeout doubler doubles and then bids again, they are telling their partner "I don't actually have a takeout double, I was just too strong to overcall". 

Part one of this two part series does a basic review of takeout doubles and then goes in to describe how to navigate these strong hands when your opponent's open the bidding.

Gavin and Hazel continue discussing how to handle strong hands when the opponents open the bidding.  This lesson discusses re-entering the auction when the opponents compete and also digs into recognizing your partner's power double, understanding their range and appropriately reacting.

This lesson explores some common situations that come up after we make a takeout double.

We will discuss double jumps after takeout doubles, how our bids change when the opponents redouble, and take an in depth look at cue-bidding as the partner of the takeout doubler. 

This class is approaching advanced level but very important knowledge for all intermediate students.

This is Gavin's favorite convention for coming in against the opponent's 1NT opening bid.  This lesson will go over the entire system, when to use it and how to respond to it as the advancer.  We will discuss the fundamental difference between overcalling in the direct seat vs the balancing seat.  Can you come in showing the majors with 4-4?  5-4?, should I enter the bidding aggressively?   Can we bid game after they open 1NT?

Note: The 2D bid doesn't have a known suit and that makes it disallowed under the Basic chart (events with a masterpoint limit of 750 or lower, like a Gold Rush or a 299er or NAP/GNT flight C). It's legal in the Basic+ chart and obviously in the Open charts.

When you sit down to play a round against a precision pair, they start by announcing their system.  Do you panic? Do you understand what precision means?  

This lesson will teach you the basics of how precision works, so when your opponents play precision, you are prepared and comfortable.   We break down how to defend against a strong 1C opening, the ambiguous 1D opening, and how to deal with aggressive opening bids.  

When the opponents enter the bidding with a takeout double and we have the balance of the points, we have big potential for penalizing them.  In this class we dig deeply into auctions that start with 1 of a suit-double-redouble.  Everything taught in this class is completely standard and is must know for advanced players.  

You don't know how many numbers you are missing! Watch this lesson and start making your opponent's lives way more difficult.  

Note: This lesson does not teach Michaels and unusual 2NT from scratch.  You should already be familiar with these conventions before taking this lesson.  

There are many benefits to entering the auction in with these two suited conventional bids. We preempt the opponents, discover good sacrifices and help get to good aggressive games.  These bids do not come without risk as it is straightforward for the opponents to double us for penalty when we lack a fit.  While experts do not use the "mini-maxi" range for these bids, we do have somewhat strict rules for when to come in and the vulnerability is a very important part of the puzzle.  This class will talk about the range required and also talk about modern expert follow-ups to these commonly played conventions, including Meckwell advances over (1M) 2M.

This class also goes over a long list of uncommon but important Michaels and U2NT auctions along with a valuable list of common expert agreements for the Master Series.  

Negative doubles and takeout doubles are incredibly important because of how often they come up.  Unfortunately in these situations we can no longer easily double the opponents for penalty.  This doesn't mean we can't get them.  This class will talk about how to get penalties in a takeout double world. 

Topics we will discuss:

Trap Passing as responder (when to pass for penalty).

When to make a reopening double as opener.

Trap passing as opener.

When to reopen double as responder.

How to react to a reopening double.

This lesson will cover how experts deal with the opponents making conventional two suited overcalls.  We will discuss the well known tool "Unusual vs Unusual" as well as some more complex methods such as fit jumps and transfers.  More important than all of those tools, we will discuss how and when to penalize your opponents for making these bids too aggressively much like we did in "going for blood".