All bridge lessons
Every article on Bridge Champions, organised by topic — 117 lessons covering bidding, declarer play, and defence for beginners and advanced players.
Beginner — Bidding
- Opening Bids: Balanced Hands and the 5-Card Major Rule
- Responder's First Bid: Raise, New Suit, or No-Trump
- Opener's Rebid with a Balanced Hand
- Opening 1NT: When to Open and When Not to
- How to Play Contract Bridge: Step-by-Step Guide
- Bridge Scoring: What Actually Matters at the Table
- Counting Combined Points: Bid Game, Part-Score, or Pass
- Preemptive Raises: Why Big Trump Fits Beat Big Points
- How to Improve at Bridge - Focus
- Responder Rebids in Bridge: A Practical Guide
- Opener's Rebid: Just Bid Your Suits
- Opener's Rebid: Strong Rebids
Beginner — Declarer Play
- Ruff in Dummy: Win Extra Tricks Cheaply
- Playing Long Suits: Build Extra Winners Early
- Finesses: Single, Double, and Leading Low Toward Honors
- Drawing Trumps: A Simple Habit That Saves Tricks
- When Not to Draw Trumps: 3 Situations to Delay
- Establishing Side-Suit Winners: Honor Sequences Like KQJ10
- Cash Trumps Without Blocking: Keep Your Winners Running
- No-Trump Basics: Build Your Long Suit and Cash Winners
- Hold Up Play in No-Trump: When to Duck the First Trick
Beginner — Defence
Bidding — Advanced
- Bidding Basics: Build a Clear Auction Plan
- Find a Major Fit After 1NT: Stayman, Smolen, Puppet, Texas
- Negative Doubles and One-Level Responses
- Responding on balanced hands - how much to invite?
- Takeout double expert principles
- Pass can be the best bid
- Raising partner. Simply supporting is best.
- Sacrifices when and how to use.
- Losing Trick Count for Bidding: Judge Contracts Better
- Bid Your Third Suit Naturally: Keep the Auction Clear
- Hand Evaluation: Why Card Texture Matters
- Hand Evaluation: Re-Evaluate as the Auction Develops
- Hand Evaluation: Do More with a Good Suit
- Hand Evaluation: Do Less with a Weak Trump Suit
- Just Bid 3NT: Recognize the Right Auctions
- Second Suit in Competition: Compete with Purpose
- Third Seat Openings: Practical Aggression
- Should You Invite with 11? Practical Guide
- Stayman Convention
- Transfers over 1C: How They Work
- Bergen Raises: A Bridge Bidding Convention
- Four-Level Doubles: What to Do Next
- Misfit Auctions: Put the Brakes On Early
- 1NT with a Six-Card Suit: When It Still Works
- Preempting by Vulnerability: Risk and Reward
- Preempting in First Seat: When to Be Bold
- Vulnerable Auctions: Why Too Careful Can Be Costly
- Opening 2C: When (Not) to Use It
- Takeout Doubles in Bridge: The Complete Guide
- System Over 1NT: Transfer Responses and Conventions
- Blackwood and Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB)
- DONT convention: Interfering over No Trump
- Super accept: 1NT Transfers Jacoby
- Bridge winning strategies - Top 5 to improve your results
- Multi 2D opening: How to play and defend it
- Cue bidding: Slam bidding made simple
- Two-way checkback: all you need to know
- The Unusual NT: A Two-Suited 2NT Overcall
- 2 over 1: Game forcing
- Favourable Vulnerability: When to Bid Aggressively
- 18-19 "Mexican" 2D opening
- 9 Card trump fit does it matter?
- Cue Raise in Bridge: A Strong Raise of Partner's Suit
- Garbage stayman: Stayman with weak hands
- 5NT Pick a Slam: Practical Partnership Agreements
- Fourth Suit Forcing: How and When to Use It
- Puppet Stayman - All you need to know
- Texas Transfers: Transfer Directly to Game
- Smolen Convention: Show 5-4 Majors After Stayman
- Lebensohl Convention Explained
- What is a convention, and which are best to play?
- Best slam bidding conventions
- Landy and Multi Landy
- Jacoby 2NT: The Game-Forcing Major Raise
- Reverse Bids in Bridge: Showing Extra Strength
Declarer Play
- Declarer Play Basics: Build a Plan at Trick One
- Ruffing in Dummy: A Declarer Plan
- Setting Up Side Suits as Declarer
- Finding and Building Trick Sources
- Avoiding Extra Losers as Declarer
- Bridge Shapes Fundamentals: Read Distribution Quickly
- Understand Fourth-Highest Leads: Read the Defensive Picture
- Count Winners in No-Trump: Build a Trick Plan
- Counting Losers: Plan the Hand and Spot Hidden Dangers Early
- Count Winners in Trumps: Avoid Missed Tricks
- Declarer Practice: Plan Before You Play
- Declarer Practice: Timing and Entries
- Take Every Chance: Extra Tricks Before Defence Settles
- Drawing Trumps: Make the Right Plan and Avoid Autopilot
- Have a Backup Plan: Recover When Plan A Fails
- Cash Side-Suit Winners: Before drawing trumps
- Use Entries Well: Reach the Right Hand at the Right Time
- Duck to Preserve Communication: Set Up Your Long Suit
Defence
- Defence Basics: Build a Plan at Trick One
- Playing through strength and towards weakness: Advanced
- Taking Tricks in Defence: Timing and Purpose
- Defence when Dummy has Limited Entries
- Defence when Dummy is strong
- Defence against ruffs in dummy
- Active and Passive defence
- Count Trumps in Defence: Prevent Surprise Ruffing
- The Forcing Defence: Drain Declarer's Trumps
- The Trump Lead: When It Kills Ruffing Plans
- Lead Positioning: Dummy on Your Right with Small Cards
- Ruffing in Defence: Turn Shortness into Tricks
- Duck a Winner in Defence: Timing the Hold Up
- Count the Unseen Hand: Read Distribution in Defence
- Danger Hand Awareness: Keep the Dangerous Opponent Off Lead
- Suit preference signals and discards
- UDCA - Upside Down Count and Attitude