Holiday Gift Certificates

Gift certificates are available for both group and online private bridge lessons. Consider a lesson to help you and your partner tune up your game.

Interested in 2/1 Game Force?

We have several people who are interested in a 6-lesson course on the 2/1 Game Force bidding system.

Please let Jo Murray know if you are interesteed in joining a class in January, Dates will be arranged according to the schedules of the participants.

What You Should Know

About Ducking

Please join us in the upcoming online group lessons.

• November's Most Challenging Hands, Monday, Nov. 27, 8:45 to 10:15 a.m. Mountain Daylight
• Monday, Dec. 4 - Teacher's Holiday
• Defensive Signals Review, Monday, Dec. 11, 8:45 to 10:15 a.m. Mountain Daylight
• 2023 Most Challenging Hands, Monday, Dec. 18, 8:45 to 10:15 a.m. Mountain Daylight. Emphasis on defense, as requested by our students
• Dec. 25 & Jan. 1 - Holidays
• The Big Double, Monday, Jan. 8, 8:45 to 10:15 a.m. Mountain Daylight. What to do when your hand is too strong for an overcall. And does your partner recognize the "Big Double" and know how to respond?
• When to Duck, Monday, Jan. 15, 8:45 to 10:15 a.m. Mountain Daylight. When to delay taking a trick: Guidelines for both declarer and defender.
• Monday, Jan. 22 - Teacher's Holiday
• January's Most Challenging Hands, Monday, Jan. 29, 8:45 to 10:15 a.m. Mountain Daylight.

Contact Jo Murray for reservations. Cost is $130 for a package of 5 online lessons or $30 for an individual lesson.

Browsing the

Declarer's Checklist

Need more tricks when you're planning your declarer play? We all know to "browse the declarer's checklist." Here's a quick review of what is on it.

1. Promotion. Promotion should always be your first choice. It is a sure thing, Once cards are promoted, they stay promoted.
2. Length. If the declarer and dummy have a total of 8 or more cards in the suit, you can usually get a trick through length. Remember that an even number of cards held by your opponents typically divides slightly unevenly. An odd number divides as evenly as possible. Examples: If you opponents hold 5 cards, expect a 3-2 division. If your opponents hold 6 cards, expect a 4-2 division.
3. Trumping in the dummy. If you have more cards in a suit in your hand than in the dummy, you can often trump a losing card in the dummy.
4. Finesse. Finesses work only 50 percent of the time. That is why they should be your last choice when you need an extra trick. Always look for an alternative.

Note: These techniques work both in notrump and in a suit contract when all the trumps have been drawn.

Congratulations to Our Players

Ron Bloom (BBO: Jefegrande) and Pam Mann (BBO: PSMann) (second from left) took first place in a recent Wood River Bridge Club game. They also placed third in an online tournament for players with up to 1,000 masterpoints.

Betty Brannan Berger (BBO: PTYgal) (right) and Mitzi Miller (BBO: Chumico) (third from left) placed first in both of the Sun Valley Bridge online Education Week Foundation games.

Fun Reading About Bridge

• The Card Turner by Lois Sachar. A high school student is required to drive his uncle who is blind, old, very sick and very rich to his bridge games four times a week. Recommended by Susan Potts (BBO: Seadogs.)
• The Devil's Tickets: A Vengeful Wife, a Fatal Hand and a New American Age by Gary M. Pomerantz. The story of the only known murder over a bridge hand. Factoid: The Puritans called cards "the devil's tickets." Recommended by Susan Passovoy (BBO: SJPassovoy.)
• The Backwash Squeeze and Other Improbable Feats by Edward McPherson. McPherson, a writer for The New Yorker becomes fascinated by the strange characters playing duplicate bridge at a nearby club. Factoid: McPherson was the partner of Judith Baer (BBO: JBSFO) at a national bridge tournament shortly after she started playing duplicate bridge. Recommended by Jo Murray (BBO: JoMurray12.)