Bridge Lessons for After-School Teachers

Bridge Lessons for After-School Teachers

Bridge Lessons For After School Teachers

Prepared by BridgeUnion.com

Table of Contents

Unit Overview 4

Lesson One: Introduction to cards, rules and play 5

Lesson One Overview 5

Lesson One Instructional Procedure 6

Lesson One Hand Record 7

Poster #1. Suit and ranks 8

Poster #2. Directions and clockwise movement 8

Poster #3A. Declarer hand 9

Poster #3B. Dummy hand 9

Poster #4. Standard lead: top from sequence 9

Poster #5. Promoting winners: knockout high card 9

Lesson One Recap 10

Lesson Two: Opening 1NT and responding in NT 11

Lesson Two Overview 11

Lesson Two Instructional Procedure 12

Lesson Two Hand Record 13

Poster #6. Levels and tricks 14

Poster #7. Suit denomination 14

Poster #8. Bidding matrix 14

Poster #9. Scoring 14

Poster #9. Scoring 15

Poster #10. High card points (HCP) 15

Poster #11. Distributional card points (DCP) 15

Poster #12. Contract zones 16

Poster #13. Opening 1NT and 2NT 16

Poster #14. Opening and responding in NT 16

Lesson Two Recap 17

Lesson Three: Opening one of the suit and responding in NT 20

Lesson Three Overview 20

Lesson Three Instructional Procedure 21

Lesson Three Hand Record 22

Poster #15. Priorities in opening one of the suits 24

Poster #16.Opening one of the suits and responding with NT 24

Poster #17. Example of finesse 25

Poster #18. Opening flow 26

Lesson Four: Opening one of the major suits and raising in that major 28

Lesson Four Overview 28

Lesson Four Instructional Procedure 29

Lesson Four Hand Record 30

Poster #19. Example of fit 31

Poster #20. Open 1H and raise in hearts (the same true for spades) 31

Lesson Four Recap 32

Lesson Five: Finesse, opening one in a minor and responding one in a major 33

Lesson Five Overview 33

Lesson Five Instructional Procedure 34

Lesson Five Hand Record 35

Poster #21. Examples of advanced finesse 36

Lesson Five Recap 37

Lesson Six: Opening one in minor and responding in one major, raising in that major 38

Lesson Six Overview 38

Lesson Six Instructional Procedure 39

Lesson Six Hand Record 40

Poster #22. Opening one of the suit and responding with one of the major 42

Lesson Six Recap 43

Lesson Seven: Opening one of the minor, responding with one of the major; scoring 44

Lesson Seven Overview 44

Lesson Seven Instructional Procedure 45

Lesson Seven Hand Record 46

Poster #23. Opening one of the minor and responding one of the major and no-trump rebid 48

Poster #24. Standard lead against NT contract: Fourth best 48

Poster #25A. Duplicate scoring: Made contracts 49

Poster #25B. Duplicate scoring: Defeated contracts 50

Lesson Seven Recap 51

Lesson Eight: Overcalls 52

Lesson Eight overview 52

Lesson Eight Instructional Procedure 53

Lesson Eight Hand Record 54

Poster #26. Bidding seats 56

Poster #27. Overcalls 56

Lesson Eight Recap 57

Unit Overview

Unit Title: Bridge Lesson for After-School Teachers

Overview:

This unit is about learner playing prepared bridge hands and using posters to memorize the learnt materials.

Unit Purpose:

The purpose of this unit is to teach After School Teachers to play bridge by providing lessons and prepared bridge hands.

Unit Objectives:

ª  Understand cards, rules of bridge

ª  Understand levels, suit denomination, bidding matrix, hand evaluation, contract zones, scoring

ª  Understand trump and fit

ª  Overcall

ª  Recognize winners

ª  Analyze mistakes

ª  Open and respond in NT

ª  Open one of the suits, respond in NT and rebid

ª  Open in one of the major suits and raise in that major

ª  Open one of the minor, respond in one of the major and rebid

ª  Open one of the minor, respond in one of the major and raise in that major

ª  Open in one of the minor, respond with one of the major and no-trump rebid

ª  Understand hand evaluation: High card and distributional points

ª  Understand how to promote winners: Knocking out high card, finesse technique, keeping entries, drawing trumps, trumping side suit, developing length

ª  Recognize open lead: Top of the sequence in a suit contract and NT; fourth best against a suit and NT contracts

ª  Understand how to score using scoring sheet

Duration: Eight 2-hour class periods

Lesson Titles:

Lesson One: Introduction to cards, rules and play

Lesson Two: Opening 1NT and responding in NT

Lesson Three: Opening one of the suit and responding in NT

Lesson Four: Opening one of the major suits and raising in that major

Lesson Five: Finesse, opening one in a minor and responding one in a major

Lesson Six: Opening one in minor and responding in one major, raising in that major

Lesson Seven: Opening one of the minor, responding with one of the major; scoring

Lesson Eight: Overcalls

Materials:

ª  Posters 1 through 27

ª  Hand records 1 through 8

ª  Recaps 1 through 8

Lesson One: Introduction to cards, rules and play

Lesson One Overview

Duration: One 2-hour class period

ª  Part 1: 10 minutes

ª  Part 2: 35 minutes

ª  Part 3: 5 minutes

ª  Part 4: 60 minutes

ª  Part 5: 10 minutes

Purpose: To teach learners rules of bridge and mechanics of play

Objectives:

The learner will:

ª  Understand cards

ª  Understand rules of bridge

ª  Recognize winners

ª  Understand how to promote winners: Knocking out high card

ª  Recognize open lead: Top of the sequence

ª  Analyze mistakes

Materials:

ª  Posters 1 through 5

ª  Handouts: Lesson One recap and hand record

Lesson One Instructional Procedure

Part 1. Introduction.

Introduce yourself, and get to know the students’ names. Explain that it is a 10-week course, two hours each week. Ask if anyone has played bridge before. Ask if anyone has played any card games before (spades, hearts, etc.). Find out how much they know about cards, suits, ranks, trumps and tricks. Introduce to cards, suits and ranks (use Poster #1).

Part 2. Playing cards.

Exercise #1. Playing individually.

Give a deck of cards to one of the students. Ask him (dealer) to deal cards face down clockwise (show Poster #2) to four people until all cards are gone. Ask how many cards everyone has (each student should have 13). Play with closed cards right away. Every player should pick up their cards (do not show them to each other). Next, sort their cards (show Poster #3A: Declarer hand). After everyone has sorted their cards, ask how many winners everyone has. Explain that each ace is one winner, ace and king together are two winners, etc. Next, tell the person on the left of the dealer to play any card. The rest of players should play one card at a time, moving clockwise.

The goal is to win as many tricks as possible. A trick is four cards played in one round. Every player should follow suit. If someone is not able to follow the suit, they can play another suit (discard) but they would not be able to win any tricks. The player who won the trick should put his cards long side perpendicular to the table edge; other students should put their card long side parallel to the table. Remember, “Winning cards stand tall, losing cards fall over.” At the end of the game, count how many winners everyone has. Congratulate the winners.

Exercise #2. Playing in partnerships.

Person on the left from declarer (see glossary) will deal cards. After sorting cards and counting how many winners, announce that people sitting opposite each other are partners. There should be two partnerships at the table. Determine partnership that claimed the majority of winners. Start playing again. Emphasize that if their partner will win the trick, there is no need to beat it. The pair that won the trick should put their cards long side perpendicular to the table edge, and the other pair should put their cards long side parallel to the table. At the end of the game count how many winners everyone got. Congratulate the winners. Ask why some won more tricks and some won less.

Part 3. Promoting winners and lead from top of the sequence.

Use Posters #4: Standard lead and #5: Promoting winners.

Part 4. Playing prepared hands.

Use prepared hands for Lesson One.

Put playing board in the middle of the table and explain that everyone has their own direction: NSEW. Ask students to take their cards (cards should be pre-sorted). Again ask them to count winners. Assign declarer according to prepared hands. Ask person on the left of the declarer to play a card from the top of the sequence. Once the leader plays his or her card, ask the person on the left of the leader to put their cards on the table (show Poster #3B: Dummy hand). Ask declarer to count how many winners they have now. Tell him/her that he/she needs to take nine tricks. Ask declarer in which suit he/she can promote missing winners, and explain that if he/she has to lose tricks at the beginning it is normal (because he/she would lose four tricks anyway). After that, let him/her play. If the declarer doesn’t follow the assigned strategy and didn’t get nine tricks, show where he/she made a mistake.

Part 5. Conclusion and assessment.

Give quick summary, hand records and recap. Ask if anyone has questions and answer them. After that, acknowledge everyone and confirm meeting for the next week.

6

Prepared by BridgeUnion.com

Bridge Lessons for After-School Teachers

Lesson One Hand Record

1. / 2.
South is declarer with a goal of nine tricks. West should lead the queen of hearts in an attempt to set up some heart tricks for the defense. The lead of the queen shows partner a sequence that starts with the queen. South has six sure winners (two hearts, three diamonds and one club). South can set up three spade winners by playing spades until the opponents take their ace. South should end up with nine winners. / South is declarer with a goal of winning nine tricks. West should lead the jack of clubs, promising a sequence headed by the jack. South has seven winners (two spades, three hearts and two clubs). South can set up two diamond winners for a total of nine. The defenders can set up five winners first if they defend accurately. They can take three clubs and two diamonds. East must be sure to get the queen of clubs out of the way. Remember that west’s opening lead promised a sequence headed by the jack. This will hold declarer to eight tricks.
3.
/ 4.
South is declarer with a goal of nine tricks. South starts with seven winners: three hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. South should play spades until the opponents have taken the ace and king. The two spade winners will give them nine. / West declares with a goal of nine tricks. West has three heart winners and two club winners for a total of five. There is no suit that can promote four more winners, so west will have to work on spades and diamonds. West should win the club lead and play spades until the ace is played. That will be three more winners. When south wins the ace of spades he should return a club (the suit partner led). West will win in the dummy and lead diamonds. That will establish two diamond winners. The defense will be able to take two club tricks to go with their two aces, but west will win the other nine tricks.

Prepared by BridgeUnion.com 10

Bridge Lessons for After-School Teachers

Poster #1. Suit and ranks

Total count / Count per suit / Suit in order high-low / Cards (from high to low)
52 / 13 / Majors / ♠ / A / K / Q / J / 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2
13 / ♥ / A / K / Q / J / 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2
13 / Minors / ♦ / A / K / Q / J / 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2
13 / ♣ / A / K / Q / J / 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2

Poster #2. Directions and clockwise movement

Poster #3A. Declarer hand

Poster #3B. Dummy hand

Poster #4. Standard lead: top from sequence

Poster #5. Promoting winners: knockout high card

Lesson One Recap

Deck has 52 cards: 4 suits with 13 cards in each suit: clubs ♣, diamonds ♦, hearts ♥, spades ♠.

Ranks are called (from highest to lowest): Ace (A), King (K), Queen (Q), Jack (J), ten (10), nine (9), eight (8), seven (7), six (6), five (5), four (4), three (3), two (2).