A new lesson lands every week, so the library keeps growing and there is always something waiting for you. Same Lorna you'd get at the table, only you can pause her, rewind, and watch in your slippers.
Partner opens, the pesky opponents overcall, and the bid you wanted to make is gone. In this multi-part series Lorna shows how the negative double takes the space back: what it promises, when it applies, and how to use it to show your major or minor suits when the opponents get in over your partner.
That borderline hand with shape but not quite enough points — the Rule of 20 helps you decide. Add your high card points to the length of your two longest suits, check for two quick tricks, and you've got a tool that turns hesitation into a clear opening bid. Lorna walks you through four hands so you'll know exactly when to bid and when to pass.
Five card or six, bust or game-going, balanced or shapely — your response changes for each. Lorna walks the full ladder: pass, relay, invite, force, and a few "exceptional sevens" where judgment beats the rules. Partnership agreements made plain, with five hands to test what you've learned.
An invitational raise: ten to twelve dummy points and four-card support. In Part 1 Lorna builds the theory — why a guaranteed nine-card fit beats an eight, protecting against bad breaks and freeing your trumps for ruffing. In Part 2 she puts it to work across several hands, handling the auction when the opponents overcall and pushing on toward slam when the fit and controls are there.
The same invitational raise you learned in the majors — ten to twelve points — but with one important difference: in a minor you need five-card support, not four. Because partner's minor opening can be as short as three cards, only a five-card jump raise guarantees the fit. Lorna keeps it to standard American (no inverted minors), shows why 1♣–3♣ or 1♦–3♦ denies a four-card major and aims the partnership at 3NT, and walks the auction when opener has to bid stoppers up the line instead.
A real hand from a student game, bid and played from start to finish. South opens a big hand; Lorna walks the whole table round the auction, then picks the opening lead and counts tricks suit by suit to make the contract.
What a two-level overcall really asks for, and when to pass instead. Part 1 covers the requirements: an opening hand or close to it, a good five-card suit, and the balanced hands to leave alone however good the point count looks. Part 2 works through the hands that qualify, and ends on the balancing seat as a second chance to compete.
Is that double takeout, or is it penalty? Lorna works through the auctions where the answer is penalty and shows you how to read each one. Part 1 covers what the bid promises and the weak-two auction where partner has already defined their hand. Part 2 runs the rest: doubling a 1NT opening, doubling after both of you have bid, the four-level split where 4♥ is takeout but 4♠ is business, and what the scoring actually pays.
World-class director and player John MacGregor answers questions from the club: bidding judgement and when to stay silent, playing the odds as declarer, opening leads, claims and the table rules most of us are unsure of, and what it takes to be a good partner.
When the pesky opponents get in the way, use their suit. A cue bid shows partner a fit and real values, and it takes a bid away from them at the same time. Lorna covers the auctions where it does that job, and one where it means the opposite of what you would expect.
Partner opens, the pesky opponents overcall, and the bid you wanted to make is gone. In this multi-part series Lorna shows how the negative double takes the space back: what it promises, when it applies, and how to use it to show your major or minor suits when the opponents get in over your partner.
