A growing library of bridge videos — from your very first opening bid to the kind of hand you'll want to tell partner about on the way home. Same Lorna you'd get at the table, only you can pause her, rewind, and watch in your slippers.
Defence is Lorna's favourite part of the game, and third hand play is where a good partnership comes alive. Part 1 builds the core idea: third hand high, and its refinement, "as high as necessary." There's much more to come in Part 2.
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.