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.
Bridge from the very beginning, with nothing assumed. Lorna takes the first-time player one small step at a time — from the cards in the deck to your first hands at the table — explaining every term as it comes up. No maths, no jargon, just a friendly, unhurried start that grows with you as the series goes on.
Defence is Lorna's favourite part of the game, and it starts with one of bridge's best-known sayings: second hand low. When declarer leads toward dummy, the defender in second seat plays small, keeping their honours back to capture declarer's. Part 1 builds the two core principles — play low, and cover an honour with an honour. Part 2 works through the exceptions: when covering sets up nothing for your side, how to split touching honours to promote a trick, the tricky ace-queen-third holding, and the student questions these spots always raise.
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.
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.
