Learn Bridge: The Bridge Centre Podcast
Free contract bridge lessons designed for listening. Season 1, Bridge Homework, follows a six-week Learn Bridge course week by week. Season 2, Next Steps in Bridge, covers improver topics such as hand evaluation, competitive bidding, conventions, declarer play, opening leads, defence and slam bidding. The system taught is Standard American with five-card majors and a 15–17 1NT, as played at Australian duplicate clubs. Helen and Tom are fictional hosts voiced with text-to-speech, and written lessons, rules and transcripts are available at victorianbridgecentre.com.au.
Episodes
Next Steps 11: Scoring tactics, penalty doubles and sacrifices
“Helen, I made an overtrick on Tuesday and my partner high-fived me. Then I made one in a teams match on Thursday, and my teammate said, "Nobody cares."”
Rules to remember: At pairs, overtricks matter and no-trump scores most. At teams, make the contract and bid your vulnerable games. Double low contracts when you hold their trumps. Don't double a freely bid game for high cards alone. Sacrifice n
Next Steps 10: Slam bidding
“Helen, I bid my first slam last week.”
Rules to remember: Agree trumps first. Show interest below game. Control bids find the suit with two quick losers. Blackwood counts key cards. And don't use Blackwood with a void.
Read the lesson: https://victorianbridgecentre.com.au/lessons/intermediate/illustrated-lessons#m10
Full transcript: https://victorianbridgecentre.com.au/lessons/intermediate/pod
Next Steps 9: Signals and discards
“Helen, last week my partner played the nine of hearts, then stared at me very hard.”
Rules to remember: Attitude when partner leads. Count when declarer leads. Suit preference when giving a ruff, or when the rest is obvious. Pick one discard method and stick to it. And a signal is information, not an order.
Read the lesson: https://victorianbridgecentre.com.au/lessons/intermediate/illustrated-l
Next Steps 8: Defence against no-trump
“Helen, when I'm defending no-trump and my suit isn't working, I switch to something new.”
Rules to remember: Pick one suit and keep attacking it. Third hand high, but only as high as needed. Return the right card. Unblock for partner. And discard from the suit nobody needs.
Read the lesson: https://victorianbridgecentre.com.au/lessons/intermediate/illustrated-lessons#m8
Full transcript: https:
Next Steps 7: Defence against suit contracts
“Helen, I worked out that when I'm defending, I mostly just follow suit and wait for something to happen.”
Rules to remember: Decide your defence when dummy goes down: active, passive, trump attack or forcing. Count declarer's tricks. Second hand low, third hand high. Cover an honour when it can promote something. And count everything.
Read the lesson: https://victorianbridgecentre.com.au/lesson
Next Steps 6: Opening leads
“Helen, I have a system for opening leads.”
Rules to remember: Listen to the auction first. Lead partner's suit. Against no-trump, lead your long suit. Against a suit contract, read the clues: trump leads stop ruffs, aggressive leads beat discards. Pick the right card so partner can read it. And use the Rule of Eleven.
Read the lesson: https://victorianbridgecentre.com.au/lessons/intermediate/il
Next Steps 5: Declarer play technique
“Helen, when I'm declarer, partner puts down dummy and goes to get a coffee.”
Rules to remember: Pause and plan before trick one. In no-trump, hold up with one stopper. In a suit contract, count losers, and ruff in the short hand. And eight ever, nine never.
Read the lesson: https://victorianbridgecentre.com.au/lessons/intermediate/illustrated-lessons#m5
Full transcript: https://victorianbridge
Next Steps 4: Moysian fits and misfits
“Helen, my beginners' teacher said: find an eight-card fit, or play in no-trump. Never anything else.”
Rules to remember: A four-three fit beats no-trump when a suit is wide open and the trumps are strong. Ruff in the short hand. Don't let them force the long hand. On a misfit, stop early. And when it's the opponents misfitting, double.
Read the lesson: https://victorianbridgecentre.com.au/lesso
Next Steps 3: Conventions worth adding next
“Helen, my partner and I agreed to play a convention last week. Then she used it, and I'd forgotten it, and we ended up in four clubs with three clubs between us.”
Rules to remember: The rule to take away: write every convention on your card with its follow-up bids, and what you do when they interfere. Most accidents come from the follow-ups, not the conventions themselves.
Read the lesson: http
Next Steps 2: Competitive bidding
“Helen, in beginners' class, the opponents always passed. It was very polite. One side bid, the other side waited its turn.”
Rules to remember: Use the Suit Quality Test before you overcall. When partner doubles, you must bid. A double after partner opens and they overcall is a negative double, showing the unbid major. Compete to the level of your trump count. And in the balancing seat, act a lit
Next Steps 1: Hand evaluation beyond high-card points
“Helen, I have a confession. Last Tuesday I opened a hand with thirteen points, partner raised me to game, and we went down three.”
Rules to remember: One: honours are worth most in long suits and least in short ones. Two: the Rule of Twenty for opening borderline hands. Three: re-value your hand after every bid. Four: add dummy points only once you have a fit. And five: once you have a fit, coun
Beginner 6: Defence and scoring
“Helen, on Tuesday I was defending, and my partner played the nine of spades on my ace. And then she looked at me.”
Rules to remember: One: against no-trump, lead the top of a sequence, or the fourth highest of your longest suit. Two: against a suit contract, lead partner's suit, the top of a sequence, or a singleton, and don't lead away from an ace. Three: from three cards headed by an honour in
Beginner 5: Strong hands, slams and declarer play
“Helen, I picked up a hand on Tuesday with twenty-two points.”
Rules to remember: One: open two clubs with twenty-two or more, or about nine playing tricks, and partner's two diamonds is a waiting bid. Two: open two no-trump with twenty to twenty-one balanced. Three: a small slam needs about thirty-three points, a grand slam about thirty-seven. Four: four no-trump is Blackwood, and don't use it w
Beginner 4: Competitive bidding and preempts
“Helen, I need to complain about the opponents.”
Rules to remember: One: an overcall shows a good five-card suit, eight to sixteen at the one level, eleven to sixteen at the two level. Two: a one no-trump overcall is fifteen to eighteen, balanced, with a stopper. Three: a takeout double shows twelve-plus, shortness in their suit and support for the others, and partner must bid. Four: a weak two i
Beginner 3: Opener's rebid and notrump bidding
“Helen, something terrible happened at class. The teacher told us that if partner opens one no-trump and I have hearts, I should bid diamonds.”
Rules to remember: One: opener's rebid shows strength: twelve to fifteen minimum, sixteen to eighteen medium, nineteen to twenty-one maximum. Two: balanced twelve to fourteen, open a suit and rebid one no-trump; balanced eighteen to nineteen, open a suit
Beginner 2: Opening the bidding and responding
“Helen, my wife and I tried bidding last night.”
Rules to remember: One: open with twelve or more, or use the Rule of Twenty. Two: balanced fifteen to seventeen, open one no-trump; twenty to twenty-one, open two no-trump. Three: five-card majors, and with two five-card suits open the higher. Four: no five-card major, open your longer minor. And five: as responder, a new suit at the one level show
Beginner 1: How the game works
“Helen, I went to my first class. I played a whole hand of bridge.”
Rules to remember: One: follow suit if you can, and the highest card of the suit led wins, unless someone trumps. Two: ace four, king three, queen two, jack one, forty in the pack. Three: you need six tricks of book plus the number you bid. Four: the games are three no-trump, four hearts, four spades, five clubs and five diamonds
Beginner 0: Before you start: meet the cards
“Helen, I need to tell you something before we record.”
Rules to remember: One: take the jokers out, and don't ask. Two: deal face down, clockwise, one at a time, and don't touch your hand until the deal is done. Three: sort your cards by suit, alternating red and black. Four: the suits rank clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, alphabetical for once. And five: write your answers down before you check
