An interesting article by our in–house, “non-expert” passionate bridge teacher Alan Caplan - How to play out a trump contract.

Counting on Inference

The article discusses the importance of order in play, of timing, of relying on our wits to guide us from the opening trick to a successful conclusion.

In his article where he gives examples, Alan Caplan gives two general guiding principles: Avoid using the 2NT response bid showing support with a hand containing a singleton and avoid using limit bids – limit raises or NT - when there are good alternatives.

The most common use of the term “counting” in bridge applies to situations where you are interested in knowing how many cards in a suit have been played by the opponents when one is drawing trumps or establishing a long suit. Learn all about it from Alan Caplan.

Here is a tip from Alan Caplan our bridge expert: It is sometimes necessary to discard what appears to be a winning card in order to bring home a contract.

Alan Caplan discusses the accepted responses to an opening bid of 1 NT in Standard American and Israeli systems of the game. He refers to old and tested favorites like the Stayman, Jacoby and Smolen conventions.

Here’s a challenging situation for bridge affectionados - whether to play safe or be sorry. Alan Caplan outlines the difference in calculating match points when engaged in two different forms of bridge: playing in teams or in competition. He illustrates this with interesting hands.