Wolperts on Competitive Bidding

When we learn conventions we are taught the structure of the method, but are often left without learning some of the nuances of how to bid after the convention occurs. Consider this lesson Support Doubles Part 2. This lesson will dig into questions like what do I do when my partner makes a support double and I only have 4 card support? When is it right to compete in our major at the 2 level? 3 level? My support double showed my fit but I have a strong hand, what now?

We’ve Had Enough!!!! Help Suit Game Tries are a thing of the past. Natural Game Tries are the way to go. While the two are not very different from one another, the distinction is very important. We will discuss why we define our game tries as natural rather than help, when we still want partner to help us in that suit. We may be broken records when we say, “there is no score bonus for playing in 3”. This lesson will also spend time talking about hands where you should probably avoid game tries all together and secure your plus score at the 2 level.

When partner is a passed hand, the math changes. We are able to rule out game with certain hands and that affects things like our opening bid, overcall and preempt range. Being a passed hand also gives us the flexibility to make more aggressive bids knowing our bids are non forcing. This class will teach you about how you can use the fact that you or your partner is a passed hand to your advantage.

When the opponents open the bidding in front of us and we have a hand that is too strong to make a simple overcall, our only way forward is to start with a takeout double.  When the takeout doubler doubles and then bids again, they are telling their partner "I don't actually have a takeout double, I was just too strong to overcall". 

Part one of this two part series does a basic review of takeout doubles and then goes in to describe how to navigate these strong hands when your opponent's open the bidding.

Gavin and Hazel continue discussing how to handle strong hands when the opponents open the bidding.  This lesson discusses re-entering the auction when the opponents compete and also digs into recognizing your partner's power double, understanding their range and appropriately reacting.

This lesson explores some common situations that come up after we make a takeout double.

We will discuss double jumps after takeout doubles, how our bids change when the opponents redouble, and take an in depth look at cue-bidding as the partner of the takeout doubler. 

This class is approaching advanced level but very important knowledge for all intermediate students.

This is Gavin's favorite convention for coming in against the opponent's 1NT opening bid.  This lesson will go over the entire system, when to use it and how to respond to it as the advancer.  We will discuss the fundamental difference between overcalling in the direct seat vs the balancing seat.  Can you come in showing the majors with 4-4?  5-4?, should I enter the bidding aggressively?   Can we bid game after they open 1NT?

Note: The 2D bid doesn't have a known suit and that makes it disallowed under the Basic chart (events with a masterpoint limit of 750 or lower, like a Gold Rush or a 299er or NAP/GNT flight C). It's legal in the Basic+ chart and obviously in the Open charts.

When you sit down to play a round against a precision pair, they start by announcing their system.  Do you panic? Do you understand what precision means?  

This lesson will teach you the basics of how precision works, so when your opponents play precision, you are prepared and comfortable.   We break down how to defend against a strong 1C opening, the ambiguous 1D opening, and how to deal with aggressive opening bids.  

When the opponents enter the bidding with a takeout double and we have the balance of the points, we have big potential for penalizing them.  In this class we dig deeply into auctions that start with 1 of a suit-double-redouble.  Everything taught in this class is completely standard and is must know for advanced players.  

You don't know how many numbers you are missing! Watch this lesson and start making your opponent's lives way more difficult.  

Note: This lesson does not teach Michaels and unusual 2NT from scratch.  You should already be familiar with these conventions before taking this lesson.  

There are many benefits to entering the auction in with these two suited conventional bids. We preempt the opponents, discover good sacrifices and help get to good aggressive games.  These bids do not come without risk as it is straightforward for the opponents to double us for penalty when we lack a fit.  While experts do not use the "mini-maxi" range for these bids, we do have somewhat strict rules for when to come in and the vulnerability is a very important part of the puzzle.  This class will talk about the range required and also talk about modern expert follow-ups to these commonly played conventions, including Meckwell advances over (1M) 2M.

This class also goes over a long list of uncommon but important Michaels and U2NT auctions along with a valuable list of common expert agreements for the Master Series.  

Negative doubles and takeout doubles are incredibly important because of how often they come up.  Unfortunately in these situations we can no longer easily double the opponents for penalty.  This doesn't mean we can't get them.  This class will talk about how to get penalties in a takeout double world. 

Topics we will discuss:

Trap Passing as responder (when to pass for penalty).

When to make a reopening double as opener.

Trap passing as opener.

When to reopen double as responder.

How to react to a reopening double.

This lesson will cover how experts deal with the opponents making conventional two suited overcalls.  We will discuss the well known tool "Unusual vs Unusual" as well as some more complex methods such as fit jumps and transfers.  More important than all of those tools, we will discuss how and when to penalize your opponents for making these bids too aggressively much like we did in "going for blood".