Lesson 12 - Opponent's bids - 5 mins
Bridge opponents can be a quite a challenge. In the bridge starter system, you should ignore your opponent's bids. During the bidding process you are only worried about what you are trying to make.
You should continue to bid in line with your hand count.
If your opponent's bid, however, means that you don't have enough points to give you confidence to bid at the lowest available level - pass. It is possible that your partner has no points at all and you could bid, and be doubled, and lose a night's fortune.
In general, don't bid more than one level above what you can.
In the hand shown above, you have 11 points. If the player to your left passes, you would call 1 diamond. If they start the bidding at 1 heart, you would call 2 diamonds. If they start the bidding at 2 hearts, would you call 3 diamonds?
What if you were doubled and your partner had no points at all?
Remember at the start of this segment:
In general, don't bid more than one level above what you can.
In this case, I would pass
If you always play against people who use the bridge starter system then you will know what your opponent's bids will mean. If you play with others who are unaware of the bridge starter system, you should have a printed helpcard available so that they can see what your bids mean.
There are lots of codes in bridge but there are no secret codes and partnerships are discouraged from using them. Your opponents should declare which bridge system they intend to use before play just as you should. If you are ever unsure what an opponent means with a bid, it is perfectly fair to ask their partner to interpret the bid.
Lesson 13 - Card play
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