Beginning Bridge is meant for students who have never played bridge or a similar card game. By the end of the book students should be able to enjoy playing bridge with their friends.
There are eleven chapters in the book. Each chapter includes:
- a section on bidding
- a section on play
- exercises to illustrate new concepts
- four practice deals
We believe that it is important to teach bidding and play together since each aspect of the game reinforces the other. Students will better understand bidding if they can recognize what is needed to make a contract, the value of long suits, the value of ruffing in dummy and the special requirements of notrump contracts.
Suggested Lessons
Each chapter was designed to be a complete 2-1/2-hour lesson: 1 hour for instruction, and 1-1/2 hours for practice.
Practice deals allow each student (seated four to a bridge table) a chance to be dummy, declarer and defender in each lesson. The deals illustrate the bidding rules that have been taught up to that point and the themes described in the play section of the chapter.
Supplements
Visit our teacher resource section to download student handouts of chapter summaries, points to remember and bridge definitions.
Practice Deals
We recognize that every teacher deals cards in their own way, whether they chose to use duplicate boards, call out cards, or use NSEW hand out sheets. With this in mind, we pulled together all 42 deals from Beginning Bridge for easy download.
We have also created custom cards that match the Beginning Bridge deals which will be available for purchase later this fall.
Alternate Course Ideas
Two-hour Lessons
Allow only 1 hour for practice, and assign remaining deals as homework, or use as part of a supervised play session between lessons.
Six-week Courses
Use chapters 1-6 for a constructive bidding course and chapters 7-11 for a special bids course — preempts, takeout doubles, overcalls and defensive bidding.
Play Courses
Focus only on the play section and the practice deals in each chapter.