Teaching a spades player to play bridge...

[RunemPard]

Soon I will be trying to teach one of my friends and online spades partners to play bridge. She is a great cards player, but new to bridge completely. I plan to teach her basic SA, but I am a little lost with where to begin. Rather than start by dealing out completely random hands and saying how each should be handled...I figured it would be easiest to put together a plan. But...what order?

 

My thoughts are...and they may not be great...

 

Start by going over every opening hand...and what they look like in this order...

 

(balanced hand types)

1M (MIN)

1m (MIN)

1N (15-17)

1M (MAX)

1m (MAX)

 

then switch to...

 

(unbalanced/semi-balanced hand types)

1M (MIN)

1m (MIN)

1M (MID/MAX)

1m (MID/MAX)

 

(extreme unbalanced hands)

1M (MIN)

1m (MIN)

1M (MID/MAX)

1m (MID/MAX)

 

(preemptive opening bids)

2d, 2h, 2s

3c, 3d, 3h, 3s

 

2N openings

2C balanced openings

strong single suited hands

strong two suited hands

 

I am not sure if I should first introduce all of the opening bids, and then work on replying to them, or just do the opening bids/replies at the same time.

 

Also curious if you all feel it is better to "put her in the drivers seat" directly, or let her watch as I control the table and ask her opinions.

 

What else am I missing?

 

Edit: Of course...competitive bidding and overcalls...but I think it may be best to keep the opponents quiet first?

 

 

 

Thanks a lot! :)

 

Don

[dustinst22]

I've taught several spades players Bridge, and I think the very best thing you can do is have them read the ACBL course by Gitelman.

 

Have them really focus on the NT sections. Once they have the very basics of bidding, get them playing lots of hands.

 

A great way to get new players to get through the initial learning curves quickly is to play versus GIB.

 

The last thing you want to do is cover too much on bidding. Really all they should need is a very simple framework and start getting playing experience.

 

After playing a few hundred hands, I'd have them start doing Bridge Master level 1 and 2.

 

In my opinion, 95% of your time should be focused on improving play. The BIL is OK for getting some instruction, but I think far too much time is spent on bidding. Try to do the classes on defense and declaring.

[RunemPard]

Yes good point as well. I plan to go over play a lot as well, being that it is a bit different from spades. Just not sure how much to introduce about bidding before going into the play. Another possibility is to have her sit at the table with a final contract and play the hands first. Then, after awhile start with bidding. But as I said, she is a brilliant cards player, so I expect her to understand the differences in bridge play rather quickly.

 

After the bidding basics are understood, then I want to go into more advanced play that does not really happen as often in spades as bridge.

[dustinst22]

Yes good point as well. I plan to go over play a lot as well, being that it is a bit different from spades. Just not sure how much to introduce about bidding before going into the play. Another possibility is to have her sit at the table with a final contract and play the hands first. Then, after awhile start with bidding. But as I said, she is a brilliant cards player, so I expect her to understand the differences in bridge play rather quickly.

 

After the bidding basics are understood, then I want to go into more advanced play that does not really happen as often in spades as bridge.

 

Well, let's get a few things straight. Most spades players from my experience are lazy and unwilling to put in much time studying. So make sure the person you're working with isn't in that group, lol. I've wasted my time trying to teach a few top spades players who frankly are too lazy to learn Bridge. But if she's "brilliant", she'll quickly see how Bridge is a vastly superior game and want to put in the time needed.

 

That being said, really I'd just have them learn basic opening bids and responses with simple overcall rules and that's it. Bidding will come with time through experience. The play is what will get them fascinated with the game, and that's how you get a card player hooked. Once hooked, they'll take it upon themselves to put in the study required.

 

Here's what I'd do step by step:

 

1) Give them the link to the ACBL course downloads

2) Give them opening and response bids

3) Give them simple overcall rules

4) Start playing with GIB as the opponents which will alert every bid so that the student understands whats going on. Play A LOT of hands. Have A LOT of discusssion about the hands. Repeat.

5) Get them doing Bridge Master

6) Have them watch Vugraph and top players often.

[CarlRitner]

 

In my opinion, 95% of your time should be focused on improving play. The BIL is OK for getting some instruction, but I think far too much time is spent on bidding. Try to do the classes on defense and declaring.

 

 

What is the BIL?

[dustinst22]

What is the BIL?

 

Beginner Intermediate Lounge -- a club in BBO for new players with lessons, etc. http://www.bilbridge.com/

[dustinst22]

By the way, another thing -- I wouldn't teach her SA. I see no reason to not just start with 2/1. In my opinion it makes things easier. I think 2/1 has replaced SA as the standard system anyway.

[blackshoe]

I agree. The fewer people teaching new players Standard American, the better.

[Zelandakh]

I think the easiest way is to start with the concept of Game and get across the importance of this. Combine this with hand evaluation and the requirement for bidding a game contract. When you move onto bidding, first define balanced versus unbalanced hands and then introduce a balanced hand "ladder". I always taught English Acol, which I suspect is simpler than teaching SAYC, SA or 2/1 but the ladder for Basic Acol looks like

 

12-14: open 1NT

15-16: open 1 of a suit, rebid NT

17-18: open 1 of a suit, jump rebid NT

19: open 1 of a suit, rebid 3NT

20-22: open 2NT

23-24: open 2♣, rebid NT

25+ open 2♣, rebid 3NT

 

This can obviously be improved but is essentially what any random partner will assume. You should be able to construct something similar. The next stage is to teach which suit to open. In Acol that means opening the longest suit! With 2 5 card suits open the higher except spades and clubs, then open 1♣. With 2 4 card suits choose 1H > 1S > 1D. Then you teach some NT system, presumably Stayman and Transfers. Then you move on to responses to 1 of a suit. I always did that by a similar priority method: raise major > bid 2/3NT > bid a new suit > raise minor > 1NT. One should probably miss out ther 2/3NT responses these days. Then you can move on to rebids - strong and weak. You can write out each section into a crib sheet. Let them refer to that while they learn how it works but encourage them to get rid of it and to learn the meanings properly.

 

It really is not difficult to teach someone a basic bidding system to a level where they can bid their games and stop in a reasonable part-score when game is not available. Competitive bidding is harder of course. Leave that out initially and just bid 2 hands. When you think they are ready, introduce overcalls and takeout doubles. Last on the agenda is bidding after we open and they compete.

 

At this point they are essentially playing real bridge. That is enough. The rest will come naturally.