LONDON BRIDGE CENTRE

LEARN BRIDGE IN A DAY?

Do you have friends who you just know would be good at Bridge?

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Did you play Bridge at home growing up or at University a long time ago?

In one fun-filled day, you can answer these questions and see if Bridge is for you and your friends. You will learn the basics of bridge in this interactive class that has both instruction and coached play.  If you are just starting, returning to the game, or wanting to test the waters before taking lessons, this course is for you. 

One of our fun and dynamic teachers will answer these questions for you.  They will take you from wherever you are now to playing a simple game all in one day.   You can come by yourself or with a partner.

The fee of $50 covers instruction, a comprehensive manual, lunch, and a chance to meet experienced bridge players.  If you find that you love the game, there will be Beginner lessons starting the next week.  If you find you are ready to play at our club, there are many games in a week that cater to all levels including beginners. 

A Taste of Bridge is an introductory session for individuals who are considering learning to play this popular card game. No prior bridge experience is needed. In three hours, we aim to show how much fun the game can be and hope you will see that bridge is a challenging and interesting game. Come alone or bring a group to the event.

Bridge Basics I is a general introduction to the game of bridge that includes basic terminology, bidding, and card play. This course is designed for individuals with no bridge experience or for those who are returning to bridge after an extended absence from the game.

Course Topics: Hand evaluation, the bidding ladder, no-trump opening bids and basic responses, minor suit opening bids and basic responses, major suit openings and basic responses, and dummy points. Hand play and defense will be included in each class. 

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Bridge Basics I will consist of 8 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering. The text will be Audrey Grant's textbook, Bridge Basics I.

Bridge Basics II carries on with practice in playing hands and provides an introduction to the following topics in bidding: Take-out doubles, overcalls, pre-emptive bids, weak 2 openings, and responses to each of these bidding strategies.  This is the next class to be taken following Bridge Basics I.

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Bridge Basics II will consist of 4 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre. This 4-week course introduces bidding designed to help partnerships get to their best contract while making it difficult for the opponents to find their best spot.  Play of the hand and good defence will be included in each lesson.

Course Topics:

1.   Preemptive Opening Bids: Three-level pre-empts & weak two bids.

2.   Overcalls and Advances:  Simple overcalls, No Trump overcalls, Weak jump shifts

3.   Takeout Doubles & Advances:  Takeout doubles, responding to partner’s double, rebids by the doubler, Doubles that show a strong overcall

4.   Competitive Auctions:  Responding after the opponents’ takeout double and overcall, negative doubles, redoubles, and penalty doubles.

The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Bridge Basics III is for those who have taken BB I and who have gained some experience at playing bridge. This five-session course is focused on popular conventions and is a great follow-up to BB I.

Course Topics: Stayman, Jacoby Transfers, the big 2 club opener, Blackwood, Gerber and Slam bidding.

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Bridge Basics III will consist of 5 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Play of the Hand I reviews basic bidding and provides the opportunity to become more skilled at playing hands.

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Play of the Hand I topics: planning the play in no-trump and in suit contracts, developing tricks through promotion and length, eliminating losers through ruffing, discarding or finessing, and managing entries 

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Play of the Hand I will consist of 4 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Play of the Hand II continues to review basic bidding and presents more sophisticated play of the hand techniques.

Play of the Hand II will consist of 4 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Defense Part I provides an introduction to important first elements of defensive play.  Aimed at those who have played for a while and are ready to start concentrating on defensive techniques.

Course Topics: opening leads against notrump, opening leads against a suit contract, defensive signals emphasizing attitude signals but providing examples of count signals and suit preference signals.

Defence - Part 1 will consist of 4 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Defence - Part 2 continues to explore card-playing strategies that can be used when you are defending against a declarer. Topics discussed in this course include second-hand play, third-hand play, forcing defense, and defensive strategies.

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Defence - Part 2 will consist of 4 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Advancing Your Game - Part I 

This 4-week course is designed for players who have completed several bridge courses and who play duplicate bridge on a regular basis. Bidding and play topics will be reviewed, consolidated, and extended.

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A variety of standard conventions will be re-introduced and fine-tuned to develop effective, competitive bridge strategies for duplicate bridge play. The use of good judgement will be emphasized.  A course outline may be found here.

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Advancing Your Game will consist of 4 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Advancing Your Game - Part II

This bridge course is designed for players who have completed several bridge courses and who play duplicate bridge on a regular basis.  A variety of standard conventions will be re-introduced and fine-tuned to develop effective, competitive bridge strategies for duplicate bridge play.  Each class will include strategies for handling the opponents’ interference.  The use of good judgement will be emphasized.

The 8-week course will be taught over two separate terms of four weeks each. Please note that Part 1 is a prerequisite for Part 2.

Lesson 1: Preempts and Strong 2 Club Openers

Lesson 2: Overcalls

Lesson 3: Doubles, Redoubles & more

Lesson 4: Competitive Auctions

The cost for the 4-week course is $60 plus $12 for the Student Handbook. Please pay the instructor at the first session on May 11.

The teacher for this course is Mary Howe. 

For those players who are interested, private Practice & Play sessions will be offered after the completion of Advancing Your Game Part 2 for players who have taken the course.  Four hands-on play sessions using pre-set hands will specifically target topics covered in the lessons and will be played online.  Registration for these play sessions will be announced once the course commences in the spring.

Following the completion of this course, players should be more comfortable and successful competing against London’s better bridge players in the open games.

A detailed course description of the lesson topics can be found here. 

To register for this course please click here. The deadline for registering for this course is May 2, 2024.

2 Over 1 Game Force is the most popular bidding system in use in tournament bridge across North America.  It is not radically different from Standard American bidding but has some added considerations that make the game and slam bidding more accurate. 

For those wanting to progress as tournament players understanding the principles behind 2 Over 1 Game Force is important because, even if you don't play the system, you will certainly play against it, and understanding what your opponent's bids mean is an important part of the game.

This course will be offered in 4 separate 2-hour sessions at the London Bridge Centre with an option for an additional Practice and Play session.

The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering. The text for this course is '2 Over 1 Game Force' by Audrey Grant and Eric Rodwell.

Take-Out Doubles 

Course Topics: guidelines for a takeout double,  advancing the takeout double, rebids by the takeout doubler, and doubles showing a strong hand.

Take-Out Doubles will consist of 2 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Negative Doubles  

The negative double is one of our most useful and important bids, and is used by all the top players. Imagine that your partner opens 1♦, and you are about to respond 1♥.  However, your right hand opponent overcalls 1♠.  You hold: 

♠ 8 6 3

♥ K Q 10 7

♦ 6 4

♣ Q J 3 2 

What do you do?  Pass, bid 2♣  or bid 2♥?  None of these bids is attractive.  The negative double will help you resolve this and several other bidding dilemmas.

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Negative Doubles will consist of 2 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Yellow Card (SAYC) is designed to instruct students on the use of the Standard American Yellow Card in clubs as well as online. This course will provide information on conventions that have not been covered in BB1, BB2, and BB3, such as Michaels and Jacoby 2NT. This course is designed for students who have taken BB1, BB2, and BB3 or their equivalent.

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Yellow Card (SAYC) will consist of 3 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Lebensohl Convention - Of all the hundreds of bridge conventions invented over the last century, the Lebensohl Convention has proven to be one of the most flexible and useful. It is an essential tool for every partnership from the intermediate to the advanced. This class is for both individual players, and for partnerships.

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Lebensohl Convention will consist of 2 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering.

Cue-Bidding Clarified - What is a cue-bid?  In this three-part, six-hour, online course, participants will explore the key aspects of cue bidding.  We will examine the cue bids most commonly used by players at the Intermediate and Advanced Levels.

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If you are considering this course you should be comfortable playing duplicate bridge in Open Games, and have taken an equivalent course to the ‘Advancing Your Game’ course offered at the London Bridge Club.

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For those wanting a hands-on Practice and Play component, there will be two sessions (each two hours long) following the course.  The Practice and Play sessions are ONLY for people who have completed the three online lessons. 

The 3 week's course will be taught online using the Zoom platform. The instructor will email to each participant the Zoom link for the lessons.

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The fee for this course will be published in our next course offering. 

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For those players who are interested, 2 private Practice & Play sessions will be offered. 

The cost for the added 2 weeks of private Practice and Play sessions, including materials and the Zoom connection will be published in our next course offering.​

This three-week course is offered by Barry Onslow for people who want to be competitive in the bidding, especially when points are evenly divided between North/South and East/West.

The course was last held at London Bridge Centre on Wednesday afternoons June 7, 14, and 21, 2023 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. The cost of the course was $50. Contact Barry at bonslow@uwo.ca if you have questions.

To see the course flyer please click here.

Strategies for a Successful Defense 

This course is designed for the intermediate bridge player who is interested in improving defensive play. Since every partnership is on defense 50% of the time, defense is a crucial part of winning bridge strategy.  Many bridge players repeat the same mistakes over and over on defense. This course is designed to help you avoid some of those pitfalls and costly defensive errors. 

This Defense course will consist of 7 sessions to be held at the London Bridge Centre. Participants are responsible for obtaining their own course textbook “Bridge – The Magic of Defense” by Barbara Seagram. The teacher for this course is Mary Howe. 

Topics that will be covered during the course include:

Opening Leads, Teamwork on Defense, When to Lead Trump, Signalling Attitude to Partner’s Lead, Signalling with Discards, Count Signals, Suit Preference Signals, Second Hand Play, Lead Directing Doubles.