Notes from all classes in the preceding 7 days are now available by clicking on the document icon, located on the right hand side of this front page, under Download Notes. If you are unable to download notes from the chat box at the end of the lesson, or you miss a class, this will be where you can find the notes to download and print. For notes from older classes, pleasr rwuest these directly from Paul.
Paul Mendelson's online classes are now well-established, offering Intermediate, Advanced, Social and Duplicate coaching on different days and at varying times. Students have joined us from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Turkey, Singapore and from all over Europe. To join Paul and his students, send him a message via the contact form on this site, and Paul will respond with details of all the events.
When you respond 1NT to your partner's 1H or 1S opening bid, you will usually be denying 3-card support. You may even be void in your partner's suit, but not strong enough to change the suit at the 2-level (for which, with a void in your partner's suit, you require 10pts+). At the moment, the hand looks like a mis-fit, and you must keep the bidding low. However, sometimes your partner will re-bid a second suit for which you have 4-card support. Now, the shortage you hold in your partner's first suit isn't such a negative feature and you can re-evelauate you hand. s 2 h KJ53 d A43 c 86432 If partner opens 1S, you would respond 1NT. If partner now bids 2H, your hand improves dramatically and,
One hand that caused consternation during a recent class was this: Your partner opens 1NT (12-14pts). What would you respond holding: S J987432 H 6 D 753 C 94 Before getting to the answer, I asked students what they thought the final contract would be? The answer, of course, is 4H. Not a mis-print. Your partner has 14pts at most, you have 1. So your opponents hold 25pts between them - sufficient values for game. You have a 9 or 10-card fit in spades, therefore your opponents have a big fit in one (or more) of their suits. Since your partner shouldn't have a 5-card heart suit for her 1NT opening, you know that your opponents definitely have an 8-card heart fit. So, the most likely contra
