BRIDGE: a Path to Math a Nine Week Middle School Curriculum for Beginning Players and Their Teachers

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BRIDGE: a Path to Math a Nine Week Middle School Curriculum for Beginning Players and Their Teachers BRIDGE: A Path to Math (and much more) A Nine Week Middle School Curriculum For Beginning Players and their Teachers By John Hassett Contributors Marty Nathan Judy Hassett Patty Tucker Jon Rice P.O. Box 80694 Atlanta, Georgia 30366 www.atlantajuniorbridge.org and BridgeAtSchools 1442 Winston Place Decatur, Georgia 30033 www.bridgeatschools.org Working in cooperation to provide a course in Duplicate Bridge suitable for Middle School Curriculum Copyright© March 2010 Atlanta Junior Bridge Table of Contents Introduction Introduction to Curriculum ..................................................................................................1 Teacher’s Instructions ..........................................................................................................3 Lessons Week 1 .................................................................................................................................4 1.1 Card Playing, Card Ranks, and Trick Taking ..........................................................4 1.2 Suits and Trumps .....................................................................................................6 1.3 Taking Tricks with Trumps .....................................................................................8 1.4 Introduction to Hand Evaluation and Bidding .......................................................10 1.5 Weekly Review and Quiz - Week 1 .......................................................................15 Week 2 ...............................................................................................................................17 2.1 Keeping Score and the Auction .............................................................................17 2.2 Play of the Hand.....................................................................................................20 2.3 Opening Bids - Part 1 .............................................................................................22 2.4 Opening Bids - Part 2 .............................................................................................29 2.5 Weekly Review and Quiz - Week 2 .......................................................................33 Week 3 ...............................................................................................................................39 3.1 Forcing Principles in Bridge Bidding ....................................................................39 3.2 Responding to Partner’s Opening Minor Suit Bid .................................................45 3.3 Responding to Partner’s Opening Major Suit Bid .................................................53 3.4 Rebids by Opener - Part 1 ......................................................................................64 3.5 Weekly Review and Quiz - Week 3 .......................................................................73 Week 4 ...............................................................................................................................76 4.1 Rebids by Opener - Part 2 ......................................................................................76 4.2 Declarer Play - Suit Contracts................................................................................86 4.3 Reevaluating Your Hand - Part 1 ...........................................................................95 4.4 Reevaluating Your Hand - Part 2 .........................................................................101 4.5 Weekly Review and Quiz - Week 4 .....................................................................112 Week 5 .............................................................................................................................115 5.1 Responding to Partner’s Opening 1NT Bid – Stayman ......................................115 5.2 Responding to Partner’s Opening 1NT Bid - Transfers.......................................125 5.3 Declarer Play - No Trump Contracts ...................................................................134 5.4 Review and Practice .............................................................................................144 5.5 Weekly Review and Quiz - Week 5 .....................................................................145 Week 6 .............................................................................................................................148 6.1 Overcalls ..............................................................................................................148 6.2 Takeout Doubles ..................................................................................................156 6.3 Big Hand Doubles ................................................................................................167 6.4 Scoring Update - Penalties, Vulnerabilities, and Slam Bidding ..........................175 6.5 Weekly Review and Quiz - Week 6 .....................................................................181 Week 7 .............................................................................................................................185 7.1 Preemptive Bidding .............................................................................................185 7.2 Weak Two Bids....................................................................................................194 7.3 Preemptive Jump Overcalls .................................................................................202 7.4 Opening Very Strong Hands - 2 Clubs ................................................................209 7.5 Weekly Review and Quiz - Week 7 .....................................................................216 Week 8 .............................................................................................................................219 8.1 Responding to 2 Clubs Opener ............................................................................219 8.2 Opening Strong Balanced Hands .........................................................................232 8.3 Slam Bidding .......................................................................................................241 8.4 Slam Bidding - Blackwood and Gerber ...............................................................249 8.5 Weekly Review and Quiz - Week 8 .....................................................................262 Week 9 .............................................................................................................................265 9.1 Review and Practice Weeks 1-8 ..........................................................................265 9.2 Review and Practice Weeks 1-8 ..........................................................................267 9.3 Final Exam ...........................................................................................................269 9.4 Mini-Tournament - Part 1 ....................................................................................276 9.5 Mini-Tournament - Part 2 ....................................................................................277 Appendixes Instructions to Run a Duplicate Bridge Game .................................................................278 Glossary ...........................................................................................................................280 References for Future Studies ..........................................................................................282 Sources for Information ...................................................................................................283 Bridge and Test Scores ....................................................................................................284 Game Attachments ...........................................................................................................291 Posters ..............................................................................................................................306 Atlanta Junior Bridge Bridge: A Path to Math ….and much more The card game bridge is fundamentally grounded in math. From simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, to the more complex functions of calculating odds and percentages, this game hones children’s math skills as no other. A study has been conducted by Dr. Christopher Shaw of Illinois to determine the impact learning bridge can have on school children. With three years research available (see appendix), he has convincing data that learning the game of bridge will help children improve their performance in standardized testing. The first year of students he studied showed a 10% to 35% higher rate of improvement in all subjects on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills than their classmates who did not learn bridge. Bridge’s advantages don’t stop at simple math skills. In addition to the purely mathematical portion of bridge, children must learn: following rules, sequential reasoning, working with a partner towards a common goal, inferential reasoning, problem solving, social interaction, logic and self- discipline. Bridge is played with a deck of cards. The deck consists of four suits − two through ace with the ten, jack, queen, king and ace considered as ‘honor cards’. Bridge consists of two parts, bidding and play. The play of the game is fairly straightforward. You must follow suit if you can and the high card wins the trick. If there is a trump suit (determined by the bidding) the lowest trump is higher than a card in any another suit. The bidding is more complex with a numerical
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