WBF Academy – Bridge Course Level 1
A complete, free programme to teach beginners.
A complete programme for teaching bridge
The WBF Academy beginner programme provides federations, teachers, clubs and educational organisations with a complete set of ready-to-use educational resources for discovering bridge. All the material is made freely available in a spirit of international cooperation and bridge development.
This programme has been designed to allow coaches, even with limited experience in teaching bridge, to have immediate access to:
- a detailed teaching manual
- prepared deals, playable during lessons or online against three AI opponents
- arrowed decks enabling easy card distribution
This programme is suitable for all audiences from the age of 10 upwards. Sessions are designed to last one hour, but they may be combined for particularly receptive groups or as part of intensive courses.
The programme is organised into six progressive themes allowing students to discover bridge step by step, from the fundamental rules to the first competitive auctions.
Description of the themes covered in the manual
Theme 1 - Learning the Rules
This theme establishes the essential foundations: basic rules, the concept of tricks, following suit, discarding, playing without a dummy, then the gradual discovery of the contract, declarer, defence, dummy and HCP evaluation. Students also learn how to use the MiniBridge Decision Table and identify their first certain tricks.
Theme 2 - Creating and Cashing Tricks
This theme teaches students how to turn cards into tricks: cashing winners, managing entries, establishing honour tricks, establishing tricks through length, choosing the appropriate opening lead, avoiding unnecessary bidding levels, and understanding the concepts of game and slam contracts in No Trumps.
Theme 3 - Playing with a Trump Suit
This theme introduces trump contracts: choosing a trump suit, evaluation using distribution points, finding a fit, ruffing, overruffing, controlling the opponents’ trumps, drawing trumps and creating tricks by ruffing, both in declarer play and defence.
Theme 4 - Discovering Bidding: the 1NT Opening
This theme introduces the first real auctions around the 1NT opening: balanced hands, No Trump responses, responder’s decisions, invitational bids at the 2NT, 4NT and 5NT levels, opener’s reactions, major-suit contracts after a 1NT opening and the first principles of planning the play.
Theme 5 - First Major-Suit Openings
This theme covers the 1♥ and 1♠ openings, showing a fit, support at the 4-level, then at the 3-level and 2-level, continuation of the auction after support, first finesses, repeating a finesse, playing the correct card in defence and opening lead principles against suit contracts.
Theme 6 - First Competitive Auctions
This theme introduces the mechanisms of competitive bidding: the concept of overcalls, 1NT overcalls and continuations, the 1♠ overcall over a 1♥ opening, support after intervention, defensive signalling, suit preference signals, sacrifice contracts and double finesses.