"Small Seeds of Greatness" by Marti Ronemus

Surely you've been wondering how the iconic Route 66 came into being, haven't you? Me too. Here's the story: During the gold rush in the mid 1800s, the infinitely-wise Congress realized some sort of road was needed to handle all the traffic. They commissioned Ned Beale to survey and supervise the building of a stretch of road from Colorado to New Mexico.

And just to make things even more interesting, Beale used camels, rather than horses, for his project. SO!! That most symbolic of American highways began life as a camel trail.

And how about your iconic bridge game? A little brush up?

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ A K
♥ 8 7 6 5
♦ 8 6 4 3 2
♣ A Q

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
1♦	1♥	Dbl	p
?

A: 1 No-trump: Honestly. Talk about being caught on the trail with no camel. Our Pard's Negative Double cannot be passed. In order to bid No-trump, we like to have stoppers in their suit. BUT!! We really have no practical choice. In some competitive auctions, we have to bid it, despite the lack of a Heart stopper.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ 4 3
♥ 8 4
♦ A K 10 7 6 5 4
♣ K 7

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♣	Dbl	2♣
?

A: 3 No-trump: Pard made a Take Out Double. He's got an opening-ish hand with shortness in Clubs and great tolerance for the other suits. We have 8-ish tricks in our own hand on a Club lead. This is a darn good shot, so let's take it.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ Q 10 9 8
♥ 4
♦ K J 9 8 7 6
♣ J 8

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	p
1♠	p	3♣	p
?

A: 3 No-trump: Pard's jump shift put us in a game-force auction. There's no point in bidding our Diamonds, as they will be useful in No-trump, more so than 5♦. Let's just bid our cheapest game and travel on to the next rest stop.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ A Q J 4 3
♥ K 9
♦ J 3 2
♣ 8 5 4

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	p
1♠	p	2♠	p
?

A: 3♠: In Spades, we've got an invitational hand. Pard has a minimum 12-14. We know we've got a nine-card trump fit. Pard's points certainly have to be somewhere other than Spades, so we've got a real shot at this. Make it Pard's problem.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ A Q 10
♥ 6 5 3 2
♦ A Q 8 5
♣ 9 4

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	-	p
1♦	1♥	Dbl	P
?

A: 1♠: We don't like 1 No-trump because of the quality of Hearts and Clubs. Pard's Negative Double shows the black suits. We hate Clubs. Our Spades are fabulous though. If you're uncomfortable bidding the Spades, tuck one of your Clubs in with them.

Well, now that we've surveyed the road, we're ready to travel to our hand. Saddle up the camels.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Play this Hand

Now that you've bid five hands, let's see how your play goes.

Play on ANY Device

Overall Results

Your results: out of Average:

What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
More informations on our website: www.VuBridge.com

Rate yourself:

0 - 40%	We applaud your effort. Review the subject and try again. You'll be surprised how much better you'll do. We're here for you!!
41 - 50%	Buy your mentor a cuppa and ask for clarification on the ones you got wrong. No mentor? Make finding one a priority!
51 - 60%	Nice improvement! One more review and you'll have this down solid!
61 - 80%	What a good job! All that's left is some fine tuning
Over 80%	Wow! It's time for you to become a mentor. Find someone who needs help and share your knowledge!