The Table
Four players, two partnerships, thirteen cards each. What a trick is, why you follow suit, what a trump does. You'll count your hand's points, sit as declarer with a dummy face up for the first time, and play a full hand in the first hour.
♠ Self-paced course · Absolute beginners welcome
Learn bridge
in a weekend
Never played, or played once decades ago and it never stuck. Either way, no card game background needed. In two replays, at your own pace, you'll go from a shuffled deck to your first real hand of bridge, bid and played in front of you, card by card.
Self-paced. Start anytime.
Two replays, Day 1 and Day 2, covering all four sessions of the weekend.
The replays are ready the moment you enroll.
Two replays, Day 1 and Day 2. You see your first real hand played early in Day 1, and by the end of Day 2 you can follow a full deal, bidding, play and defense, and know why each card was chosen.
♠ The problem
Most bridge courses teach you to memorize. This one teaches you to play.
Bridge has a reputation, and it's mostly earned by how it gets taught. Weeks of rules before anyone deals you a hand. A convention before you've learned what a trick is. By the time you're supposed to feel confident, you've forgotten the first thing you learned.
Here's the other way. Play first, with the smallest version of the game. Add one idea at a time, right when you need it. By the middle of your first session, you've already played a hand. By the end of Day 2, you're bidding and playing a full deal on your own.
Not forty rules. Twelve solid ones, taught in order, at a table, cards on the screen the whole time.
♠ What you get out of it
Before Day 1 you can't play. By the end of Day 2 you can.
Before Day 1
- You've heard bridge is the best card game there is, and never had a way in
- Thirteen cards in your hand look like a lot of cards
- "Trick", "trump", "dummy", "declarer": words, not things you've done
- You've never bid, because nobody ever explained what a bid says
After Day 2
- You've followed ten deals bid and played on screen, worked out the next card before it was played, and seen every hand explained
- You count a hand in ten seconds, and you know what the number is for
- You open the bidding, answer partner, and land in the right contract most of the time
- You stop before the first trick and make a plan, the way good players do
- You choose an opening lead by rule, not by hope
- You know exactly where your next lesson lives
Ten deals bid, played and explained on screen. Two replays covering all four sessions of the weekend, ready the moment you enroll. A workbook you write in, and the cheat sheet beside you. Bring nothing but a pencil and the time to watch.
♥ Try it now
Count this hand
An ace is worth 4, a king 3, a queen 2, a jack 1. How many high card points is this hand?
♠A K 7 4
♥Q 10 6
♦9 5 3
♣K 8 2
♣ Before you start
Try three free quizzes first
Each one pairs a short video lesson with a few hands to work through. If you enjoy these, the full course walks you through the same idea in two replays with a teacher.
Count your points
Watch lesson four, then count five hands.
Try the quizYour first bid
Watch lesson six, then open five hands.
Try the quizResponding to partner
Watch lesson seven, then answer partner on six hands.
Try the quiz♦ The course, session by session
Four sessions. Real cards the whole way.
Every session gets you to a table before it ends. Tap a session to see what happens in it.
Session 1Block 1 · The Table+
- Four players, two partnerships, thirteen cards each. What a trick is and why you must follow suit
- Trumps: watch a small spade beat an ace
- Counting a hand: ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1
- The dummy goes face up. You play your first hand of Minibridge in the first hour
- Scoring in five minutes, and the one number (100) that explains why bridge has an auction
Session 2Block 2 · The Language+
- The auction is a conversation. Each bid is a short sentence about your hand
- What opens the bidding, and what partner says back
- Finding a fit, adding up to 25, and landing in game or stopping short
- Two full deals bid and played at the table, a third bid step by step on screen
Session 1Block 3 · Declarer's Plan+
- Stop before the first trick. Count. Plan. Then play
- In notrump, count your winners. In a suit, count your losers
- The long suit, the finesse, and when to draw trumps
- Two deals at the table with you working out declarer's plan before it's played, two more walked through card by card
Session 2Block 4 · The Defenders, and the Whole Game+
- Half of bridge is defending. What to lead, and the two rules that decide most of the rest
- One signal to partner, and why returning partner's suit wins
- When the opponents open first: what an overcall is, what a double is, and where to learn the rest
- Graduation: two deals bid and played with no coaching
Between sessions: a five-minute piece of homework in the workbook.
♣ What you will learn
Four blocks, two hours each, across the two replays
The Language
The auction is a conversation, not a memory test. You'll learn what makes a hand worth opening, how to answer partner's bid, and how the two of you land on a game contract or stop short of one. By the end of this block, you'll have bid two deals at the table and a third step by step on screen.
Declarer's Plan
Before playing to the first trick, you stop and make a plan. You'll count winners in notrump, count losers in a suit contract, know when to draw trumps, and watch a finesse turn a fifty-fifty guess into real chances.
The Defenders, and the Whole Game
Half of every bridge session, you're defending, not declaring. You'll learn what to lead, the two rules behind almost every defensive decision, and what to do when the opponents open first. Then you watch two full deals played with no coaching and call each decision first.
♠ Why this game
Why people who learn bridge keep playing it for decades
♠
A workout every hand
Every deal asks you to count, infer, remember what's been played and plan three tricks ahead. It is the chess of card games, and unlike chess, the puzzle changes every deal.
♥
A partner, not a screen
You play with someone. Every bid is a message to your partner and every hand is a conversation you have together, against two people having their own.
♦
A table in every city
Clubs all over the country, tournaments most months, and online tables at any hour. Learn it once and you have a standing invitation anywhere you travel.
♣
Cheap to play, impossible to finish
A deck of cards and three friends is all it takes. Decades in, the game is still teaching you something.
♠
The social hour is built in
A club game is three hours in a room full of tables. Regulars know each other by first name and by favorite convention.
♥
A skill you keep
You're not memorizing a system that will change next year. What you learn in this course is how tournament players play it today, and it stays learned.
♥ At the table
This is what the room looks like
♦ Who this is for
Who should be at the table
This is for you if
- You've never played a hand of bridge in your life
- You played once, years ago, and remember almost none of it
- No card game background, and that doesn't worry you
- You want real hands, not a list of rules
- You'd rather learn the whole game fast, not a few minutes a day for months
This is probably not for you if
- You already open, respond, and play out a hand with confidence. Look at the live workshops and the convention series instead
- You're hoping this course teaches conventions like Stayman or transfers. Those come after, once the whole game is under you
What you'll need: A laptop, a desktop or an iPad. Not a phone: the cards need the screen.
♣ What's included
What's in the course
- Two replays, Day 1 and Day 2, covering all four sessions of the weekend
- The Student Workbook, a PDF to print at home
- The cheat sheet
- The $25 Stayman Workshop, free with the course, waiting in your course area with the two replays
♠ How the course runs
The rhythm of every block
Each block builds toward the table: teaching in short pieces, cards on the table before the block ends. Every block ends the same way too: one sentence each on what you learned, a short piece of homework, a look at what's next.
You're not watching a lecture. You're watching a real table, card by card, and working out the next play right along with it, every block.
♦ A bonus, yours
The course is only the start.
Every enrollment comes with one thing beyond the two replays: the next convention you'll learn.
Bonus one
The Stayman Workshop, free
Stayman is the first convention most new players learn, and it's the $25 workshop that comes next after this course. It comes free with the course and is waiting in your course area alongside the two replays. Inside: four to five hours of video with Tracey, the workbook, a two-page cheat sheet, and hands to practice on.
See what's in the Stayman Workshop♠ Instructor
Taught by Tracey Bauer
Where you're starting is where I started. Spades expert, learned bridge in my thirties, won the WBF Women's Spring Festival twice, and I still remember the first hand.
I learned bridge in my thirties, after years as a Spades expert, and it clicked the first time I sat down. Before that, 33 years in the optical and luxury business taught me the real difference between an expert who gatekeeps and one who hands you the whole thing straight. I teach this course the second way.
I'm a two-time WBF Women's Spring Festival Champion (2020 and 2022), and this course is built the way tournament players actually learn: at a real table, with real hands, not a lecture first. By the end of Day 2, you'll have followed ten real deals and be ready to sit down at a table of your own.
Two-time WBF Women's Spring Festival Champion (2020 and 2022)
♦ Pricing
The Whole Game, Self-Paced
$97one time
- Two replays, Day 1 and Day 2, covering all four sessions of the weekend
- The Student Workbook, a PDF to print at home
- The cheat sheet
- The $25 Stayman Workshop, free with the course, waiting in your course area with the two replays
- Yours for the lifetime of Bridge Unleashed
- All sales are final, no refunds
♣ Questions
Before you enroll
Why not just take the ACBL beginner course instead?
You can, and it's a fine way to learn. But here's the difference: self-paced, not weeks of scheduled classes. The same champion teaching every session. You follow real hands, card by card, from the very first session.
I have never played a card game in my life. Is that a problem?
No. Block 1 starts with what a trick is and builds from there. You need curiosity and a pencil, not a card game background.
Do I need a bridge partner to sign up?
No. You watch one table, card by card, and work out each play yourself. Signing up with a friend is welcome too, but it isn't required.
What do I actually need to get started?
A laptop, a desktop or an iPad, not a phone: the cards need the screen. The workbook, the cheat sheet and a pencil help, but nothing else.
Can I go at my own pace?
Yes. Watch the two replays whenever and however fast you like, all in one sitting or a few days apart. They build on each other, so we suggest watching Day 1 before Day 2.
What happens after the course?
You'll know how to bid, play, and defend a full hand. The Stayman Workshop comes free with the course and is waiting in your course area. The rest, like Jacoby Transfers, lives in the live workshops and the convention series. This course gets you to the door of that room.
What's the refund policy?
All sales are final, no refunds. Your access is yours for the lifetime of Bridge Unleashed.
♥ Share it or give it
Bring someone to the table.
Bridge is better with people you already like. Send this page to a friend, a partner, a colleague, or your kids, and learn together.
Give the course as a gift.
Check out in your own name, then reply to the confirmation email with the recipient's name and email address. We send them the welcome note, and it's set up under their name.
Buy it as a giftSend the link.
One tap copies the page link, or opens your phone's share sheet.
♠ Self-paced
Never-played to your first real hand, at your own pace
Two replays, Day 1 and Day 2, watch whenever you like. You'll finish able to bid, play, and defend a full hand of bridge, taught by a two-time WBF Women's Spring Festival Champion.