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 before the break.
♠ Live weekend 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 four live sessions across one Saturday and Sunday, you'll go from a shuffled deck to your first real hand of bridge, bid and played, at a real table.
Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20, 2026
8:00 to 10:00 AM Pacific and 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM Pacific, both days.
Live on Zoom, cards on BridgeChamp.
Seats are final. Every session is recorded, so a missed morning is never a lost one. Just 24 seats. Flagged 4
The first session starts in 0 days 0 hours 0 minutes
Two mornings, four sessions. You play a real hand before Saturday's first break, and by Sunday lunchtime you bid, play and defend a full deal on your own.
♠ 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 Sunday lunchtime, you're bidding and playing a full deal on your own.
Not forty rules. Twelve solid ones, taught in order, at a table, cards in your hand the whole time.
♠ What you get out of it
Saturday at 8:00 you can't play. Sunday at 12:30 you can.
Saturday, 8:00 AM
- 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
Sunday, 12:30 PM
- You've played ten deals at your own table, bid four of them from the first call, and defended two from the opening lead
- 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 played at your own table, four replays emailed within 24 hours, a workbook you've written in, and a certificate for your first hand. Flagged 7 Bring nothing but a laptop, a pencil, and a free weekend.
♥ 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
♦ The weekend, hour by hour
Two mornings. 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.
8:00 to 10:00 AM PacificBlock 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 before the break
- Scoring in five minutes, and the one number (100) that explains why bridge has an auction
10:30 AM to 12:30 PM PacificBlock 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 your table, a third bid together on screen, a fourth to take home
8:00 to 10:00 AM PacificBlock 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 your table as declarer, two more walked through card by card
10:30 AM to 12:30 PM PacificBlock 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, a third to take home, and your certificate Flagged 7
Between sessions: a 30-minute break each morning, with a five-minute piece of homework in the workbook.
♣ What you will learn
Four blocks, two hours each, one weekend
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 your table, bid a third together on screen, and taken a fourth home to bid yourself.
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'll bid and play two full deals with no coaching, and take a third home.
♠ 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 this weekend 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 to actually play, not watch a video about playing
- You'd rather learn the whole game in one weekend than 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 weekend teaches conventions like Stayman or transfers. Those come after, once the whole game is under you
What you'll need: a laptop or tablet, not a phone, so you can see the table clearly alongside Zoom.
♣ What's included
What's in the weekend
- Four live sessions, two hours each, taught by Tracey
- The printed-or-printable Student Workbook
- All four session replays, emailed within 24 hours
- The practice deals, already loaded on BridgeChamp
- A 30-day follow-up email path
- A certificate for your first hand of bridge Flagged 7
♠ How the weekend runs
The rhythm of every block
Each block builds toward the table: teaching in short pieces, cards in your hand 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 Tracey play bridge. You're playing it, at your own table, every block.
♠ Instructor
Taught by Tracey Bauer
The seat you take on Saturday is the one I sat in. 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 weekend is built the way tournament players actually learn: at the table, with real hands, not a lecture first. By Sunday lunchtime, you'll have played your first real hand of bridge too.
Two-time WBF Women's Spring Festival Champion (2020 and 2022)
♦ Pricing
One Weekend, the Whole Game
$149per seat, one weekend Flagged 2
- Four live sessions, Saturday and Sunday, two hours each
- The Student Workbook, printed or printable
- All four replays, emailed within 24 hours
- Practice deals loaded and ready on BridgeChamp
- A 30-day follow-up email path
- A certificate for your first hand of bridge Flagged 7
- Seats are final, no refunds; all four replays cover any session you miss
Only 24 seats, so every table gets watched. Flagged 4
♣ Questions
Before you save a seat
Why not just take the ACBL beginner course instead?
You can, and it's a fine way to learn. But here's the difference: a weekend, not weeks of scheduled classes. The same champion teaching every session. You play real hands by Saturday lunchtime.
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'll be seated with other students at your table for every hand. Signing up with a friend is welcome too, but it isn't required.
What do I actually need on the day?
A laptop or tablet, not a phone, and a BridgeChamp account made ahead of time. We send the signup steps the day you enroll. The workbook and a pencil help, but nothing else.
What if I can only make part of the weekend?
We'd rather see you at all four sessions, since they build on each other. Miss one and the replay lands in your inbox within 24 hours.
What happens after the weekend?
You'll know how to bid, play, and defend a full hand. What comes next, like Stayman and 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?
Seats are final, no refunds. Every session is recorded, and all four replays are yours for 12 months, so a missed morning is never a lost one. Flagged 8
Why only 24 seats?
So every table actually gets watched, not just talked at. Flagged 4
♥ 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 a seat 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 the Student Workbook, and their seat is held under their name.
Buy a seat as a giftSend the link.
One tap copies the page link, or opens your phone's share sheet.
♠ One weekend
Never-played to your first real hand, in one weekend
Saturday and Sunday, four sessions, one weekend. You'll leave able to bid, play, and defend a full hand of bridge, taught live by a two-time WBF Women's Spring Festival Champion. Just 24 seats. Flagged 4
Seats are final. All four replays included, live for 12 months. Flagged 8