ACBL - Llano Estacado Unit # 197

06/18/2026

Thursday in the AJ!

06/17/2026

Wednesday in the AJ!

06/17/2026

06/16/2026

Tuesday in the AJ!

06/16/2026

Do you look forward to “It’s Your Call” each week on Facebook? A new hand can now be delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday. You will also receive a link to the detailed expert opinion on the bid!

Visit the link to join the mailing list! http://bit.ly/3Lg1sg1

06/15/2026

Every bridge table has one.

The overthinker.
The postmortem queen.
The convention nerd.
And the one who somehow still makes the contract.

Bridge doesn’t just reveal your card skills.
It reveals your personality.

Which one are you?

06/15/2026

Monday in the AJ!

06/14/2026

06/13/2026

Saturday in the AJ!

06/13/2026

Most bridge players know the Rule of 20.

Fewer know who deserves the credit.

According to bridge author and teacher Mel Colchamiro, the original concept came from Tillie Epstein, one of his students in the early 1980s. When Mel taught beginning duplicate players, he encouraged opening hands where your HCP plus the lengths of your two longest suits reached a certain threshold. Tillie famously replied:

“That’s 20.”

The name stuck.

Over time, the Rule of 20 became one of the most popular guidelines for opening light. But Mel believed it had a flaw.

The Rule of 20 sometimes encourages us to open hands filled with Queens and Jacks while ignoring a more important question:

Can this hand actually take tricks?

That led Mel Colchamiro to create his famous Rule of 22:

✔ HCP + lengths of your two longest suits = 20 or more

PLUS

✔ At least 2 defensive tricks

Because bridge isn’t just about counting points.

It’s about counting tricks.

The Rule of 20 tells you when a hand might qualify.

Mel’s Rule of 22 helps determine whether it should.

Have you started using the Rule of 22 in your own game?