Let's Play Bridge

It is traditional for players to sit across from each other at the bridge table—with partners sitting directly across from one another. The players' positions at the table are referred to as “North,” “South,” “East,” and “West.” North and South would be partners as would East and West. Players should take their places at the table in their proper seating positions.

A standard 52-card deck is used and Aces are high.

In this game, the suits have a rank in terms of how powerful they are when trick-taking starts. The order of rank is Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs. This is easy to remember if you notice that the rank of the suits is in reverse alphabetical order: S, H, D, C. The most powerful cards (highest ranking) in a suit are King, Queen, Jack, and 10. These cards are called the “honor” cards—the rest are referred to as “spot” cards.

The dealer is chosen by drawing cards from the deck. The players that draw the two highest cards become partners as do the players drawing the lowest cards. If two players draw the same card—let's say they each draw a Queen—the tie is broken by the highest suit.

The dealer shuffles the cards and the person to the dealer's right cuts the cards. The dealer then deals out all the cards one by one to each player. With each hand the deal rotates in a clockwise direction.

It is tradition to use two decks of cards, but there is only one deck in play at a time. The second deck is shuffled by the dealer's partner and set aside for the next hand. This is just a way to save a little time from hand-to-hand.

Tricks and Bids

Bridge is a trick-taking game, meaning that when the cards are dealt and the bidding completed, players lay down one card at a time in an effort to take other players' cards. You do this by taking one card from your hand and placing it face-up in the center of the table—there are a total of 13 tricks in a game as there are 13 cards in each player's hand. The player who lays down the most powerful card in terms of rank and suit wins the trick. When playing a trick, players are required to follow the suit of the lead card. The lead card is the first card put on the table by a player.

When the cards are dealt the bidding begins. Bidding is the most important part of the game because it “writes” the contract for the game. The bidding identifies the number of tricks and whether or not there will be a trump suit. You bid according to how many tricks you will try to win during the course of each hand. You score based on whether or not you meet the bid you won (or “the contract you made”). The team that wins the bid is responsible for fulfilling their bid commitment (contract).

Players look at their hands after the cards are dealt and the bidding begins starting with the dealer and rotating to the left. You may call to pass, bid, double, or re­double.

If you don't wish to bid, you say “pass.” If everyone passes, the cards are tossed in and the player on the dealer's left deals a new hand.

In bidding you have to be careful not to overbid or underbid. You are basically guessing based on the cards in your hand (and in the hand of your partner) how many tricks you think you will take during the course of a game. If you guess correctly, you score points. If you don't win as many tricks as you thought, or you go over the amount of tricks you thought you could take, you lose and your opponent scores points.

To win the bid, you have to say that you will take more tricks than the opposing team. In bidding you also decide whether or not there will be a trump suit. You do so by naming the suit and the number of tricks you think you can take during the bidding process. Because there are 13 hands, you must take at least seven tricks to win the game. You are bidding for anything over six. Books are not counted in the bidding process.

So, if you call “one-Spade,” you are saying that you will take seven tricks with Spades as trumps (a book of six tricks plus one additional trick). Likewise, if you call “three-Clubs,” you are expected to win nine tricks with Clubs as trumps (one book or six tricks and an additional three tricks). You can also bid “no trumps”; you do so by saying “three no trump.” This bid means you are expected to take nine tricks and no trump suit. The maximum you can bid is seven. If you bid seven, it means you are actually winning 13 tricks (all the tricks you can play in one hand).

Bidding Rules

Bidding starts with the dealer. Partners may not directly speak to each other regarding how they think they should bid, but you'll know what's going on with your partner by how he or she bids. For example: The dealer goes first. If the dealer says “pass,” he or she is basically communicating a bad hand. If you bid one Heart, you are telling your opponent that you have a decent hand and enough Hearts to want to make Hearts the trump suit. The first bid is called the “opening bid.”

If everyone else at the table passes, you have just made the contract and you must win seven tricks with Hearts as trumps. If another player decides to enter the bidding (also called an auction), he or she may bid to take a higher number of tricks, or bid that he or she will take the same number of tricks, but with a higher-ranking “strain.” The strains are “no trumps” and “trumps.” “No trumps” ranks the highest and the suits follow according to their rank (remember reverse alphabetical order: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs).

So, the next player to bid might say “one Spade” and outbid you because Spades rank higher than Hearts. Or the player can bid “one no trump” and because “no trump” is the highest strain, that call would still outbid the one-Heart call. It's okay to outbid your partner.

You must always make a higher bid than the previous one, so pay careful attention to the card-suit combinations and learn which suit beats which. A player may rejoin the auction after passing as long as he or she re-enters with a higher bid than the previous bid. The bidding continues until there are three consecutive passes—the last high­­est bid wins and play begins. The player that wins the bid is called the “declarer.” The declarer's partner is called the “dummy.” The final winning bid is the “contract.”

Doubles and Redoubles

There are two other options in the bidding process. You can double and redouble. To double means you are doubling the bid of the last caller (bidder). So if one of your opponents calls “two-Diamonds” and you think you can double it, then you call doubles. If the following bids are three passes, the final contract is two-Diamonds doubled. This means that the declarer is saying he can take eight tricks during the game.

If the declarer, and his or her partner, fails to meet the contract, they will pay an additional penalty for bidding the double. The point of doubling is to increase the scoring value of tricks. Doubles can be outbid. For example, if a three-Clubs bid is made and then doubled, it can still be outbid by a three-Hearts bid. You can only double an opponent's bid—not a partner's bid.

You can also choose to redouble. You can redouble the last bid if it was made by you or your partner, if it was doubled by an opponent, and if it has not been re­doubled before. Redoubling is another means to increase the scoring value and is not the final word in bidding. Like with doubling, you can outbid a redouble with normal bidding methods.

The Play

When the bidding is complete, play begins with the player to the dealer's left, who leads the first trick. After the opening card is laid face-up in the center of the table, the dummy exposes his or her cards arranged neatly according to suit. The cards should be placed on the dummy's right (declarer's left). Play then proceeds to the left (clockwise).

Each player must try to lay down a card that follows the suit of the lead card. If the declarer lays down a Diamond, you must lay down a Diamond as well. If you don't have a Diamond, you may lay down a card of another suit. The goal is to try to win the tricks away from the declarer so that he or she cannot meet the contract. The trick is won by the highest trump, or if this is a no-trumps game, the winner of the trick is the person who lays down the highest card of the suit led. The winner of one trick leads the next trick.

The dummy does not take an active part in the play of the hand. The declarer plays the card exposed by the dummy by telling the dummy, and the opponents, which card is to be played by the dummy's hand. The dummy then plays the card announced by the declarer. The dummy may not comment during play. If a dummy card wins the trick, the declarer will tell the dummy what card to lead to the next trick. If the declarer fails to say the name of the suit or rank of the card to be played, the dummy must play the lowest-ranking card in his or her hand.

Contract Bridge is often referred to as Rubber Bridge. A rubber is the best two out of three games. The game is won when a team scores 100 (or more) points over a series of hands.

Scoring

Divide the paper into two columns headed “We” and “They.” Then draw a horizontal line halfway down the page, across the two columns. Scores for successfully won contracts are recorded below the line and count toward winning the game. Bonuses and penalties (overtricks and undertricks) are recorded above the line—but these points do not count toward winning the game.

A side that has won a game is said to be “vulnerable.” Vulnerability will get you some additional bonus points if you succeed again—but you will also get increased penalties if you don't meet a contract.

If you successfully complete the contract (meet the bid you made at the beginning of the game), you score points for your team. The points are based on the bid you made above six tricks.

For example:

• If trumps, Clubs or Diamonds—you win 20 points per trick.
• If trumps, Hearts or Spades—you win 30 points per trick.
• If no trumps—you win 40 points for the first trick and 30 for each additional trick.
• If the contract was doubled—the points are doubled.
• If the contract was doubled and redoubled—the points are multiplied by four.
• If you succeed in doubling a contract—you score 50 bonus points above the line. This is referred to as “50 for the insult.”
• If you succeed in redoubling a contract—you score 100 bonus points above the line.

If the declarer goes over the number of tricks bid (without doubles), he or she will score extra points according to the regular scoring rules (20 points per trick if minor suit is trumps and 30 points per trick if major suit is trumps or if there are no trumps). Overtrick points are scored above the line. If the contract is doubled or redoubled, overtrick points are scored above the line according to vulnerability. If a team is not vulnerable and declared doubles, the above-the-line score is 100. If a team is vulnerable, the score is 200. If the bid is redoubled and the team is not vulnerable, they score 200 points and if vulnerable—400 points.

Penalties are recorded if fewer tricks are won than you actually bid. Neither side scores anything below the line, but the declarer's opponents score above the line. The opposing team's score depends on the vulnerability of the team and whether or not the points were doubled or redoubled:

• If not vulnerable and not doubled: 50 points to opponents.
• If vulnerable and not doubled: 100 points to opponents.
• If not vulnerable and doubled, the first undertrick scores 100 points.
• If vulnerable and doubled, the first undertrick scores 200 points.
• If not vulnerable and doubled, the second and third undertricks score 200 points each.
• If vulnerable and doubled, the second and third undertricks score 300 points each.
• Whether vulnerable or not vulnerable and doubled, each subsequent undertricks (over three) scores 300 points each.
• Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled undertricks.

If you win 12 contracted tricks, it's called a “small slam.” If you win all 13 contracted tricks, it's called a “grand slam.” A small slam will get you 500 extra points if you are not vulnerable and 750 points if you are vulnerable. A grand slam will score 1,000 points if you are not vulnerable and 1,500 if you are.

When either side wins two out of three games, the round is over. The side that wins two games in a row is said to “win the rubber.”

The winner of the rubber scores 500 points if their opponents have won a game, and 700 points if their opponents have not won a game. All above- and below-the-line points are added up and the side that scores the most points wins the difference between its score and its opponents' score. If you're playing for money, you can transfer the difference in points to the difference in coins!

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Family Games © 2002 by BookEnds, LLC. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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