Contract Bridge - The Card Game

2 Conversations

Bridge is a card game traditionally played by little old ladies whilst waiting for afternoon tea, but there are also many thriving university bridge clubs and an annual student bridge festival in the UK.

A hand of contract bridge is divided into two stages: the auction and the card play. These are here described in reverse order, since some understanding of the later is necessary in order to see the point of the former. After both these, scoring and tactics will be discussed.

The Basics

Before that, however, it is necessary to understand the following. (Tricks and trumps are explained in the card game entry).

Partnership

Bridge is played by four players, designated North, South, East and West. North and South are partners, meaning they sit opposite each other and work together. The same goes for East and West. Partners do not get to see each other's cards1 and any communication except that mentioned below is against the rules.

The Deal

The normal pack of 52 cards is used, or more commonly two packs, preferably with different backs so that they don't get mixed up. Thirteen cards are dealt to each player (meaning the entire pack is used), the cards a player has are known as that player's hand. It is common practice for the dealer's partner to shuffle the other pack and pass it to the player on his right (dealer's left), who will deal the next hand. Some players will also insist that the player on dealer's right should cut the pack once before the deal.

The Contract

The contract is what connects the auction and the card play. At the end of the auction, one of players will have 'declared' a contract, which will be something like 'One spade', 'Five diamonds' or 'Two no-trumps redoubled'. These are written '1S', '5D' and '2NT XX' respectively.

The first part of the contract indicates the number of tricks declarer and declarer's partner (known as dummy, for reasons to be explained later) need to make. You may be thinking, 'One trick? Dead easy!' but it doesn't work like that; 'one' actually means seven tricks need to be made and 'two' means eight and so on up to 'seven', which means that all 13 tricks must be taken. Notice that if declarer and dummy take seven tricks, the opposition (called the defenders) take six, so this is the lowest number you can take and still have the majority of the tricks.

The second part indicates what trumps will be, with 'no trumps' meaning there aren't any. If the contract was well bid, the choice of trumps will favour declarer (and dummy). If not, well it's not unknown for the defence to win every trick.

The contract may also have a third part, either 'doubled' or 'redoubled', which will be mentioned in bidding below.

The Card Play

The defender on declarers left leads. This can be a very tactical part of the game, as the auction will probably have given the player some idea of the holdings (what cards everyone has).

After the lead, dummy puts his hand on the table. Yes, that's right, face up, so everyone can see what he or she has got. Dummy does not actually decide which of his own cards to play; declarer does (I told you there was a reason for the name 'dummy'). Generally dummy's job is either to play the cards declarer tells him to or to go to the bar.

Play continues as in many card games, clockwise until each player has played a card. All players must follow suit if possible and the highest card of that suit wins (Ace is high, by the way) unless a trump is played, then the highest trump wins. Playing a trump when another suit was led is known as 'ruffing'. Whoever wins that trick then has to lead the next card. It should be noted that if declarer wins with a card from his hand, he must then play a card from his hand and if he wins with a card from the dummy's hand then he must play a card from dummy.

Often, players will place the cards they play face down on the table in front of them instead of throwing them onto one pile in the middle. This is so that the hand can be discussed later or possibly passed to another four players for them to play. To keep track of who's won how many tricks, if you or your partner win the trick, you should place the card you played the right way up and if the opposition won, it should be on its side.

When all the cards have been played, we see who won and who lost. Obviously, declarer wins if the contract is made and the defenders win if not. Points may well be scored as well, as discussed below.

The Auction

Clearly, what you want from the auction is for you or partner to have declared a contract you'll make, so you might think a low contract is good. Well, not necessarily, because you do much better in a 'game' contract. These are three no trumps, four of a major suit (hearts or spades) or five of a minor (diamonds or clubs). In fact, players will go for a game contract with only a 50-50 or less chance of making.

Even better than game is a slam, either six (a small slam) or seven (a grand slam) of a suit or no trumps. It is generally advisable to go for a slam only if it has a very good chance of making. Naturally, this all depends on which scoring system is in use.

Bidding

The general idea is that players name a contract they think they may have a chance of making until no-one will bid any higher, but what counts as higher? A higher number beats a lower number, unsurprisingly, but also the suits have an order: Clubs are the lowest, then diamonds, hearts, spades and finally no trumps is the highest. A player who does not wish to bid can pass and if a bid is followed by three passes (or No Bids), then that bid is the contract. Please note that passing does not prevent a player from bidding later on, should one of the other players bid.

A player may think the contract his opponents have bid is unlikely to make, either because they bid badly or because he has an unlikely collection of cards which could put something of a spanner in the works. For example a long suit may enable a player to take more tricks than might be otherwise expected, especially if it is the trump suit, but also a void may allow him to ruff in. In this case the player will often double (represented by an X). However, either declarer or his partner may be confident in the contract, in which case they will probably redouble (XX). Alternatively, any other bid that is high enough may be made. Note that for a doubled or redoubled contract to be declared, it must be followed by three passes, so whoever bid before the double will get a chance to bid something else.

In order to ensure the right contract is bid (and any communication other than bidding is not allowed), players have developed systems to indicate to their partners what cards they hold.

It may be a good idea to split the page here - getting a bit lengthy now

Bridge Bidding Systems

Your bidding system is the means of communicating the worth of your hand to partner, and receiving information about his hand in return.

Remember
Always agree with your partner beforehand about what bidding system you are playing, otherwise it will lead to terrible confusion

It would be futile to try and reproduce the many reams that have been written about bidding technique here. Instead, we will focus on the most commonly-used and easily-understood system, 5-Card Majors (5CM). This is used in all of North America and much of Europe. The UK, being slow to catch on as they are, still use the predecessor of 5CM, called ACOL. The weaknesses of this will be described during the bidding advice.

Assessing Your Hand

A basic method of determining the strength of a hand is by assigning it a points value thus:

High Card Points (HCPs)
For each ace you hold, count4 points
For each king,3 points
For each queen,2 points
For each jack,1 point

In addition to this, it is important to consider the distribution of a hand. Distributions are notated by the numbers of cards in each suit, separated by dashes. Therefore a
4-4-3-2 distribution would imply 4 spades, 4 hearts, 3 diamonds and 2 clubs (or 4 diamonds, 4 spades, 3 hearts and 2 clubs, or any similar pemutations).

Hands with any of the following distributions are considered Balanced: 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, 5-3-3-2. If you have any 6-card or 7-card suits, you will want to be playing them as trumps if possible, so look to steer the auction that way (see note on pre-emptive bidding below)

Opening Bids

The opening bid is defined as the first bid to be made for the partnership. Therefore, if your partner or your opponents have already made a bid, different rules will apply. If you are the first to bid, add up your HCPs and proceed as follows:

If you have less than 12 HCPs: Pass. Sorry, but you have a weak hand and must wait for someone else. There are only two exceptions to this rule:

  1. If you have 6 cards of a major suit (spades or hearts), and more than 3 points. Your hand is perfect for a weak two bid. This is a bid at the two-level of your suit. The purpose of the weak two is to interfere with your opponents' bidding (if you have few points, they must have lots) - it is pre-emptive, while still giving you a good chance of making eight tricks if everyone else passes. Remember the Law Of Total Tricks: If you and your partner have eight trumps between you, you have a good chance of making eight tricks. Therefore, you are only relying on partner to have two cards in your suit.
  2. If you have 7 (or more) cards of any suit, and less than ten HCPs2, you can bid a weak three. This serves the same purpose as the weak two, but bidding at the three-level interferes even more with your opponents.

If you have 12-14 HCPs: This is where it gets interesting3. If you have a 5-card (or more) major suit, bid it at the one-level. If you do not have a five-card major suit, bid your better minor suit (the one with most cards). Note that this may mean you are bidding only a 3-card suit. This is not a problem, as your partner will be playing the same system, and will recognise that you may not have many cards in that minor suit.

This may sound a little perverse, but the system needs to be considered in terms of making game (resulting in large scores). To make game in a minor suit, you need to bid and make 11 tricks, whereas you only need 10 in a major suit. Therefore, if possible, you want to end up in a major-suited contract, and are making great progress towards that by bidding a 5-card suit.

If you have 15-17 HCPs: Firstly, consider the distribution of your hand. If it is balanced, then you have the perfect hand for a 1NT opening. No Trumps represent an especially good contract, as you only need to make 9 tricks (bidding 3 tricks) for game. A bid of 1NT in the 15-17HCP range is known as a Strong No Trump. Some players prefer to play a Weak No Trump (12-14HCPs), but Strong is recommended for beginners. If your hand is unbalanced then, bid one of your 5-card majors or your better minor as above.

If you have 18-19 HCPs: Funnily enough, the advice for this is the same as 12-14 (above). You cannot describe your hand fully with one bid, but you will get a better chance when it comes to your rebid.

If you have 20-22 HCPs: Bid 2NT if your hand is vaguely balanced. You need not be too strict here, as this is a forcing4 bid. If your hand is very unbalanced, bid 2D. This is an artificial bid (because it doesn't necessarily promise strong diamonds), and is also forcing.

If you have 23+ HCPs: Who's a lucky boy then? With this hand you should bid 2C. This is another artificial and forcing bid, which is generally recognised as showing a very strong hand.

Response Bids

Response Bids are made when your partner has opened the bidding. You now need to know what to say back to him, in order to illustrate your hand. The prime consideration when responding is to find a fit. It is considered that if the partnership holds eight or more cards of a suit between them, then they have a fit, meaning they can play that suit as trumps at the two-level (eight tricks - see the Law of Total Tricks above). With this in mind, we will approach the response bids, easiest first:

If you have less than 5 HCPs: Unfortunately, you should pass, unless your partner has made a forcing bid or your hand has a very long suit. In the latter case, bid that suit at the lowest possible level.

If your partner opens 1H/1S: You know by this, that he is showing a 5-card suit, and at least 12 points (or 2 long suits, remembering the rule of 19, above). If you have three-card (or more) support (if, say, he has opened 1S, and you have three spades in your hand, you should show that support by similarly responding spades. At the same time, you can show the strength of your hand thus (examples are in spades for convenience):

  • Bid 2S if you have 5-8 HCPs
  • Bid 3S if you have 9-12 HCPs
  • Bid 4S if you have 13+ HCPs

It will be noted that the last bid of this sequence is game in spades. This will be have a very good chance of drawing you ten tricks, as you know that the partnership has 25 points between them, which is generally considered as the approximate total needed for a game bid.

Still Very Much Under Construction. Be Patient.

1Unless you're playing over the Internet and the two of you are in the same room, whilst your opponents are in a different continent.2An important concept here is the rule of 19. If your number of HCPs added to the number of cards in your two longest suits is 19 or greater, then you have an opening hand. These should not be used for pre-emptive purposes but should initally be bid as if you have 12 HCPs3About time too, I hear you say4 A forcing bid is one that means your partner has to bid something (not Pass) in reply, even if his hand is rubbish.

Bookmark on your Personal Space


Entry

A759206

Infinite Improbability Drive

Infinite Improbability Drive

Read a random Edited Entry


Written by

Edited by

h2g2 Editors

References

h2g2 Entries

Disclaimer

h2g2 is created by h2g2's users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the Not Panicking Ltd. Unlike Edited Entries, Entries have not been checked by an Editor. If you consider any Entry to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please register a complaint. For any other comments, please visit the Feedback page.

Write an Entry

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."

Write an entry
Read more