Alrewas Bridge Club

How to Play

Bridge

An introductory course for beginners

By Charles Elliott MBA

How to Play Bridge

Alrewas Bridge Club

We meet every Tuesday

At 2pm

for Beginners and Improvers

And

every Mondays at 2pm

for advanced players

And

Every Wednesdays and Fridays at 2pm

for Advanced and Intermediate Players

For further information please visit our website at

wwwalrewasbridgeclubcouk

Revised January 2015

How to Play Bridge

Alrewas Bridge Club

We meet every Tuesday

At 2pm

for Beginners and Improvers

And

every Mondays at 2pm

for advanced players

And

Every Wednesdays and Fridays at 2pm

for Advanced and Intermediate Players

For further information please visit our website at

wwwalrewasbridgeclubcouk

Revised January 2015

How to Play Bridge

Introduction

Welcome to Alrewas Bridge

Club This book is intended

to give you an introductory

overall picture of the

wonderful intricacies of the

great game of bridge It is

often described as the

lsquoprince of all card gamesrsquo

It might seem a little

complicated at first sight

but donrsquot worry your fellow

members are here to help

and after only few visits to the club you will soon be getting the hang

of it Enjoy

PLAY MINI-BRIDGE

Perhaps the easiest way to learn how to play Bridge is to start with the

very simplest form namely Mini-Bridge You can learn this in just a

few minutes

Introduction to Bridge - Mini-bridge

The game of Mini-bridge is played with a standard pack of 52 playing

cards with the jokers removed

There are four players who sit round a table and are usually identified

by the points of the compass North South East and West They play

as two partnerships North-South and East-West Partners can be

agreed or designated or the cards can be cut to determine who plays

with whom

How to Play Bridge

Mini-bridge is a trick-taking game One player starts by lsquoleadinglsquo or

playing the first card to a trick Each player in turn clockwise

contributes one card to each trick and the highest card played wins the

trick Aces are high followed in order by the king queen jack ten

nine and so on down to the two the lowest card in each suit

There are four suits of these 13 cards

Spades spades and Hearts hearts (the major suits)

Diamonds diams and Clubs clubs (the minor suits)

When playing to a trick each player must lsquofollow suitrsquo with a card of

the suit led if possible

Otherwise they may discard any card they like but a discard cannot

win the trick however high the card chosen The winner of a trick

makes the lead to the next trick

Deals may be played in lsquono trumpsrsquo or with a trump suit ndash one which

is more powerful than the others Say spades are trumps then any

spade beats any card in the other three suits Players must still follow

suit to each trick if they can but when unable to follow instead of

discarding a trump may be played which will win the trick (unless

another player plays a bigger trump card to the trick)

The main feature of Mini-bridge that distinguishes it from whist and

other similar trick-taking games is the existence of a lsquodeclarerrsquo who

decides the lsquocontractrsquo ndash that is the choice of trump suit and a target

number of tricks to be won by the partnership The contract must

always be for at least 7 of the 13 tricks available but a higher target

The difference between major and minor suits will

become important when we learn about the scoring

If you are cutting for partners then the two

players with the highest cards will play together The person drawing the highest

card can have choice of seat

How to Play Bridge

can be set known as a lsquogamersquo contract for which the declaring side

scores more if it is made Initially the target number of tricks will be

determined by the points held

1 - Shuffle and deal

The pack should be shuffled and cut for dealer (highest deals) Dealer

deals out the cards clockwise one by one to the players so that they

have 13 cards each Dealer for the second game will be the next

player clockwise and so on Please note that many teachers will

provide you with pre-dealt hands in bridge boards

2 - Sorting the hand

3 - Counting points

The value of the hand is worked out by counting up the high card

points held using the following scale

Ace = 4 points King = 3 points Queen = 2 points Jack

= 1 point

Note that there are 40 points altogether between the four hands in

each deal

4 - Announcing points

Beginning with the dealer and then in clockwise order each player

announces how many points his or her hand contains The partnership

The players sort the cards in their own Hand into suits and into sequence within

Each suit without showing the cards to the other players

How to Play Bridge

with the most points becomes the declaring side who decide the

contract The other pair are the defending side who try to prevent the

contract being made by making tricks themselves There is a re-deal if

the point distribution between the partnerships turns out to be 2020

5 - The declaring side

The player with the higher number of points in the declaring side

becomes lsquodeclarerrsquo and his partner becomes lsquodummyrsquo If they both

have the same number of points the player who announced points

first is declarer Dummy then lays his or her hand down face up on the

table to face declarer with the suits arranged in columns (see the

following diagram)

6 - Deciding the trump suit

Declarer may choose no trumps or a trump suit If declarer chooses a

trump contract the cards in dummy in the chosen suit are moved to be

on the dummyrsquos right hand side (the left hand end as declarer looks at

them)

How to Play Bridge

7 ndash Declarerrsquos Target

Declarer will attempt as a minimum to take a target number of tricks

based on the points that his side holds

Combined Declarerrsquos tricks target

points No trumps Suit contract

1-22 7 8

23-24 8 9

25-27 9 10

28-32 10 11

33-36 12 12

37+ 13 13

The points held give an indication of the tricks that might be

achieved Note that this is only a guide ndash the point count will be most

accurate in no trump contracts where the hands are often fairly

balanced although this can vary if the defenders manage to establish

tricks in their long suit

In general the possession of a trump suit will result in the hands

making about one trick more than if there were none This will

become important when we move on to bridge (as opposed to mini-

bridge) and consider the scoring table

8 - Play begins

The player on declarerrsquos left plays the first card ie makes the

lsquoopening leadrsquo Play is in clockwise order and players must follow to

the suit led whenever possible The highest card played wins the trick

(unless in a suit contract it is beaten by a trump since trumps

How to Play Bridge

outrank the other three suits) If several rounds of a suit are played

and a player runs out of cards in that suit he or she may discard a card

from another suit (which cannot win the trick) or in a trump

contractcan choose to play a trump (which will win the trick unless it

is beaten by a higher trump)

9 - Taking tricks

Each card is played face up in front of each player in such a way that

everyone can see the cards clearly When a trick is complete the

cards are turned over players placing the lsquoquittedrsquo cards from their

own hands face down on the table in front of themselves in a neat

row To make it easy to see how many tricks have been won or lost

cards in tricks won are placed upright and cards in tricks lost are

placed sideways on The winner of the first trick leads to the second

and so on

10 - Dummy play

Declarer controls the play of dummyrsquos cards telling partner which

card to play when itrsquos dummyrsquos turn Declarerrsquos partner must always

play dummyrsquos cards as instructed and must keep the cards already

played from dummy in correct order and formation Otherwise

dummy takes no part in the play of this particular deal

11 - Play ends

When all the cards have been played the tricks for each side are

counted and agreed and the result is calculated and scored Players

record their score on a score sheet The session can end when an

agreed target total has been reached by one side or after a set number

of deals has been played

How to Play Bridge

12 - The next deal

The position of dealer moves clockwise round the table for each

game

It is a good idea to have two packs of cards available so that the

second pack can be shuffled by the dealerrsquos partner while the first is

being dealt Before starting dealing the next set of hands these cards

should be cut by the player on the new dealerrsquos right

Rubber Bridge Rules

Rubber Bridge (and Contract Bridge which we will be discussing

later) is merely an advanced form of Minbridge

Players and Cards

There are four players in two fixed partnerships Partners sit facing

each other It is traditional to refer to the players according to their

position at the table as North East South and West so North and

South are partners playing against East and West The game is played

clockwise

A standard 52 card pack is used The cards in each suit rank from

highest to lowest A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Deal

The cards are shuffled by the player to dealers left and cut by the

player to dealers right The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time

so that each player has 13 Turn to deal rotates clockwise

It is traditional to use two packs of cards During each deal the

dealers partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right The

dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from

the left and pass them across to the right to be cut Provided all the

players understand and operate it this procedure saves time and helps

to remember whose turn it is to deal as the spare pack of cards is

always to the left of the next dealer

How to Play Bridge

Bidding

There is next an auction to decide who will be the declarer A bid

specifies a number of tricks and a trump suit (or that there will be no

trumps) The side which bids highest will try to win at least that

number of tricks bid with the specified suit as trumps

When bidding the number which is said actually represents the

number of tricks in excess of six which the partnership undertakes to

win For example a bid of two hearts represents a contract to win at

least 8 tricks (8 = 6 + 2) with hearts as trumps

For the purpose of bidding the possible trump suits rank as follows

no trumps (highest) spades hearts diamonds clubs (lowest) A bid

of a larger number of tricks always beats a bid of a smaller number

and if the number of tricks bid are equal the higher suit beats the

lower The lowest bid allowed is one club (to win at least 7 tricks

with clubs as trumps) and the highest is seven no trumps (to win all

13 tricks without trumps

It is also possible during the auction to double a bid by the other

side or to redouble the opponents double Doubling and redoubling

essentially increase the score for the bid contract if won and the

penalties if lost If someone then bids higher any previous doubles

and redoubles are cancelled

Note that doubling does not affect the ranking of a bid - for example a

bid of two spades is always higher than two hearts even if the two

hearts bid has been doubled or redoubled

The dealer begins the auction and the turn to speak passes clockwise

At each turn a player may either

make a bid which must be higher than the previous bid if any

say double if the previous bid was by an opponent and has

not already been doubled

say redouble if the previous bid was by ones own side and

has been doubled by an opponent but not yet redoubled

How to Play Bridge

pass by saying no bid or pass This indicates that the player

does not wish to bid double or redouble on that round but a

player who has passed is still allowed to bid double or redouble

at a later turn NB Either no bid or pass is permissible but

you should stick to one term or the other No bid is usual in

Britain pass is usual in the USA

If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to

be passed out The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals

If anyone bids then the auction continues until there are three passes

in succession and then stops After three consecutive passes the last

bid becomes the contract The team who made the final bid will now

try to make the contract The first player of this team who mentioned

the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the

declarer The declarers partner is known as the dummy

Example of an auction (North dealt)

North East South West

Pass 1 heart double 3 hearts

3 spades Pass 4 spades Pass

Pass Pass

North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps

North who mentioned spades first is the declarer Souths double of

one heart was cancelled by Wests bid of 3 hearts

The Play

The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may

play any card Immediately after this opening lead the dummys cards

are exposed The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits the

cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column

pointing towards the declarer so that all the cards are clearly visible

The trump suit if any should be to dummys right (declarers left) in

the diagram spades are trump

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

Mini-bridge is a trick-taking game One player starts by lsquoleadinglsquo or

playing the first card to a trick Each player in turn clockwise

contributes one card to each trick and the highest card played wins the

trick Aces are high followed in order by the king queen jack ten

nine and so on down to the two the lowest card in each suit

There are four suits of these 13 cards

Spades spades and Hearts hearts (the major suits)

Diamonds diams and Clubs clubs (the minor suits)

When playing to a trick each player must lsquofollow suitrsquo with a card of

the suit led if possible

Otherwise they may discard any card they like but a discard cannot

win the trick however high the card chosen The winner of a trick

makes the lead to the next trick

Deals may be played in lsquono trumpsrsquo or with a trump suit ndash one which

is more powerful than the others Say spades are trumps then any

spade beats any card in the other three suits Players must still follow

suit to each trick if they can but when unable to follow instead of

discarding a trump may be played which will win the trick (unless

another player plays a bigger trump card to the trick)

The main feature of Mini-bridge that distinguishes it from whist and

other similar trick-taking games is the existence of a lsquodeclarerrsquo who

decides the lsquocontractrsquo ndash that is the choice of trump suit and a target

number of tricks to be won by the partnership The contract must

always be for at least 7 of the 13 tricks available but a higher target

The difference between major and minor suits will

become important when we learn about the scoring

If you are cutting for partners then the two

players with the highest cards will play together The person drawing the highest

card can have choice of seat

How to Play Bridge

can be set known as a lsquogamersquo contract for which the declaring side

scores more if it is made Initially the target number of tricks will be

determined by the points held

1 - Shuffle and deal

The pack should be shuffled and cut for dealer (highest deals) Dealer

deals out the cards clockwise one by one to the players so that they

have 13 cards each Dealer for the second game will be the next

player clockwise and so on Please note that many teachers will

provide you with pre-dealt hands in bridge boards

2 - Sorting the hand

3 - Counting points

The value of the hand is worked out by counting up the high card

points held using the following scale

Ace = 4 points King = 3 points Queen = 2 points Jack

= 1 point

Note that there are 40 points altogether between the four hands in

each deal

4 - Announcing points

Beginning with the dealer and then in clockwise order each player

announces how many points his or her hand contains The partnership

The players sort the cards in their own Hand into suits and into sequence within

Each suit without showing the cards to the other players

How to Play Bridge

with the most points becomes the declaring side who decide the

contract The other pair are the defending side who try to prevent the

contract being made by making tricks themselves There is a re-deal if

the point distribution between the partnerships turns out to be 2020

5 - The declaring side

The player with the higher number of points in the declaring side

becomes lsquodeclarerrsquo and his partner becomes lsquodummyrsquo If they both

have the same number of points the player who announced points

first is declarer Dummy then lays his or her hand down face up on the

table to face declarer with the suits arranged in columns (see the

following diagram)

6 - Deciding the trump suit

Declarer may choose no trumps or a trump suit If declarer chooses a

trump contract the cards in dummy in the chosen suit are moved to be

on the dummyrsquos right hand side (the left hand end as declarer looks at

them)

How to Play Bridge

7 ndash Declarerrsquos Target

Declarer will attempt as a minimum to take a target number of tricks

based on the points that his side holds

Combined Declarerrsquos tricks target

points No trumps Suit contract

1-22 7 8

23-24 8 9

25-27 9 10

28-32 10 11

33-36 12 12

37+ 13 13

The points held give an indication of the tricks that might be

achieved Note that this is only a guide ndash the point count will be most

accurate in no trump contracts where the hands are often fairly

balanced although this can vary if the defenders manage to establish

tricks in their long suit

In general the possession of a trump suit will result in the hands

making about one trick more than if there were none This will

become important when we move on to bridge (as opposed to mini-

bridge) and consider the scoring table

8 - Play begins

The player on declarerrsquos left plays the first card ie makes the

lsquoopening leadrsquo Play is in clockwise order and players must follow to

the suit led whenever possible The highest card played wins the trick

(unless in a suit contract it is beaten by a trump since trumps

How to Play Bridge

outrank the other three suits) If several rounds of a suit are played

and a player runs out of cards in that suit he or she may discard a card

from another suit (which cannot win the trick) or in a trump

contractcan choose to play a trump (which will win the trick unless it

is beaten by a higher trump)

9 - Taking tricks

Each card is played face up in front of each player in such a way that

everyone can see the cards clearly When a trick is complete the

cards are turned over players placing the lsquoquittedrsquo cards from their

own hands face down on the table in front of themselves in a neat

row To make it easy to see how many tricks have been won or lost

cards in tricks won are placed upright and cards in tricks lost are

placed sideways on The winner of the first trick leads to the second

and so on

10 - Dummy play

Declarer controls the play of dummyrsquos cards telling partner which

card to play when itrsquos dummyrsquos turn Declarerrsquos partner must always

play dummyrsquos cards as instructed and must keep the cards already

played from dummy in correct order and formation Otherwise

dummy takes no part in the play of this particular deal

11 - Play ends

When all the cards have been played the tricks for each side are

counted and agreed and the result is calculated and scored Players

record their score on a score sheet The session can end when an

agreed target total has been reached by one side or after a set number

of deals has been played

How to Play Bridge

12 - The next deal

The position of dealer moves clockwise round the table for each

game

It is a good idea to have two packs of cards available so that the

second pack can be shuffled by the dealerrsquos partner while the first is

being dealt Before starting dealing the next set of hands these cards

should be cut by the player on the new dealerrsquos right

Rubber Bridge Rules

Rubber Bridge (and Contract Bridge which we will be discussing

later) is merely an advanced form of Minbridge

Players and Cards

There are four players in two fixed partnerships Partners sit facing

each other It is traditional to refer to the players according to their

position at the table as North East South and West so North and

South are partners playing against East and West The game is played

clockwise

A standard 52 card pack is used The cards in each suit rank from

highest to lowest A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Deal

The cards are shuffled by the player to dealers left and cut by the

player to dealers right The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time

so that each player has 13 Turn to deal rotates clockwise

It is traditional to use two packs of cards During each deal the

dealers partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right The

dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from

the left and pass them across to the right to be cut Provided all the

players understand and operate it this procedure saves time and helps

to remember whose turn it is to deal as the spare pack of cards is

always to the left of the next dealer

How to Play Bridge

Bidding

There is next an auction to decide who will be the declarer A bid

specifies a number of tricks and a trump suit (or that there will be no

trumps) The side which bids highest will try to win at least that

number of tricks bid with the specified suit as trumps

When bidding the number which is said actually represents the

number of tricks in excess of six which the partnership undertakes to

win For example a bid of two hearts represents a contract to win at

least 8 tricks (8 = 6 + 2) with hearts as trumps

For the purpose of bidding the possible trump suits rank as follows

no trumps (highest) spades hearts diamonds clubs (lowest) A bid

of a larger number of tricks always beats a bid of a smaller number

and if the number of tricks bid are equal the higher suit beats the

lower The lowest bid allowed is one club (to win at least 7 tricks

with clubs as trumps) and the highest is seven no trumps (to win all

13 tricks without trumps

It is also possible during the auction to double a bid by the other

side or to redouble the opponents double Doubling and redoubling

essentially increase the score for the bid contract if won and the

penalties if lost If someone then bids higher any previous doubles

and redoubles are cancelled

Note that doubling does not affect the ranking of a bid - for example a

bid of two spades is always higher than two hearts even if the two

hearts bid has been doubled or redoubled

The dealer begins the auction and the turn to speak passes clockwise

At each turn a player may either

make a bid which must be higher than the previous bid if any

say double if the previous bid was by an opponent and has

not already been doubled

say redouble if the previous bid was by ones own side and

has been doubled by an opponent but not yet redoubled

How to Play Bridge

pass by saying no bid or pass This indicates that the player

does not wish to bid double or redouble on that round but a

player who has passed is still allowed to bid double or redouble

at a later turn NB Either no bid or pass is permissible but

you should stick to one term or the other No bid is usual in

Britain pass is usual in the USA

If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to

be passed out The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals

If anyone bids then the auction continues until there are three passes

in succession and then stops After three consecutive passes the last

bid becomes the contract The team who made the final bid will now

try to make the contract The first player of this team who mentioned

the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the

declarer The declarers partner is known as the dummy

Example of an auction (North dealt)

North East South West

Pass 1 heart double 3 hearts

3 spades Pass 4 spades Pass

Pass Pass

North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps

North who mentioned spades first is the declarer Souths double of

one heart was cancelled by Wests bid of 3 hearts

The Play

The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may

play any card Immediately after this opening lead the dummys cards

are exposed The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits the

cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column

pointing towards the declarer so that all the cards are clearly visible

The trump suit if any should be to dummys right (declarers left) in

the diagram spades are trump

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

can be set known as a lsquogamersquo contract for which the declaring side

scores more if it is made Initially the target number of tricks will be

determined by the points held

1 - Shuffle and deal

The pack should be shuffled and cut for dealer (highest deals) Dealer

deals out the cards clockwise one by one to the players so that they

have 13 cards each Dealer for the second game will be the next

player clockwise and so on Please note that many teachers will

provide you with pre-dealt hands in bridge boards

2 - Sorting the hand

3 - Counting points

The value of the hand is worked out by counting up the high card

points held using the following scale

Ace = 4 points King = 3 points Queen = 2 points Jack

= 1 point

Note that there are 40 points altogether between the four hands in

each deal

4 - Announcing points

Beginning with the dealer and then in clockwise order each player

announces how many points his or her hand contains The partnership

The players sort the cards in their own Hand into suits and into sequence within

Each suit without showing the cards to the other players

How to Play Bridge

with the most points becomes the declaring side who decide the

contract The other pair are the defending side who try to prevent the

contract being made by making tricks themselves There is a re-deal if

the point distribution between the partnerships turns out to be 2020

5 - The declaring side

The player with the higher number of points in the declaring side

becomes lsquodeclarerrsquo and his partner becomes lsquodummyrsquo If they both

have the same number of points the player who announced points

first is declarer Dummy then lays his or her hand down face up on the

table to face declarer with the suits arranged in columns (see the

following diagram)

6 - Deciding the trump suit

Declarer may choose no trumps or a trump suit If declarer chooses a

trump contract the cards in dummy in the chosen suit are moved to be

on the dummyrsquos right hand side (the left hand end as declarer looks at

them)

How to Play Bridge

7 ndash Declarerrsquos Target

Declarer will attempt as a minimum to take a target number of tricks

based on the points that his side holds

Combined Declarerrsquos tricks target

points No trumps Suit contract

1-22 7 8

23-24 8 9

25-27 9 10

28-32 10 11

33-36 12 12

37+ 13 13

The points held give an indication of the tricks that might be

achieved Note that this is only a guide ndash the point count will be most

accurate in no trump contracts where the hands are often fairly

balanced although this can vary if the defenders manage to establish

tricks in their long suit

In general the possession of a trump suit will result in the hands

making about one trick more than if there were none This will

become important when we move on to bridge (as opposed to mini-

bridge) and consider the scoring table

8 - Play begins

The player on declarerrsquos left plays the first card ie makes the

lsquoopening leadrsquo Play is in clockwise order and players must follow to

the suit led whenever possible The highest card played wins the trick

(unless in a suit contract it is beaten by a trump since trumps

How to Play Bridge

outrank the other three suits) If several rounds of a suit are played

and a player runs out of cards in that suit he or she may discard a card

from another suit (which cannot win the trick) or in a trump

contractcan choose to play a trump (which will win the trick unless it

is beaten by a higher trump)

9 - Taking tricks

Each card is played face up in front of each player in such a way that

everyone can see the cards clearly When a trick is complete the

cards are turned over players placing the lsquoquittedrsquo cards from their

own hands face down on the table in front of themselves in a neat

row To make it easy to see how many tricks have been won or lost

cards in tricks won are placed upright and cards in tricks lost are

placed sideways on The winner of the first trick leads to the second

and so on

10 - Dummy play

Declarer controls the play of dummyrsquos cards telling partner which

card to play when itrsquos dummyrsquos turn Declarerrsquos partner must always

play dummyrsquos cards as instructed and must keep the cards already

played from dummy in correct order and formation Otherwise

dummy takes no part in the play of this particular deal

11 - Play ends

When all the cards have been played the tricks for each side are

counted and agreed and the result is calculated and scored Players

record their score on a score sheet The session can end when an

agreed target total has been reached by one side or after a set number

of deals has been played

How to Play Bridge

12 - The next deal

The position of dealer moves clockwise round the table for each

game

It is a good idea to have two packs of cards available so that the

second pack can be shuffled by the dealerrsquos partner while the first is

being dealt Before starting dealing the next set of hands these cards

should be cut by the player on the new dealerrsquos right

Rubber Bridge Rules

Rubber Bridge (and Contract Bridge which we will be discussing

later) is merely an advanced form of Minbridge

Players and Cards

There are four players in two fixed partnerships Partners sit facing

each other It is traditional to refer to the players according to their

position at the table as North East South and West so North and

South are partners playing against East and West The game is played

clockwise

A standard 52 card pack is used The cards in each suit rank from

highest to lowest A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Deal

The cards are shuffled by the player to dealers left and cut by the

player to dealers right The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time

so that each player has 13 Turn to deal rotates clockwise

It is traditional to use two packs of cards During each deal the

dealers partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right The

dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from

the left and pass them across to the right to be cut Provided all the

players understand and operate it this procedure saves time and helps

to remember whose turn it is to deal as the spare pack of cards is

always to the left of the next dealer

How to Play Bridge

Bidding

There is next an auction to decide who will be the declarer A bid

specifies a number of tricks and a trump suit (or that there will be no

trumps) The side which bids highest will try to win at least that

number of tricks bid with the specified suit as trumps

When bidding the number which is said actually represents the

number of tricks in excess of six which the partnership undertakes to

win For example a bid of two hearts represents a contract to win at

least 8 tricks (8 = 6 + 2) with hearts as trumps

For the purpose of bidding the possible trump suits rank as follows

no trumps (highest) spades hearts diamonds clubs (lowest) A bid

of a larger number of tricks always beats a bid of a smaller number

and if the number of tricks bid are equal the higher suit beats the

lower The lowest bid allowed is one club (to win at least 7 tricks

with clubs as trumps) and the highest is seven no trumps (to win all

13 tricks without trumps

It is also possible during the auction to double a bid by the other

side or to redouble the opponents double Doubling and redoubling

essentially increase the score for the bid contract if won and the

penalties if lost If someone then bids higher any previous doubles

and redoubles are cancelled

Note that doubling does not affect the ranking of a bid - for example a

bid of two spades is always higher than two hearts even if the two

hearts bid has been doubled or redoubled

The dealer begins the auction and the turn to speak passes clockwise

At each turn a player may either

make a bid which must be higher than the previous bid if any

say double if the previous bid was by an opponent and has

not already been doubled

say redouble if the previous bid was by ones own side and

has been doubled by an opponent but not yet redoubled

How to Play Bridge

pass by saying no bid or pass This indicates that the player

does not wish to bid double or redouble on that round but a

player who has passed is still allowed to bid double or redouble

at a later turn NB Either no bid or pass is permissible but

you should stick to one term or the other No bid is usual in

Britain pass is usual in the USA

If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to

be passed out The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals

If anyone bids then the auction continues until there are three passes

in succession and then stops After three consecutive passes the last

bid becomes the contract The team who made the final bid will now

try to make the contract The first player of this team who mentioned

the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the

declarer The declarers partner is known as the dummy

Example of an auction (North dealt)

North East South West

Pass 1 heart double 3 hearts

3 spades Pass 4 spades Pass

Pass Pass

North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps

North who mentioned spades first is the declarer Souths double of

one heart was cancelled by Wests bid of 3 hearts

The Play

The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may

play any card Immediately after this opening lead the dummys cards

are exposed The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits the

cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column

pointing towards the declarer so that all the cards are clearly visible

The trump suit if any should be to dummys right (declarers left) in

the diagram spades are trump

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

with the most points becomes the declaring side who decide the

contract The other pair are the defending side who try to prevent the

contract being made by making tricks themselves There is a re-deal if

the point distribution between the partnerships turns out to be 2020

5 - The declaring side

The player with the higher number of points in the declaring side

becomes lsquodeclarerrsquo and his partner becomes lsquodummyrsquo If they both

have the same number of points the player who announced points

first is declarer Dummy then lays his or her hand down face up on the

table to face declarer with the suits arranged in columns (see the

following diagram)

6 - Deciding the trump suit

Declarer may choose no trumps or a trump suit If declarer chooses a

trump contract the cards in dummy in the chosen suit are moved to be

on the dummyrsquos right hand side (the left hand end as declarer looks at

them)

How to Play Bridge

7 ndash Declarerrsquos Target

Declarer will attempt as a minimum to take a target number of tricks

based on the points that his side holds

Combined Declarerrsquos tricks target

points No trumps Suit contract

1-22 7 8

23-24 8 9

25-27 9 10

28-32 10 11

33-36 12 12

37+ 13 13

The points held give an indication of the tricks that might be

achieved Note that this is only a guide ndash the point count will be most

accurate in no trump contracts where the hands are often fairly

balanced although this can vary if the defenders manage to establish

tricks in their long suit

In general the possession of a trump suit will result in the hands

making about one trick more than if there were none This will

become important when we move on to bridge (as opposed to mini-

bridge) and consider the scoring table

8 - Play begins

The player on declarerrsquos left plays the first card ie makes the

lsquoopening leadrsquo Play is in clockwise order and players must follow to

the suit led whenever possible The highest card played wins the trick

(unless in a suit contract it is beaten by a trump since trumps

How to Play Bridge

outrank the other three suits) If several rounds of a suit are played

and a player runs out of cards in that suit he or she may discard a card

from another suit (which cannot win the trick) or in a trump

contractcan choose to play a trump (which will win the trick unless it

is beaten by a higher trump)

9 - Taking tricks

Each card is played face up in front of each player in such a way that

everyone can see the cards clearly When a trick is complete the

cards are turned over players placing the lsquoquittedrsquo cards from their

own hands face down on the table in front of themselves in a neat

row To make it easy to see how many tricks have been won or lost

cards in tricks won are placed upright and cards in tricks lost are

placed sideways on The winner of the first trick leads to the second

and so on

10 - Dummy play

Declarer controls the play of dummyrsquos cards telling partner which

card to play when itrsquos dummyrsquos turn Declarerrsquos partner must always

play dummyrsquos cards as instructed and must keep the cards already

played from dummy in correct order and formation Otherwise

dummy takes no part in the play of this particular deal

11 - Play ends

When all the cards have been played the tricks for each side are

counted and agreed and the result is calculated and scored Players

record their score on a score sheet The session can end when an

agreed target total has been reached by one side or after a set number

of deals has been played

How to Play Bridge

12 - The next deal

The position of dealer moves clockwise round the table for each

game

It is a good idea to have two packs of cards available so that the

second pack can be shuffled by the dealerrsquos partner while the first is

being dealt Before starting dealing the next set of hands these cards

should be cut by the player on the new dealerrsquos right

Rubber Bridge Rules

Rubber Bridge (and Contract Bridge which we will be discussing

later) is merely an advanced form of Minbridge

Players and Cards

There are four players in two fixed partnerships Partners sit facing

each other It is traditional to refer to the players according to their

position at the table as North East South and West so North and

South are partners playing against East and West The game is played

clockwise

A standard 52 card pack is used The cards in each suit rank from

highest to lowest A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Deal

The cards are shuffled by the player to dealers left and cut by the

player to dealers right The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time

so that each player has 13 Turn to deal rotates clockwise

It is traditional to use two packs of cards During each deal the

dealers partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right The

dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from

the left and pass them across to the right to be cut Provided all the

players understand and operate it this procedure saves time and helps

to remember whose turn it is to deal as the spare pack of cards is

always to the left of the next dealer

How to Play Bridge

Bidding

There is next an auction to decide who will be the declarer A bid

specifies a number of tricks and a trump suit (or that there will be no

trumps) The side which bids highest will try to win at least that

number of tricks bid with the specified suit as trumps

When bidding the number which is said actually represents the

number of tricks in excess of six which the partnership undertakes to

win For example a bid of two hearts represents a contract to win at

least 8 tricks (8 = 6 + 2) with hearts as trumps

For the purpose of bidding the possible trump suits rank as follows

no trumps (highest) spades hearts diamonds clubs (lowest) A bid

of a larger number of tricks always beats a bid of a smaller number

and if the number of tricks bid are equal the higher suit beats the

lower The lowest bid allowed is one club (to win at least 7 tricks

with clubs as trumps) and the highest is seven no trumps (to win all

13 tricks without trumps

It is also possible during the auction to double a bid by the other

side or to redouble the opponents double Doubling and redoubling

essentially increase the score for the bid contract if won and the

penalties if lost If someone then bids higher any previous doubles

and redoubles are cancelled

Note that doubling does not affect the ranking of a bid - for example a

bid of two spades is always higher than two hearts even if the two

hearts bid has been doubled or redoubled

The dealer begins the auction and the turn to speak passes clockwise

At each turn a player may either

make a bid which must be higher than the previous bid if any

say double if the previous bid was by an opponent and has

not already been doubled

say redouble if the previous bid was by ones own side and

has been doubled by an opponent but not yet redoubled

How to Play Bridge

pass by saying no bid or pass This indicates that the player

does not wish to bid double or redouble on that round but a

player who has passed is still allowed to bid double or redouble

at a later turn NB Either no bid or pass is permissible but

you should stick to one term or the other No bid is usual in

Britain pass is usual in the USA

If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to

be passed out The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals

If anyone bids then the auction continues until there are three passes

in succession and then stops After three consecutive passes the last

bid becomes the contract The team who made the final bid will now

try to make the contract The first player of this team who mentioned

the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the

declarer The declarers partner is known as the dummy

Example of an auction (North dealt)

North East South West

Pass 1 heart double 3 hearts

3 spades Pass 4 spades Pass

Pass Pass

North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps

North who mentioned spades first is the declarer Souths double of

one heart was cancelled by Wests bid of 3 hearts

The Play

The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may

play any card Immediately after this opening lead the dummys cards

are exposed The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits the

cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column

pointing towards the declarer so that all the cards are clearly visible

The trump suit if any should be to dummys right (declarers left) in

the diagram spades are trump

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

7 ndash Declarerrsquos Target

Declarer will attempt as a minimum to take a target number of tricks

based on the points that his side holds

Combined Declarerrsquos tricks target

points No trumps Suit contract

1-22 7 8

23-24 8 9

25-27 9 10

28-32 10 11

33-36 12 12

37+ 13 13

The points held give an indication of the tricks that might be

achieved Note that this is only a guide ndash the point count will be most

accurate in no trump contracts where the hands are often fairly

balanced although this can vary if the defenders manage to establish

tricks in their long suit

In general the possession of a trump suit will result in the hands

making about one trick more than if there were none This will

become important when we move on to bridge (as opposed to mini-

bridge) and consider the scoring table

8 - Play begins

The player on declarerrsquos left plays the first card ie makes the

lsquoopening leadrsquo Play is in clockwise order and players must follow to

the suit led whenever possible The highest card played wins the trick

(unless in a suit contract it is beaten by a trump since trumps

How to Play Bridge

outrank the other three suits) If several rounds of a suit are played

and a player runs out of cards in that suit he or she may discard a card

from another suit (which cannot win the trick) or in a trump

contractcan choose to play a trump (which will win the trick unless it

is beaten by a higher trump)

9 - Taking tricks

Each card is played face up in front of each player in such a way that

everyone can see the cards clearly When a trick is complete the

cards are turned over players placing the lsquoquittedrsquo cards from their

own hands face down on the table in front of themselves in a neat

row To make it easy to see how many tricks have been won or lost

cards in tricks won are placed upright and cards in tricks lost are

placed sideways on The winner of the first trick leads to the second

and so on

10 - Dummy play

Declarer controls the play of dummyrsquos cards telling partner which

card to play when itrsquos dummyrsquos turn Declarerrsquos partner must always

play dummyrsquos cards as instructed and must keep the cards already

played from dummy in correct order and formation Otherwise

dummy takes no part in the play of this particular deal

11 - Play ends

When all the cards have been played the tricks for each side are

counted and agreed and the result is calculated and scored Players

record their score on a score sheet The session can end when an

agreed target total has been reached by one side or after a set number

of deals has been played

How to Play Bridge

12 - The next deal

The position of dealer moves clockwise round the table for each

game

It is a good idea to have two packs of cards available so that the

second pack can be shuffled by the dealerrsquos partner while the first is

being dealt Before starting dealing the next set of hands these cards

should be cut by the player on the new dealerrsquos right

Rubber Bridge Rules

Rubber Bridge (and Contract Bridge which we will be discussing

later) is merely an advanced form of Minbridge

Players and Cards

There are four players in two fixed partnerships Partners sit facing

each other It is traditional to refer to the players according to their

position at the table as North East South and West so North and

South are partners playing against East and West The game is played

clockwise

A standard 52 card pack is used The cards in each suit rank from

highest to lowest A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Deal

The cards are shuffled by the player to dealers left and cut by the

player to dealers right The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time

so that each player has 13 Turn to deal rotates clockwise

It is traditional to use two packs of cards During each deal the

dealers partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right The

dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from

the left and pass them across to the right to be cut Provided all the

players understand and operate it this procedure saves time and helps

to remember whose turn it is to deal as the spare pack of cards is

always to the left of the next dealer

How to Play Bridge

Bidding

There is next an auction to decide who will be the declarer A bid

specifies a number of tricks and a trump suit (or that there will be no

trumps) The side which bids highest will try to win at least that

number of tricks bid with the specified suit as trumps

When bidding the number which is said actually represents the

number of tricks in excess of six which the partnership undertakes to

win For example a bid of two hearts represents a contract to win at

least 8 tricks (8 = 6 + 2) with hearts as trumps

For the purpose of bidding the possible trump suits rank as follows

no trumps (highest) spades hearts diamonds clubs (lowest) A bid

of a larger number of tricks always beats a bid of a smaller number

and if the number of tricks bid are equal the higher suit beats the

lower The lowest bid allowed is one club (to win at least 7 tricks

with clubs as trumps) and the highest is seven no trumps (to win all

13 tricks without trumps

It is also possible during the auction to double a bid by the other

side or to redouble the opponents double Doubling and redoubling

essentially increase the score for the bid contract if won and the

penalties if lost If someone then bids higher any previous doubles

and redoubles are cancelled

Note that doubling does not affect the ranking of a bid - for example a

bid of two spades is always higher than two hearts even if the two

hearts bid has been doubled or redoubled

The dealer begins the auction and the turn to speak passes clockwise

At each turn a player may either

make a bid which must be higher than the previous bid if any

say double if the previous bid was by an opponent and has

not already been doubled

say redouble if the previous bid was by ones own side and

has been doubled by an opponent but not yet redoubled

How to Play Bridge

pass by saying no bid or pass This indicates that the player

does not wish to bid double or redouble on that round but a

player who has passed is still allowed to bid double or redouble

at a later turn NB Either no bid or pass is permissible but

you should stick to one term or the other No bid is usual in

Britain pass is usual in the USA

If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to

be passed out The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals

If anyone bids then the auction continues until there are three passes

in succession and then stops After three consecutive passes the last

bid becomes the contract The team who made the final bid will now

try to make the contract The first player of this team who mentioned

the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the

declarer The declarers partner is known as the dummy

Example of an auction (North dealt)

North East South West

Pass 1 heart double 3 hearts

3 spades Pass 4 spades Pass

Pass Pass

North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps

North who mentioned spades first is the declarer Souths double of

one heart was cancelled by Wests bid of 3 hearts

The Play

The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may

play any card Immediately after this opening lead the dummys cards

are exposed The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits the

cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column

pointing towards the declarer so that all the cards are clearly visible

The trump suit if any should be to dummys right (declarers left) in

the diagram spades are trump

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

outrank the other three suits) If several rounds of a suit are played

and a player runs out of cards in that suit he or she may discard a card

from another suit (which cannot win the trick) or in a trump

contractcan choose to play a trump (which will win the trick unless it

is beaten by a higher trump)

9 - Taking tricks

Each card is played face up in front of each player in such a way that

everyone can see the cards clearly When a trick is complete the

cards are turned over players placing the lsquoquittedrsquo cards from their

own hands face down on the table in front of themselves in a neat

row To make it easy to see how many tricks have been won or lost

cards in tricks won are placed upright and cards in tricks lost are

placed sideways on The winner of the first trick leads to the second

and so on

10 - Dummy play

Declarer controls the play of dummyrsquos cards telling partner which

card to play when itrsquos dummyrsquos turn Declarerrsquos partner must always

play dummyrsquos cards as instructed and must keep the cards already

played from dummy in correct order and formation Otherwise

dummy takes no part in the play of this particular deal

11 - Play ends

When all the cards have been played the tricks for each side are

counted and agreed and the result is calculated and scored Players

record their score on a score sheet The session can end when an

agreed target total has been reached by one side or after a set number

of deals has been played

How to Play Bridge

12 - The next deal

The position of dealer moves clockwise round the table for each

game

It is a good idea to have two packs of cards available so that the

second pack can be shuffled by the dealerrsquos partner while the first is

being dealt Before starting dealing the next set of hands these cards

should be cut by the player on the new dealerrsquos right

Rubber Bridge Rules

Rubber Bridge (and Contract Bridge which we will be discussing

later) is merely an advanced form of Minbridge

Players and Cards

There are four players in two fixed partnerships Partners sit facing

each other It is traditional to refer to the players according to their

position at the table as North East South and West so North and

South are partners playing against East and West The game is played

clockwise

A standard 52 card pack is used The cards in each suit rank from

highest to lowest A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Deal

The cards are shuffled by the player to dealers left and cut by the

player to dealers right The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time

so that each player has 13 Turn to deal rotates clockwise

It is traditional to use two packs of cards During each deal the

dealers partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right The

dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from

the left and pass them across to the right to be cut Provided all the

players understand and operate it this procedure saves time and helps

to remember whose turn it is to deal as the spare pack of cards is

always to the left of the next dealer

How to Play Bridge

Bidding

There is next an auction to decide who will be the declarer A bid

specifies a number of tricks and a trump suit (or that there will be no

trumps) The side which bids highest will try to win at least that

number of tricks bid with the specified suit as trumps

When bidding the number which is said actually represents the

number of tricks in excess of six which the partnership undertakes to

win For example a bid of two hearts represents a contract to win at

least 8 tricks (8 = 6 + 2) with hearts as trumps

For the purpose of bidding the possible trump suits rank as follows

no trumps (highest) spades hearts diamonds clubs (lowest) A bid

of a larger number of tricks always beats a bid of a smaller number

and if the number of tricks bid are equal the higher suit beats the

lower The lowest bid allowed is one club (to win at least 7 tricks

with clubs as trumps) and the highest is seven no trumps (to win all

13 tricks without trumps

It is also possible during the auction to double a bid by the other

side or to redouble the opponents double Doubling and redoubling

essentially increase the score for the bid contract if won and the

penalties if lost If someone then bids higher any previous doubles

and redoubles are cancelled

Note that doubling does not affect the ranking of a bid - for example a

bid of two spades is always higher than two hearts even if the two

hearts bid has been doubled or redoubled

The dealer begins the auction and the turn to speak passes clockwise

At each turn a player may either

make a bid which must be higher than the previous bid if any

say double if the previous bid was by an opponent and has

not already been doubled

say redouble if the previous bid was by ones own side and

has been doubled by an opponent but not yet redoubled

How to Play Bridge

pass by saying no bid or pass This indicates that the player

does not wish to bid double or redouble on that round but a

player who has passed is still allowed to bid double or redouble

at a later turn NB Either no bid or pass is permissible but

you should stick to one term or the other No bid is usual in

Britain pass is usual in the USA

If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to

be passed out The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals

If anyone bids then the auction continues until there are three passes

in succession and then stops After three consecutive passes the last

bid becomes the contract The team who made the final bid will now

try to make the contract The first player of this team who mentioned

the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the

declarer The declarers partner is known as the dummy

Example of an auction (North dealt)

North East South West

Pass 1 heart double 3 hearts

3 spades Pass 4 spades Pass

Pass Pass

North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps

North who mentioned spades first is the declarer Souths double of

one heart was cancelled by Wests bid of 3 hearts

The Play

The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may

play any card Immediately after this opening lead the dummys cards

are exposed The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits the

cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column

pointing towards the declarer so that all the cards are clearly visible

The trump suit if any should be to dummys right (declarers left) in

the diagram spades are trump

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

12 - The next deal

The position of dealer moves clockwise round the table for each

game

It is a good idea to have two packs of cards available so that the

second pack can be shuffled by the dealerrsquos partner while the first is

being dealt Before starting dealing the next set of hands these cards

should be cut by the player on the new dealerrsquos right

Rubber Bridge Rules

Rubber Bridge (and Contract Bridge which we will be discussing

later) is merely an advanced form of Minbridge

Players and Cards

There are four players in two fixed partnerships Partners sit facing

each other It is traditional to refer to the players according to their

position at the table as North East South and West so North and

South are partners playing against East and West The game is played

clockwise

A standard 52 card pack is used The cards in each suit rank from

highest to lowest A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Deal

The cards are shuffled by the player to dealers left and cut by the

player to dealers right The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time

so that each player has 13 Turn to deal rotates clockwise

It is traditional to use two packs of cards During each deal the

dealers partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right The

dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from

the left and pass them across to the right to be cut Provided all the

players understand and operate it this procedure saves time and helps

to remember whose turn it is to deal as the spare pack of cards is

always to the left of the next dealer

How to Play Bridge

Bidding

There is next an auction to decide who will be the declarer A bid

specifies a number of tricks and a trump suit (or that there will be no

trumps) The side which bids highest will try to win at least that

number of tricks bid with the specified suit as trumps

When bidding the number which is said actually represents the

number of tricks in excess of six which the partnership undertakes to

win For example a bid of two hearts represents a contract to win at

least 8 tricks (8 = 6 + 2) with hearts as trumps

For the purpose of bidding the possible trump suits rank as follows

no trumps (highest) spades hearts diamonds clubs (lowest) A bid

of a larger number of tricks always beats a bid of a smaller number

and if the number of tricks bid are equal the higher suit beats the

lower The lowest bid allowed is one club (to win at least 7 tricks

with clubs as trumps) and the highest is seven no trumps (to win all

13 tricks without trumps

It is also possible during the auction to double a bid by the other

side or to redouble the opponents double Doubling and redoubling

essentially increase the score for the bid contract if won and the

penalties if lost If someone then bids higher any previous doubles

and redoubles are cancelled

Note that doubling does not affect the ranking of a bid - for example a

bid of two spades is always higher than two hearts even if the two

hearts bid has been doubled or redoubled

The dealer begins the auction and the turn to speak passes clockwise

At each turn a player may either

make a bid which must be higher than the previous bid if any

say double if the previous bid was by an opponent and has

not already been doubled

say redouble if the previous bid was by ones own side and

has been doubled by an opponent but not yet redoubled

How to Play Bridge

pass by saying no bid or pass This indicates that the player

does not wish to bid double or redouble on that round but a

player who has passed is still allowed to bid double or redouble

at a later turn NB Either no bid or pass is permissible but

you should stick to one term or the other No bid is usual in

Britain pass is usual in the USA

If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to

be passed out The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals

If anyone bids then the auction continues until there are three passes

in succession and then stops After three consecutive passes the last

bid becomes the contract The team who made the final bid will now

try to make the contract The first player of this team who mentioned

the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the

declarer The declarers partner is known as the dummy

Example of an auction (North dealt)

North East South West

Pass 1 heart double 3 hearts

3 spades Pass 4 spades Pass

Pass Pass

North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps

North who mentioned spades first is the declarer Souths double of

one heart was cancelled by Wests bid of 3 hearts

The Play

The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may

play any card Immediately after this opening lead the dummys cards

are exposed The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits the

cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column

pointing towards the declarer so that all the cards are clearly visible

The trump suit if any should be to dummys right (declarers left) in

the diagram spades are trump

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

Bidding

There is next an auction to decide who will be the declarer A bid

specifies a number of tricks and a trump suit (or that there will be no

trumps) The side which bids highest will try to win at least that

number of tricks bid with the specified suit as trumps

When bidding the number which is said actually represents the

number of tricks in excess of six which the partnership undertakes to

win For example a bid of two hearts represents a contract to win at

least 8 tricks (8 = 6 + 2) with hearts as trumps

For the purpose of bidding the possible trump suits rank as follows

no trumps (highest) spades hearts diamonds clubs (lowest) A bid

of a larger number of tricks always beats a bid of a smaller number

and if the number of tricks bid are equal the higher suit beats the

lower The lowest bid allowed is one club (to win at least 7 tricks

with clubs as trumps) and the highest is seven no trumps (to win all

13 tricks without trumps

It is also possible during the auction to double a bid by the other

side or to redouble the opponents double Doubling and redoubling

essentially increase the score for the bid contract if won and the

penalties if lost If someone then bids higher any previous doubles

and redoubles are cancelled

Note that doubling does not affect the ranking of a bid - for example a

bid of two spades is always higher than two hearts even if the two

hearts bid has been doubled or redoubled

The dealer begins the auction and the turn to speak passes clockwise

At each turn a player may either

make a bid which must be higher than the previous bid if any

say double if the previous bid was by an opponent and has

not already been doubled

say redouble if the previous bid was by ones own side and

has been doubled by an opponent but not yet redoubled

How to Play Bridge

pass by saying no bid or pass This indicates that the player

does not wish to bid double or redouble on that round but a

player who has passed is still allowed to bid double or redouble

at a later turn NB Either no bid or pass is permissible but

you should stick to one term or the other No bid is usual in

Britain pass is usual in the USA

If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to

be passed out The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals

If anyone bids then the auction continues until there are three passes

in succession and then stops After three consecutive passes the last

bid becomes the contract The team who made the final bid will now

try to make the contract The first player of this team who mentioned

the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the

declarer The declarers partner is known as the dummy

Example of an auction (North dealt)

North East South West

Pass 1 heart double 3 hearts

3 spades Pass 4 spades Pass

Pass Pass

North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps

North who mentioned spades first is the declarer Souths double of

one heart was cancelled by Wests bid of 3 hearts

The Play

The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may

play any card Immediately after this opening lead the dummys cards

are exposed The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits the

cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column

pointing towards the declarer so that all the cards are clearly visible

The trump suit if any should be to dummys right (declarers left) in

the diagram spades are trump

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

pass by saying no bid or pass This indicates that the player

does not wish to bid double or redouble on that round but a

player who has passed is still allowed to bid double or redouble

at a later turn NB Either no bid or pass is permissible but

you should stick to one term or the other No bid is usual in

Britain pass is usual in the USA

If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to

be passed out The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals

If anyone bids then the auction continues until there are three passes

in succession and then stops After three consecutive passes the last

bid becomes the contract The team who made the final bid will now

try to make the contract The first player of this team who mentioned

the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the

declarer The declarers partner is known as the dummy

Example of an auction (North dealt)

North East South West

Pass 1 heart double 3 hearts

3 spades Pass 4 spades Pass

Pass Pass

North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps

North who mentioned spades first is the declarer Souths double of

one heart was cancelled by Wests bid of 3 hearts

The Play

The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may

play any card Immediately after this opening lead the dummys cards

are exposed The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits the

cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column

pointing towards the declarer so that all the cards are clearly visible

The trump suit if any should be to dummys right (declarers left) in

the diagram spades are trump

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

Play proceeds clockwise Each of the other three players in turn must

if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played A player

with no card of the suit led may play any card A trick consists of four

cards one from each player and is won by the highest trump in it or

if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led The

winner of a trick leads to the next and may lead any card

Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete

but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until

you or your partner has played to the next trick The tricks won are to

be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side so that

they can easily be counted

Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand Whenever it is

dummys turn to play the declarer must say which of dummys cards

is to be played and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that

it is legal) Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment

on the play When dummy wins a trick the declarer specifies which

card dummy should lead to the next trick If when calling for a card

the declarer specifies the suit only dummy is to play the lowest card

of that suit

It is also legal and not unusual for the declarer to play dummys

cards by physically taking them from dummys hand rather than just

calling for them This allows the dummy player to leave the table

during the play of the hand

Scoring

As its name suggests rubber bridge is played in rubbers A rubber is

the best of three games A game is won by the first team to score 100

or more points for successful contracts over several deals if

necessary

A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is

said to be vulnerable A side which has not yet won a game is not

vulnerable A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses

and penalties than one that is not

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed

WE and THEY for the two teams with a horizontal line part-way

down (see sample) Scores for successful contracts are entered below

the line and count towards winning a game Other scores such as

bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract (overtricks) or

penalties for tricks short of the contract (undertricks) are entered

above the line and do not count towards winning the game

Score for making the contract

For a successful contract the score below the line for each trick (in

excess of 6) bid and made is as follows

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds 20 per trick

If trumps are Hearts or Spades 30 per trick

If there are No Trumps 40 for the first trick and 30 for each

subsequent trick

If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled If it was

doubled and redoubled they are multiplied by 4

In addition the declarers side scores an extra 50 points above the line

if they succeed in a doubled contract This is sometimes known as 50

for the insult For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100

above the line

Because of the difference in score clubs and diamonds are called the

minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits

Slam bonus

A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam A contract to

make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam For bidding and making a

slam declarers side get an extra bonus above the line depending on

their vulnerability as follows

Slam bonus small slam grand slam

not vulnerable 500 1000

vulnerable 750 1500

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

Score for overtricks

If the declarers side wins more tricks than were bid and were not

doubled then in addition to the score below the line for the contract

they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid

tricks - ie 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps 30 per trick in a

major suit or no trumps

If the contract was doubled or redoubled the bonus for overtricks

does not depend on the trump suit but does depend on whether the

declarers side was vulnerable as follows

Score per overtrick doubled redoubled

not vulnerable 100 200

vulnerable 200 400

Penalty for undertricks

If the declarers side win fewer tricks than they bid neither side scores

anything below the line but the declarers opponents score above the

line This score depends on the declarers sides vulnerability and

whether the contract was doubled or redoubled as follows

Undertrick penalty not vulnerable vulnerable

Not doubled - each undertrick 50 100

Doubled - first undertrick 100 200

Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick 200 each 300 each

Doubled - subsequent undertricks 300 each 300 each

Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled

undertricks

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

Honours

The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours If one player

holds all five of these cards that players side scores a bonus of 150

above the line Four honours in one hand score 100 If there are no

trumps and a player holds four aces that players side scores 150 for

honours

Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is

assumed that the players will remember what they held)

As there is no skill in scoring for honours players often agree to play

without the honour bonuses

Game and Rubber

A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a

game A new line is drawn under the scores Anything the opponents

had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start

from zero again

It is important to notice that starting from zero and in the absence of

doubles to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a

contract of at least three no trumps four spades four hearts five clubs

or five diamonds

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber For this they get

a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero or 500 if it was two

games to one Both sides scores are then totaled and if the game is

being played for money the side with the higher score wins an

amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the

lower score

If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished then a side with

a game gets a bonus of 300 points and a side with a part score (ie a

score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of

100

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

Example of Rubber Bridge scoring

The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example

below (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described

in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the

scoresheet)

We They

500

(f)

50 (f)

100

(f)

200

(e)

500

(i)

300

(b)

30 (g)

60 (a) 30 (c)

The Line

60 (a) 100

(c)

End of Game

360

(f)

90 (d)

End of Game

60 (h) 40 (g)

90 (i)

End of

Rubber

(a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the

contract and 60 above for the overtricks

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

(b) they bid 4 spades we doubled them and they took only 8 tricks -

we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second

(c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks This gives them a game

(100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick A new

line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game

(d) they bid and made 3 spades

(e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now

vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick

(f) we bid 6 hearts they doubled us but we won all 13 tricks We

score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract giving us

a game 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick 50

above for making a doubled contract and 500 bonus for a small slam

bid and made

(g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks note that their 90 on deal

(d) was part of the previous game so the 40 below does not give them

a game

(h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks

(i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second

game and the rubber for a bonus of 500 (two games to one)

Adding up the scores we have 1690 and they have 880 Therefore we

have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber)

In this example the above the line scores were entered starting

immediately above the line and working upwards This is traditional

at least in Britain but not necessary - you can start at the top just

below the WE-THEY headings and work downwards if you prefer

There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Duplicate Bridge the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge

Club is only slightly different to Contract Bridge

In rubber bridge although the better players have a noticable edge

and will undoubtedly win in the long run the outcome of a single

rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards The

idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck by

having the same hands played more than once by different sets of

players

Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North-

South Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand

our score is compared with those of other players who played the

same deal as North-South against other opponents We win if we

score better than other players managed with our cards and lose if we

score worse

For this comparison to be fair it is necessary that each group of

players who play the same deal should start from the same position

Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers where the scores

carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation Instead

each deal is scored in its own right and does not affect the scores for

subsequent ones The concept of vulnerability is retained but on each

deal the vulnerability is preassigned

Boards

An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is

a set of duplicate boards and a pack of cards for each board Each

board contains four pockets marked North East South and West in

which the cards for the four players are stored Each board also carries

a number to identify it and has marks showing which of the players is

dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not

Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled dealt and placed

in the pockets by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at

least one opponent

How to Play Bridge

When about to play a board the players take their cards from the

appropriate pockets check to see that they have 13 each and then bid

as usual The mark on the board showing the dealer in practice just

indicates which player is to begin the bidding The opening lead is

always made face down as explained above to give the leaders

partner an opportunity to ask questions about the bidding before the

led card is shown During the play the cards are not played in the

centre of the table but in front of the players At the end of each trick

all four players turn their played card face down The cards played by

each player are overlapped with the longer axis of the card pointing

to the winners of the trick (ie the cards belonging to tricks you have

won are placed upright from your point of view and the ones

belonging to lost tricks sideways) That way you can easily see how

many tricks you have won Also if the cards are kept in order any

dispute about revokes or tricks won or lost can be settled by

reconstructing the play At the end of the play each players cards are

gathered up and replaced in the correct pocket ready for the next time

the board is to be played

When this method of play is used dummy is expected to remain at the

table if at all possible and declarer then always calls dummys cards

rather than pulling them from the dummy You may ask to look at the

cards played to a trick by the other players as long as your own card is

face up Once you have turned your card face down you no longer

have the right to see any of the other cards played to that trick

(Unless you are dummy you are still allowed to peek at your own

played card without exposing it until the lead is made to the next

trick) Scoring

Each board is marked to show whether both sides one side or neither

side is vulnerable for that board You still need to score at least 100

points for tricks bid and made to make a game but on each board

both sides start with zero points towards games - there are no part

scores carried forward

In place of the rubber bonus there are game and part score bonuses

Making a game when vulnerable 500 points

How to Play Bridge

Making a game when not vulnerable 300 points

Making a part score any time 50 points

The rest of the scores are the same as in rubber bridge except that

there are no bonuses for honours in duplicate bridge

BRIDGEMATES

Fortunately although it is good know how the scoring system works

in our case all the scoring is done via our BridgeMates wireless

system All we (generally the players sitting at North table) have to

do is to enter the contract and the result and the system displays the

scores on the computer

MODERN ACOL (Standard English)

There are several methods of bidding Acol is the most used and

there are versions of Acol Modern Acol is the system we use at

Alrewas Bridge Club

Many years ago I was called in to help with a problem Apparently

there were a team of four aspiring rowers who for some odd reason

although there were all fit strong young and healthy trained hard

every day they just couldnrsquot win any rowing races Within minutes I

discovered the reason for their lack of success One of them was

sitting the wrong way round Once corrected their fame became

legendary

However apocryphal this story illustrates the need for all of us to be

paddling in the same direction or in our case to be all playing the

same system particularly so as we generally draw for partners at the

beginning of each playing session Experience players are expected

to play this system particularly when playing with newer members

How to Play Bridge

Bidding Standard English (Acol)

Bidding between partners is an exchange of information Using a very

restricted vocabulary each player in turn tries to describe his hand

The objective is to provide enough information so that one player can

make the decision what suit (if any) should be trumps and how many

tricks should we attempt to take

Initially we will consider the bidding as a dialogue between the pair

with the majority of the high-card strength this is frequently the case

However there are times when the values are more evenly distributed

between the pairs and both sides are then involved in the bidding

phase For now we will ignore this possibility it will be easier to

consider bidding as a partnership exercise before thinking about how

things change when both pairs are bidding

The most important considerations when evaluating your hand for an

opening bid are the high-card strength and the shape of the hand An

opening bid generally requires 12 or more points

Opening the bidding balanced hands

A balanced hand means

no singleton or void

not more than 1 doubleton

no 6-card or longer suit

With 12-14 points (Ace = 4 King = 3 Queen = 2 Jack = 1) and

a balanced hand with no 5-card major suit open 1 No Trump

With 20-22 points and a balanced hand open with a bid of 2NT

With an exceptional hand of 23+ points you will start with an

artificial opening bid of 2clubs - see below

How to Play Bridge

With a balanced hand of 15-19 points you do not initially bid

no trumps You will bid No Trumps later start with a bid in a

suit

Responding to 1NT with a balanced hand

(See Chart 4 at end of book)

Opening with a suit bid

open your longest suit

with two 5-card suits open the higher-ranking

with two 4-card suits open the higher-ranking Exception with

Spades and Hearts open 1

with three 4-card suits open the middle of 3 in a row or the suit

below the ldquogaprdquo

With a hand of exceptional strength where you do not want partner to

pass even with a very weak hand there is the option of opening with a

strong bid of 2 of your long suit or exceptionally 2clubs (artificial and

strong) ndash see below

Responding to an opening bid of 1clubs 1diams 1hearts 1spades

Raising partnerrsquos suit

with less than 6 points pass

6-9 points raise to the 2-level

How to Play Bridge

10-12 points raise to the 3-level

13+ points raise to the 4-level (in a major)

Responding in No Trumps

1 No Trumps 6-9 points (denies a suit that can be bid at

the 1-level or support for partnerrsquos major suit)

2 No Trumps 10-12 points balanced hand

3 No Trumps 13-15 points balanced hand

Responding in a new suit

a response in a new suit to an opening bid of 1 of a suit is

forcing partner cannot pass

respond in your longest suit

with two 5-card suits respond in the higher-ranking You will

then bid the other suit if practical to give partner a choice

with two or three 4-card suits make the most economical

response

bid your own suit before supporting partnerrsquos minor suit

do not bid in a new suit at the 2-level with less than 9 points

How to Play Bridge

remember that if you lack the strength to respond at the 2-level

you may instead respond 1NT (this need not show a balanced

hand)

a ldquojump shiftrdquo response in a new suit shows 16+ points and is

forcing to game

raising partnerrsquos major suit is a priority

do not raise partnerrsquos minor suit if there is an alternative such as

responding in a suit at the 1-level

Openerrsquos second bid

(1) With a weak hand

Pass if partner has made a non-forcing bid (ie a raise of your

suit or a no trump response)

support partnerrsquos major suit with 4-card support

rebid in a new suit at the 1-level

rebid in a lower-ranking suit at the 2-level (NB the ldquosafety

levelrdquo)

rebid your first suit at the lowest level with at least 5 cards

(2) With a strong hand

Jump raise partnerrsquos major suit (promises at least 4-card

support)

Jump rebid your own long (6-card +) suit

Jump in a new suit ndash forcing to game

How to Play Bridge

Bid a new suit at the 2-level above the ldquosafety levelrdquo ndash a reverse

showing a strong hand This is forcing if partner responded in a

suit at the 2-level

(3) With a balanced hand

rebid in No Trumps to show a balanced hand (but prefer to

bid a major suit if you can)

rebid No Trumps at the lowest level with 15-16 points

rebid No Trumps with a jump with 17-18 points

rebid 3NT with 19 points

Strong Opening Bids

Some hands are very powerful With this type of hand you would

normally open the bidding at the 2-level

An opening bid of 2 2 and 2 show a hand worth about 8 playing

tricks in the suit bid or possibly a strong two-suited hand with similar

strength The idea is that if you were to open with a bid of one of a

suit partner may pass and you may miss game (or even a slam) The

bid is forcing for one round (ie partner must respond)

Normal requirements to open 2 2 and 2

8 Playing Tricks

How to Play Bridge

Responses

2NT is the Negative Response It denies the ability to make any other

response Having given a negative response responder may pass on

the next round if opener makes a simple rebid of the suit that he

opened or bids a second suit without a jump

Positive Responses Any positive response is forcing to game

(at least)

A single raise (eg 2 - 3 ) promises a fit and an ace The hand may

have little more than those minimum requirements or it may be a

strong hand when responder will explore for slam

A double raise (eg 2 - 4) shows trump support with strictly

speaking two second-round controls (Kings or singletons) but denies

an Ace (with an Ace responder would make the stronger single raise

leaving more room to explore for a slam) A single raise is stronger

than a double raise Note it is now common practice to make the

double raise on any hand with support for partner and some values but

lacking an ace the old requirement for two second-round controls

tends to be ignored

A response in a new suit (eg 2 - 3) shows a good 5-card or longer

suit and 7+ points Lacking these basic requirements begin with an

alternative response (perhaps even a negative 2NT and then show

signs of life later in the auction) Do not respond in a bad suit

A jump to 3NT (eg 2 - 3NT) indicates a balanced hand with 10-12

points

A jump in a new suit (eg 2 - 4) promises a solid suit (AKQxxx at

least)

How to Play Bridge

The 2NT opening bid

This shows a balanced hand with 20-22 points It is not forcing but

responder needs only 4+ points to know that the values for game are

probably there

Responses a bid of 3hearts or 3spades shows a 5-card suit and asks opener to

choose between game in no trumps (with only two cards in

responderrsquos suit) or game in the major (ie 4hearts or 4spades)

Acol 2 Opening Bid

The artificial opening bid of 2 shows a super strong hand with either

23+ points in a balanced hand (ie too strong to open with an Acol

2NT bid) or a hand that is too strong even to open with a strong

forcing bid of two of a suit

Responding to a 2 Opening

Negative Response

The response with less than 7 points is an artificial bid of 2 The

opener rebids naturally showing his long suit or bidding NT on a

balanced hand The opening bid of 2 is forcing to game

Exception to the rule there is only one situation where the opening

bid of 2 is not forcing to game If after a 2 negative response

opener rebids 2NT he is showing a balanced 23-24 points With

absolutely no values responder may pass this 2NT rebid However

with as little as 2 or 3 points he should bid again responding to the

2NT rebid in a similar manner to the way in which he would respond

to a 2NT opening bid (ie Stayman 3 and 3 forcing)

Remember how strong the opening hand is before you take the

decision to pass the 2NT rebid

How to Play Bridge

NB if opener after 2 - 2 makes any rebid other than 2NT the

responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached

Positive responses to a 2 opening

2 2 3 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit or a 4-card suit

headed by the A or K

2NT balanced 7-9 points

3NT balanced 10-12 points

Overcalls and Responses

OVERCALLS

In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls

Simple Overcall

This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in

disrupting communication between your opponents and also

informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit

For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on

your right has opened 1 Club You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades

but with only 8-12 points How should you bid

Suit Quality Test

To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the lsquosuit

qualityrsquo test Simply count the length of your long suit in this case

spades and add the number of honour cards in that suit The total is

the strength of your suit quality If the total is 7 then you can make

and overcall of 1 Spade If the total is 8 then you can make an

overcall of 2 Spades and so on

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

Bidding Standard English (Acol)

Bidding between partners is an exchange of information Using a very

restricted vocabulary each player in turn tries to describe his hand

The objective is to provide enough information so that one player can

make the decision what suit (if any) should be trumps and how many

tricks should we attempt to take

Initially we will consider the bidding as a dialogue between the pair

with the majority of the high-card strength this is frequently the case

However there are times when the values are more evenly distributed

between the pairs and both sides are then involved in the bidding

phase For now we will ignore this possibility it will be easier to

consider bidding as a partnership exercise before thinking about how

things change when both pairs are bidding

The most important considerations when evaluating your hand for an

opening bid are the high-card strength and the shape of the hand An

opening bid generally requires 12 or more points

Opening the bidding balanced hands

A balanced hand means

no singleton or void

not more than 1 doubleton

no 6-card or longer suit

With 12-14 points (Ace = 4 King = 3 Queen = 2 Jack = 1) and

a balanced hand with no 5-card major suit open 1 No Trump

With 20-22 points and a balanced hand open with a bid of 2NT

With an exceptional hand of 23+ points you will start with an

artificial opening bid of 2clubs - see below

How to Play Bridge

With a balanced hand of 15-19 points you do not initially bid

no trumps You will bid No Trumps later start with a bid in a

suit

Responding to 1NT with a balanced hand

(See Chart 4 at end of book)

Opening with a suit bid

open your longest suit

with two 5-card suits open the higher-ranking

with two 4-card suits open the higher-ranking Exception with

Spades and Hearts open 1

with three 4-card suits open the middle of 3 in a row or the suit

below the ldquogaprdquo

With a hand of exceptional strength where you do not want partner to

pass even with a very weak hand there is the option of opening with a

strong bid of 2 of your long suit or exceptionally 2clubs (artificial and

strong) ndash see below

Responding to an opening bid of 1clubs 1diams 1hearts 1spades

Raising partnerrsquos suit

with less than 6 points pass

6-9 points raise to the 2-level

How to Play Bridge

10-12 points raise to the 3-level

13+ points raise to the 4-level (in a major)

Responding in No Trumps

1 No Trumps 6-9 points (denies a suit that can be bid at

the 1-level or support for partnerrsquos major suit)

2 No Trumps 10-12 points balanced hand

3 No Trumps 13-15 points balanced hand

Responding in a new suit

a response in a new suit to an opening bid of 1 of a suit is

forcing partner cannot pass

respond in your longest suit

with two 5-card suits respond in the higher-ranking You will

then bid the other suit if practical to give partner a choice

with two or three 4-card suits make the most economical

response

bid your own suit before supporting partnerrsquos minor suit

do not bid in a new suit at the 2-level with less than 9 points

How to Play Bridge

remember that if you lack the strength to respond at the 2-level

you may instead respond 1NT (this need not show a balanced

hand)

a ldquojump shiftrdquo response in a new suit shows 16+ points and is

forcing to game

raising partnerrsquos major suit is a priority

do not raise partnerrsquos minor suit if there is an alternative such as

responding in a suit at the 1-level

Openerrsquos second bid

(1) With a weak hand

Pass if partner has made a non-forcing bid (ie a raise of your

suit or a no trump response)

support partnerrsquos major suit with 4-card support

rebid in a new suit at the 1-level

rebid in a lower-ranking suit at the 2-level (NB the ldquosafety

levelrdquo)

rebid your first suit at the lowest level with at least 5 cards

(2) With a strong hand

Jump raise partnerrsquos major suit (promises at least 4-card

support)

Jump rebid your own long (6-card +) suit

Jump in a new suit ndash forcing to game

How to Play Bridge

Bid a new suit at the 2-level above the ldquosafety levelrdquo ndash a reverse

showing a strong hand This is forcing if partner responded in a

suit at the 2-level

(3) With a balanced hand

rebid in No Trumps to show a balanced hand (but prefer to

bid a major suit if you can)

rebid No Trumps at the lowest level with 15-16 points

rebid No Trumps with a jump with 17-18 points

rebid 3NT with 19 points

Strong Opening Bids

Some hands are very powerful With this type of hand you would

normally open the bidding at the 2-level

An opening bid of 2 2 and 2 show a hand worth about 8 playing

tricks in the suit bid or possibly a strong two-suited hand with similar

strength The idea is that if you were to open with a bid of one of a

suit partner may pass and you may miss game (or even a slam) The

bid is forcing for one round (ie partner must respond)

Normal requirements to open 2 2 and 2

8 Playing Tricks

How to Play Bridge

Responses

2NT is the Negative Response It denies the ability to make any other

response Having given a negative response responder may pass on

the next round if opener makes a simple rebid of the suit that he

opened or bids a second suit without a jump

Positive Responses Any positive response is forcing to game

(at least)

A single raise (eg 2 - 3 ) promises a fit and an ace The hand may

have little more than those minimum requirements or it may be a

strong hand when responder will explore for slam

A double raise (eg 2 - 4) shows trump support with strictly

speaking two second-round controls (Kings or singletons) but denies

an Ace (with an Ace responder would make the stronger single raise

leaving more room to explore for a slam) A single raise is stronger

than a double raise Note it is now common practice to make the

double raise on any hand with support for partner and some values but

lacking an ace the old requirement for two second-round controls

tends to be ignored

A response in a new suit (eg 2 - 3) shows a good 5-card or longer

suit and 7+ points Lacking these basic requirements begin with an

alternative response (perhaps even a negative 2NT and then show

signs of life later in the auction) Do not respond in a bad suit

A jump to 3NT (eg 2 - 3NT) indicates a balanced hand with 10-12

points

A jump in a new suit (eg 2 - 4) promises a solid suit (AKQxxx at

least)

How to Play Bridge

The 2NT opening bid

This shows a balanced hand with 20-22 points It is not forcing but

responder needs only 4+ points to know that the values for game are

probably there

Responses a bid of 3hearts or 3spades shows a 5-card suit and asks opener to

choose between game in no trumps (with only two cards in

responderrsquos suit) or game in the major (ie 4hearts or 4spades)

Acol 2 Opening Bid

The artificial opening bid of 2 shows a super strong hand with either

23+ points in a balanced hand (ie too strong to open with an Acol

2NT bid) or a hand that is too strong even to open with a strong

forcing bid of two of a suit

Responding to a 2 Opening

Negative Response

The response with less than 7 points is an artificial bid of 2 The

opener rebids naturally showing his long suit or bidding NT on a

balanced hand The opening bid of 2 is forcing to game

Exception to the rule there is only one situation where the opening

bid of 2 is not forcing to game If after a 2 negative response

opener rebids 2NT he is showing a balanced 23-24 points With

absolutely no values responder may pass this 2NT rebid However

with as little as 2 or 3 points he should bid again responding to the

2NT rebid in a similar manner to the way in which he would respond

to a 2NT opening bid (ie Stayman 3 and 3 forcing)

Remember how strong the opening hand is before you take the

decision to pass the 2NT rebid

How to Play Bridge

NB if opener after 2 - 2 makes any rebid other than 2NT the

responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached

Positive responses to a 2 opening

2 2 3 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit or a 4-card suit

headed by the A or K

2NT balanced 7-9 points

3NT balanced 10-12 points

Overcalls and Responses

OVERCALLS

In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls

Simple Overcall

This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in

disrupting communication between your opponents and also

informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit

For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on

your right has opened 1 Club You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades

but with only 8-12 points How should you bid

Suit Quality Test

To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the lsquosuit

qualityrsquo test Simply count the length of your long suit in this case

spades and add the number of honour cards in that suit The total is

the strength of your suit quality If the total is 7 then you can make

and overcall of 1 Spade If the total is 8 then you can make an

overcall of 2 Spades and so on

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

With a balanced hand of 15-19 points you do not initially bid

no trumps You will bid No Trumps later start with a bid in a

suit

Responding to 1NT with a balanced hand

(See Chart 4 at end of book)

Opening with a suit bid

open your longest suit

with two 5-card suits open the higher-ranking

with two 4-card suits open the higher-ranking Exception with

Spades and Hearts open 1

with three 4-card suits open the middle of 3 in a row or the suit

below the ldquogaprdquo

With a hand of exceptional strength where you do not want partner to

pass even with a very weak hand there is the option of opening with a

strong bid of 2 of your long suit or exceptionally 2clubs (artificial and

strong) ndash see below

Responding to an opening bid of 1clubs 1diams 1hearts 1spades

Raising partnerrsquos suit

with less than 6 points pass

6-9 points raise to the 2-level

How to Play Bridge

10-12 points raise to the 3-level

13+ points raise to the 4-level (in a major)

Responding in No Trumps

1 No Trumps 6-9 points (denies a suit that can be bid at

the 1-level or support for partnerrsquos major suit)

2 No Trumps 10-12 points balanced hand

3 No Trumps 13-15 points balanced hand

Responding in a new suit

a response in a new suit to an opening bid of 1 of a suit is

forcing partner cannot pass

respond in your longest suit

with two 5-card suits respond in the higher-ranking You will

then bid the other suit if practical to give partner a choice

with two or three 4-card suits make the most economical

response

bid your own suit before supporting partnerrsquos minor suit

do not bid in a new suit at the 2-level with less than 9 points

How to Play Bridge

remember that if you lack the strength to respond at the 2-level

you may instead respond 1NT (this need not show a balanced

hand)

a ldquojump shiftrdquo response in a new suit shows 16+ points and is

forcing to game

raising partnerrsquos major suit is a priority

do not raise partnerrsquos minor suit if there is an alternative such as

responding in a suit at the 1-level

Openerrsquos second bid

(1) With a weak hand

Pass if partner has made a non-forcing bid (ie a raise of your

suit or a no trump response)

support partnerrsquos major suit with 4-card support

rebid in a new suit at the 1-level

rebid in a lower-ranking suit at the 2-level (NB the ldquosafety

levelrdquo)

rebid your first suit at the lowest level with at least 5 cards

(2) With a strong hand

Jump raise partnerrsquos major suit (promises at least 4-card

support)

Jump rebid your own long (6-card +) suit

Jump in a new suit ndash forcing to game

How to Play Bridge

Bid a new suit at the 2-level above the ldquosafety levelrdquo ndash a reverse

showing a strong hand This is forcing if partner responded in a

suit at the 2-level

(3) With a balanced hand

rebid in No Trumps to show a balanced hand (but prefer to

bid a major suit if you can)

rebid No Trumps at the lowest level with 15-16 points

rebid No Trumps with a jump with 17-18 points

rebid 3NT with 19 points

Strong Opening Bids

Some hands are very powerful With this type of hand you would

normally open the bidding at the 2-level

An opening bid of 2 2 and 2 show a hand worth about 8 playing

tricks in the suit bid or possibly a strong two-suited hand with similar

strength The idea is that if you were to open with a bid of one of a

suit partner may pass and you may miss game (or even a slam) The

bid is forcing for one round (ie partner must respond)

Normal requirements to open 2 2 and 2

8 Playing Tricks

How to Play Bridge

Responses

2NT is the Negative Response It denies the ability to make any other

response Having given a negative response responder may pass on

the next round if opener makes a simple rebid of the suit that he

opened or bids a second suit without a jump

Positive Responses Any positive response is forcing to game

(at least)

A single raise (eg 2 - 3 ) promises a fit and an ace The hand may

have little more than those minimum requirements or it may be a

strong hand when responder will explore for slam

A double raise (eg 2 - 4) shows trump support with strictly

speaking two second-round controls (Kings or singletons) but denies

an Ace (with an Ace responder would make the stronger single raise

leaving more room to explore for a slam) A single raise is stronger

than a double raise Note it is now common practice to make the

double raise on any hand with support for partner and some values but

lacking an ace the old requirement for two second-round controls

tends to be ignored

A response in a new suit (eg 2 - 3) shows a good 5-card or longer

suit and 7+ points Lacking these basic requirements begin with an

alternative response (perhaps even a negative 2NT and then show

signs of life later in the auction) Do not respond in a bad suit

A jump to 3NT (eg 2 - 3NT) indicates a balanced hand with 10-12

points

A jump in a new suit (eg 2 - 4) promises a solid suit (AKQxxx at

least)

How to Play Bridge

The 2NT opening bid

This shows a balanced hand with 20-22 points It is not forcing but

responder needs only 4+ points to know that the values for game are

probably there

Responses a bid of 3hearts or 3spades shows a 5-card suit and asks opener to

choose between game in no trumps (with only two cards in

responderrsquos suit) or game in the major (ie 4hearts or 4spades)

Acol 2 Opening Bid

The artificial opening bid of 2 shows a super strong hand with either

23+ points in a balanced hand (ie too strong to open with an Acol

2NT bid) or a hand that is too strong even to open with a strong

forcing bid of two of a suit

Responding to a 2 Opening

Negative Response

The response with less than 7 points is an artificial bid of 2 The

opener rebids naturally showing his long suit or bidding NT on a

balanced hand The opening bid of 2 is forcing to game

Exception to the rule there is only one situation where the opening

bid of 2 is not forcing to game If after a 2 negative response

opener rebids 2NT he is showing a balanced 23-24 points With

absolutely no values responder may pass this 2NT rebid However

with as little as 2 or 3 points he should bid again responding to the

2NT rebid in a similar manner to the way in which he would respond

to a 2NT opening bid (ie Stayman 3 and 3 forcing)

Remember how strong the opening hand is before you take the

decision to pass the 2NT rebid

How to Play Bridge

NB if opener after 2 - 2 makes any rebid other than 2NT the

responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached

Positive responses to a 2 opening

2 2 3 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit or a 4-card suit

headed by the A or K

2NT balanced 7-9 points

3NT balanced 10-12 points

Overcalls and Responses

OVERCALLS

In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls

Simple Overcall

This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in

disrupting communication between your opponents and also

informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit

For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on

your right has opened 1 Club You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades

but with only 8-12 points How should you bid

Suit Quality Test

To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the lsquosuit

qualityrsquo test Simply count the length of your long suit in this case

spades and add the number of honour cards in that suit The total is

the strength of your suit quality If the total is 7 then you can make

and overcall of 1 Spade If the total is 8 then you can make an

overcall of 2 Spades and so on

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

10-12 points raise to the 3-level

13+ points raise to the 4-level (in a major)

Responding in No Trumps

1 No Trumps 6-9 points (denies a suit that can be bid at

the 1-level or support for partnerrsquos major suit)

2 No Trumps 10-12 points balanced hand

3 No Trumps 13-15 points balanced hand

Responding in a new suit

a response in a new suit to an opening bid of 1 of a suit is

forcing partner cannot pass

respond in your longest suit

with two 5-card suits respond in the higher-ranking You will

then bid the other suit if practical to give partner a choice

with two or three 4-card suits make the most economical

response

bid your own suit before supporting partnerrsquos minor suit

do not bid in a new suit at the 2-level with less than 9 points

How to Play Bridge

remember that if you lack the strength to respond at the 2-level

you may instead respond 1NT (this need not show a balanced

hand)

a ldquojump shiftrdquo response in a new suit shows 16+ points and is

forcing to game

raising partnerrsquos major suit is a priority

do not raise partnerrsquos minor suit if there is an alternative such as

responding in a suit at the 1-level

Openerrsquos second bid

(1) With a weak hand

Pass if partner has made a non-forcing bid (ie a raise of your

suit or a no trump response)

support partnerrsquos major suit with 4-card support

rebid in a new suit at the 1-level

rebid in a lower-ranking suit at the 2-level (NB the ldquosafety

levelrdquo)

rebid your first suit at the lowest level with at least 5 cards

(2) With a strong hand

Jump raise partnerrsquos major suit (promises at least 4-card

support)

Jump rebid your own long (6-card +) suit

Jump in a new suit ndash forcing to game

How to Play Bridge

Bid a new suit at the 2-level above the ldquosafety levelrdquo ndash a reverse

showing a strong hand This is forcing if partner responded in a

suit at the 2-level

(3) With a balanced hand

rebid in No Trumps to show a balanced hand (but prefer to

bid a major suit if you can)

rebid No Trumps at the lowest level with 15-16 points

rebid No Trumps with a jump with 17-18 points

rebid 3NT with 19 points

Strong Opening Bids

Some hands are very powerful With this type of hand you would

normally open the bidding at the 2-level

An opening bid of 2 2 and 2 show a hand worth about 8 playing

tricks in the suit bid or possibly a strong two-suited hand with similar

strength The idea is that if you were to open with a bid of one of a

suit partner may pass and you may miss game (or even a slam) The

bid is forcing for one round (ie partner must respond)

Normal requirements to open 2 2 and 2

8 Playing Tricks

How to Play Bridge

Responses

2NT is the Negative Response It denies the ability to make any other

response Having given a negative response responder may pass on

the next round if opener makes a simple rebid of the suit that he

opened or bids a second suit without a jump

Positive Responses Any positive response is forcing to game

(at least)

A single raise (eg 2 - 3 ) promises a fit and an ace The hand may

have little more than those minimum requirements or it may be a

strong hand when responder will explore for slam

A double raise (eg 2 - 4) shows trump support with strictly

speaking two second-round controls (Kings or singletons) but denies

an Ace (with an Ace responder would make the stronger single raise

leaving more room to explore for a slam) A single raise is stronger

than a double raise Note it is now common practice to make the

double raise on any hand with support for partner and some values but

lacking an ace the old requirement for two second-round controls

tends to be ignored

A response in a new suit (eg 2 - 3) shows a good 5-card or longer

suit and 7+ points Lacking these basic requirements begin with an

alternative response (perhaps even a negative 2NT and then show

signs of life later in the auction) Do not respond in a bad suit

A jump to 3NT (eg 2 - 3NT) indicates a balanced hand with 10-12

points

A jump in a new suit (eg 2 - 4) promises a solid suit (AKQxxx at

least)

How to Play Bridge

The 2NT opening bid

This shows a balanced hand with 20-22 points It is not forcing but

responder needs only 4+ points to know that the values for game are

probably there

Responses a bid of 3hearts or 3spades shows a 5-card suit and asks opener to

choose between game in no trumps (with only two cards in

responderrsquos suit) or game in the major (ie 4hearts or 4spades)

Acol 2 Opening Bid

The artificial opening bid of 2 shows a super strong hand with either

23+ points in a balanced hand (ie too strong to open with an Acol

2NT bid) or a hand that is too strong even to open with a strong

forcing bid of two of a suit

Responding to a 2 Opening

Negative Response

The response with less than 7 points is an artificial bid of 2 The

opener rebids naturally showing his long suit or bidding NT on a

balanced hand The opening bid of 2 is forcing to game

Exception to the rule there is only one situation where the opening

bid of 2 is not forcing to game If after a 2 negative response

opener rebids 2NT he is showing a balanced 23-24 points With

absolutely no values responder may pass this 2NT rebid However

with as little as 2 or 3 points he should bid again responding to the

2NT rebid in a similar manner to the way in which he would respond

to a 2NT opening bid (ie Stayman 3 and 3 forcing)

Remember how strong the opening hand is before you take the

decision to pass the 2NT rebid

How to Play Bridge

NB if opener after 2 - 2 makes any rebid other than 2NT the

responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached

Positive responses to a 2 opening

2 2 3 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit or a 4-card suit

headed by the A or K

2NT balanced 7-9 points

3NT balanced 10-12 points

Overcalls and Responses

OVERCALLS

In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls

Simple Overcall

This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in

disrupting communication between your opponents and also

informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit

For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on

your right has opened 1 Club You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades

but with only 8-12 points How should you bid

Suit Quality Test

To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the lsquosuit

qualityrsquo test Simply count the length of your long suit in this case

spades and add the number of honour cards in that suit The total is

the strength of your suit quality If the total is 7 then you can make

and overcall of 1 Spade If the total is 8 then you can make an

overcall of 2 Spades and so on

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

remember that if you lack the strength to respond at the 2-level

you may instead respond 1NT (this need not show a balanced

hand)

a ldquojump shiftrdquo response in a new suit shows 16+ points and is

forcing to game

raising partnerrsquos major suit is a priority

do not raise partnerrsquos minor suit if there is an alternative such as

responding in a suit at the 1-level

Openerrsquos second bid

(1) With a weak hand

Pass if partner has made a non-forcing bid (ie a raise of your

suit or a no trump response)

support partnerrsquos major suit with 4-card support

rebid in a new suit at the 1-level

rebid in a lower-ranking suit at the 2-level (NB the ldquosafety

levelrdquo)

rebid your first suit at the lowest level with at least 5 cards

(2) With a strong hand

Jump raise partnerrsquos major suit (promises at least 4-card

support)

Jump rebid your own long (6-card +) suit

Jump in a new suit ndash forcing to game

How to Play Bridge

Bid a new suit at the 2-level above the ldquosafety levelrdquo ndash a reverse

showing a strong hand This is forcing if partner responded in a

suit at the 2-level

(3) With a balanced hand

rebid in No Trumps to show a balanced hand (but prefer to

bid a major suit if you can)

rebid No Trumps at the lowest level with 15-16 points

rebid No Trumps with a jump with 17-18 points

rebid 3NT with 19 points

Strong Opening Bids

Some hands are very powerful With this type of hand you would

normally open the bidding at the 2-level

An opening bid of 2 2 and 2 show a hand worth about 8 playing

tricks in the suit bid or possibly a strong two-suited hand with similar

strength The idea is that if you were to open with a bid of one of a

suit partner may pass and you may miss game (or even a slam) The

bid is forcing for one round (ie partner must respond)

Normal requirements to open 2 2 and 2

8 Playing Tricks

How to Play Bridge

Responses

2NT is the Negative Response It denies the ability to make any other

response Having given a negative response responder may pass on

the next round if opener makes a simple rebid of the suit that he

opened or bids a second suit without a jump

Positive Responses Any positive response is forcing to game

(at least)

A single raise (eg 2 - 3 ) promises a fit and an ace The hand may

have little more than those minimum requirements or it may be a

strong hand when responder will explore for slam

A double raise (eg 2 - 4) shows trump support with strictly

speaking two second-round controls (Kings or singletons) but denies

an Ace (with an Ace responder would make the stronger single raise

leaving more room to explore for a slam) A single raise is stronger

than a double raise Note it is now common practice to make the

double raise on any hand with support for partner and some values but

lacking an ace the old requirement for two second-round controls

tends to be ignored

A response in a new suit (eg 2 - 3) shows a good 5-card or longer

suit and 7+ points Lacking these basic requirements begin with an

alternative response (perhaps even a negative 2NT and then show

signs of life later in the auction) Do not respond in a bad suit

A jump to 3NT (eg 2 - 3NT) indicates a balanced hand with 10-12

points

A jump in a new suit (eg 2 - 4) promises a solid suit (AKQxxx at

least)

How to Play Bridge

The 2NT opening bid

This shows a balanced hand with 20-22 points It is not forcing but

responder needs only 4+ points to know that the values for game are

probably there

Responses a bid of 3hearts or 3spades shows a 5-card suit and asks opener to

choose between game in no trumps (with only two cards in

responderrsquos suit) or game in the major (ie 4hearts or 4spades)

Acol 2 Opening Bid

The artificial opening bid of 2 shows a super strong hand with either

23+ points in a balanced hand (ie too strong to open with an Acol

2NT bid) or a hand that is too strong even to open with a strong

forcing bid of two of a suit

Responding to a 2 Opening

Negative Response

The response with less than 7 points is an artificial bid of 2 The

opener rebids naturally showing his long suit or bidding NT on a

balanced hand The opening bid of 2 is forcing to game

Exception to the rule there is only one situation where the opening

bid of 2 is not forcing to game If after a 2 negative response

opener rebids 2NT he is showing a balanced 23-24 points With

absolutely no values responder may pass this 2NT rebid However

with as little as 2 or 3 points he should bid again responding to the

2NT rebid in a similar manner to the way in which he would respond

to a 2NT opening bid (ie Stayman 3 and 3 forcing)

Remember how strong the opening hand is before you take the

decision to pass the 2NT rebid

How to Play Bridge

NB if opener after 2 - 2 makes any rebid other than 2NT the

responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached

Positive responses to a 2 opening

2 2 3 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit or a 4-card suit

headed by the A or K

2NT balanced 7-9 points

3NT balanced 10-12 points

Overcalls and Responses

OVERCALLS

In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls

Simple Overcall

This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in

disrupting communication between your opponents and also

informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit

For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on

your right has opened 1 Club You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades

but with only 8-12 points How should you bid

Suit Quality Test

To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the lsquosuit

qualityrsquo test Simply count the length of your long suit in this case

spades and add the number of honour cards in that suit The total is

the strength of your suit quality If the total is 7 then you can make

and overcall of 1 Spade If the total is 8 then you can make an

overcall of 2 Spades and so on

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

Bid a new suit at the 2-level above the ldquosafety levelrdquo ndash a reverse

showing a strong hand This is forcing if partner responded in a

suit at the 2-level

(3) With a balanced hand

rebid in No Trumps to show a balanced hand (but prefer to

bid a major suit if you can)

rebid No Trumps at the lowest level with 15-16 points

rebid No Trumps with a jump with 17-18 points

rebid 3NT with 19 points

Strong Opening Bids

Some hands are very powerful With this type of hand you would

normally open the bidding at the 2-level

An opening bid of 2 2 and 2 show a hand worth about 8 playing

tricks in the suit bid or possibly a strong two-suited hand with similar

strength The idea is that if you were to open with a bid of one of a

suit partner may pass and you may miss game (or even a slam) The

bid is forcing for one round (ie partner must respond)

Normal requirements to open 2 2 and 2

8 Playing Tricks

How to Play Bridge

Responses

2NT is the Negative Response It denies the ability to make any other

response Having given a negative response responder may pass on

the next round if opener makes a simple rebid of the suit that he

opened or bids a second suit without a jump

Positive Responses Any positive response is forcing to game

(at least)

A single raise (eg 2 - 3 ) promises a fit and an ace The hand may

have little more than those minimum requirements or it may be a

strong hand when responder will explore for slam

A double raise (eg 2 - 4) shows trump support with strictly

speaking two second-round controls (Kings or singletons) but denies

an Ace (with an Ace responder would make the stronger single raise

leaving more room to explore for a slam) A single raise is stronger

than a double raise Note it is now common practice to make the

double raise on any hand with support for partner and some values but

lacking an ace the old requirement for two second-round controls

tends to be ignored

A response in a new suit (eg 2 - 3) shows a good 5-card or longer

suit and 7+ points Lacking these basic requirements begin with an

alternative response (perhaps even a negative 2NT and then show

signs of life later in the auction) Do not respond in a bad suit

A jump to 3NT (eg 2 - 3NT) indicates a balanced hand with 10-12

points

A jump in a new suit (eg 2 - 4) promises a solid suit (AKQxxx at

least)

How to Play Bridge

The 2NT opening bid

This shows a balanced hand with 20-22 points It is not forcing but

responder needs only 4+ points to know that the values for game are

probably there

Responses a bid of 3hearts or 3spades shows a 5-card suit and asks opener to

choose between game in no trumps (with only two cards in

responderrsquos suit) or game in the major (ie 4hearts or 4spades)

Acol 2 Opening Bid

The artificial opening bid of 2 shows a super strong hand with either

23+ points in a balanced hand (ie too strong to open with an Acol

2NT bid) or a hand that is too strong even to open with a strong

forcing bid of two of a suit

Responding to a 2 Opening

Negative Response

The response with less than 7 points is an artificial bid of 2 The

opener rebids naturally showing his long suit or bidding NT on a

balanced hand The opening bid of 2 is forcing to game

Exception to the rule there is only one situation where the opening

bid of 2 is not forcing to game If after a 2 negative response

opener rebids 2NT he is showing a balanced 23-24 points With

absolutely no values responder may pass this 2NT rebid However

with as little as 2 or 3 points he should bid again responding to the

2NT rebid in a similar manner to the way in which he would respond

to a 2NT opening bid (ie Stayman 3 and 3 forcing)

Remember how strong the opening hand is before you take the

decision to pass the 2NT rebid

How to Play Bridge

NB if opener after 2 - 2 makes any rebid other than 2NT the

responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached

Positive responses to a 2 opening

2 2 3 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit or a 4-card suit

headed by the A or K

2NT balanced 7-9 points

3NT balanced 10-12 points

Overcalls and Responses

OVERCALLS

In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls

Simple Overcall

This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in

disrupting communication between your opponents and also

informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit

For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on

your right has opened 1 Club You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades

but with only 8-12 points How should you bid

Suit Quality Test

To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the lsquosuit

qualityrsquo test Simply count the length of your long suit in this case

spades and add the number of honour cards in that suit The total is

the strength of your suit quality If the total is 7 then you can make

and overcall of 1 Spade If the total is 8 then you can make an

overcall of 2 Spades and so on

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

Responses

2NT is the Negative Response It denies the ability to make any other

response Having given a negative response responder may pass on

the next round if opener makes a simple rebid of the suit that he

opened or bids a second suit without a jump

Positive Responses Any positive response is forcing to game

(at least)

A single raise (eg 2 - 3 ) promises a fit and an ace The hand may

have little more than those minimum requirements or it may be a

strong hand when responder will explore for slam

A double raise (eg 2 - 4) shows trump support with strictly

speaking two second-round controls (Kings or singletons) but denies

an Ace (with an Ace responder would make the stronger single raise

leaving more room to explore for a slam) A single raise is stronger

than a double raise Note it is now common practice to make the

double raise on any hand with support for partner and some values but

lacking an ace the old requirement for two second-round controls

tends to be ignored

A response in a new suit (eg 2 - 3) shows a good 5-card or longer

suit and 7+ points Lacking these basic requirements begin with an

alternative response (perhaps even a negative 2NT and then show

signs of life later in the auction) Do not respond in a bad suit

A jump to 3NT (eg 2 - 3NT) indicates a balanced hand with 10-12

points

A jump in a new suit (eg 2 - 4) promises a solid suit (AKQxxx at

least)

How to Play Bridge

The 2NT opening bid

This shows a balanced hand with 20-22 points It is not forcing but

responder needs only 4+ points to know that the values for game are

probably there

Responses a bid of 3hearts or 3spades shows a 5-card suit and asks opener to

choose between game in no trumps (with only two cards in

responderrsquos suit) or game in the major (ie 4hearts or 4spades)

Acol 2 Opening Bid

The artificial opening bid of 2 shows a super strong hand with either

23+ points in a balanced hand (ie too strong to open with an Acol

2NT bid) or a hand that is too strong even to open with a strong

forcing bid of two of a suit

Responding to a 2 Opening

Negative Response

The response with less than 7 points is an artificial bid of 2 The

opener rebids naturally showing his long suit or bidding NT on a

balanced hand The opening bid of 2 is forcing to game

Exception to the rule there is only one situation where the opening

bid of 2 is not forcing to game If after a 2 negative response

opener rebids 2NT he is showing a balanced 23-24 points With

absolutely no values responder may pass this 2NT rebid However

with as little as 2 or 3 points he should bid again responding to the

2NT rebid in a similar manner to the way in which he would respond

to a 2NT opening bid (ie Stayman 3 and 3 forcing)

Remember how strong the opening hand is before you take the

decision to pass the 2NT rebid

How to Play Bridge

NB if opener after 2 - 2 makes any rebid other than 2NT the

responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached

Positive responses to a 2 opening

2 2 3 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit or a 4-card suit

headed by the A or K

2NT balanced 7-9 points

3NT balanced 10-12 points

Overcalls and Responses

OVERCALLS

In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls

Simple Overcall

This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in

disrupting communication between your opponents and also

informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit

For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on

your right has opened 1 Club You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades

but with only 8-12 points How should you bid

Suit Quality Test

To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the lsquosuit

qualityrsquo test Simply count the length of your long suit in this case

spades and add the number of honour cards in that suit The total is

the strength of your suit quality If the total is 7 then you can make

and overcall of 1 Spade If the total is 8 then you can make an

overcall of 2 Spades and so on

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

The 2NT opening bid

This shows a balanced hand with 20-22 points It is not forcing but

responder needs only 4+ points to know that the values for game are

probably there

Responses a bid of 3hearts or 3spades shows a 5-card suit and asks opener to

choose between game in no trumps (with only two cards in

responderrsquos suit) or game in the major (ie 4hearts or 4spades)

Acol 2 Opening Bid

The artificial opening bid of 2 shows a super strong hand with either

23+ points in a balanced hand (ie too strong to open with an Acol

2NT bid) or a hand that is too strong even to open with a strong

forcing bid of two of a suit

Responding to a 2 Opening

Negative Response

The response with less than 7 points is an artificial bid of 2 The

opener rebids naturally showing his long suit or bidding NT on a

balanced hand The opening bid of 2 is forcing to game

Exception to the rule there is only one situation where the opening

bid of 2 is not forcing to game If after a 2 negative response

opener rebids 2NT he is showing a balanced 23-24 points With

absolutely no values responder may pass this 2NT rebid However

with as little as 2 or 3 points he should bid again responding to the

2NT rebid in a similar manner to the way in which he would respond

to a 2NT opening bid (ie Stayman 3 and 3 forcing)

Remember how strong the opening hand is before you take the

decision to pass the 2NT rebid

How to Play Bridge

NB if opener after 2 - 2 makes any rebid other than 2NT the

responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached

Positive responses to a 2 opening

2 2 3 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit or a 4-card suit

headed by the A or K

2NT balanced 7-9 points

3NT balanced 10-12 points

Overcalls and Responses

OVERCALLS

In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls

Simple Overcall

This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in

disrupting communication between your opponents and also

informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit

For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on

your right has opened 1 Club You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades

but with only 8-12 points How should you bid

Suit Quality Test

To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the lsquosuit

qualityrsquo test Simply count the length of your long suit in this case

spades and add the number of honour cards in that suit The total is

the strength of your suit quality If the total is 7 then you can make

and overcall of 1 Spade If the total is 8 then you can make an

overcall of 2 Spades and so on

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

NB if opener after 2 - 2 makes any rebid other than 2NT the

responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached

Positive responses to a 2 opening

2 2 3 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit or a 4-card suit

headed by the A or K

2NT balanced 7-9 points

3NT balanced 10-12 points

Overcalls and Responses

OVERCALLS

In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls

Simple Overcall

This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in

disrupting communication between your opponents and also

informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit

For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on

your right has opened 1 Club You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades

but with only 8-12 points How should you bid

Suit Quality Test

To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the lsquosuit

qualityrsquo test Simply count the length of your long suit in this case

spades and add the number of honour cards in that suit The total is

the strength of your suit quality If the total is 7 then you can make

and overcall of 1 Spade If the total is 8 then you can make an

overcall of 2 Spades and so on

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

Jump Overcall

For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit

together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points

1 NT Overcall

15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponentrsquos suit

RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS

Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a

weak hand with only one good suit and with the intention of

obstructing your opponents Therefore the majority of responses to

his overcall should also be barrages However there are responses

available

Supporting Partner

This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all because it

means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your

opponents bidding space All bids supporting partners overcall are

weak To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of

trumps that you hold Assuming that your partner holds a five card

suit for his overcall you should raise your partners overcall to the

same number of tricks that you have trumps between you

So if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you you

should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level) If you think you have

nine trumps raise to nine tricks (the three level) and so on

So in a barrage situation it is the number of trumps you hold and the

distribution of your hand that is important not your points

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND

What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand

Obviously you canrsquot just support partner and hope he understands

You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called un-

assuming cue bid This is a complicated sounding bid but actually

just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level

What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold

the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in

the offing by your side In other words whereas supporting your

partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents this

bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of

the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring

Contracts

NT

1 20 30 40

2 40 60 70

3 60 90 100

4 80 120 130

5 100 150 160

6 120 180 190

7 140 210 220

Slams

Not Vul Vul

Small 500 750

Grand 1000 1500

Rubbers

Three Games 500

Two Games 700

Unfinished Rubbers

Game 300

Part Score 50

Overtricks

per overtrick Not

Vul Vul

Not Doubled trick value

Doubled 100 200

Redoubled 200 400

Undertricks

Not Doubled Doubled

Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul

1 50 100 100 200

2 100 200 300 500

3 150 300 500 800

4 200 400 800 1100

5 250 500 1100 1400

6 300 600 1400 1700

7 350 700 1700 2000

Other Bonuses

4 trump honours in one hand 100

5 trump honours in one hand 150

4 aces in one hand (NT) 150

Making a doubled Contract 50

Making a redoubled Contract 100

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No

How to Play Bridge

Modern Acol (Standard English) ndash Responding to 1NT (Chart 4)

Do I have a weak hand

(less than 11 points)

No

Yes

Is it a 6-card or

longer club suit

No

No

Yes

No Do I have a 6-card

major suit

Yes

Bid 2clubs (Stayman) but

then bid 3clubs to play

Yes

Yes

Bid 2clubs

Stayman

Have we found a 4-4

major suit fit

Yes Yes

Bid 4hearts 4spades

No

The Exception to the Golden Rule

No

copy Professional Bridge Tuition 2010

Weak with 5-4 in the majors bid 2clubs Stayman pass

a response of 2hearts2spades bid the 5-card major over 2diams

Pass Do I have a 5-card (+)

suit

Bid 2 of your long suit

(asking partner to pass)

Yes

No

Bid 3hearts 3spades asking

partner to choose

3NT or 4hearts 4spades

Bid 3NT (13+ pts)

or invite game

with 2NT (11-12)

Golden Rule Stayman with four bid the suit with more

Do I have a 5-card

major suit

Do I have a 4-card

major suit

Bid 4hearts 4spades (13+ pts)

or invite game with

3hearts 3spades (11-12)

Am I 5-4 in the

majors

No