Bridge is a game of skill, logic, reasoning and teamwork, with the occasional input of guile and cunning. It is played with standard playing cards.
The basic skills needed to learn to play Bridge are:
The ability to add two numbers to a maximum total of 40.
The ability to count to 13.
It is also helpful to have a good memory and sound
concentration - two excellent reasons to begin playing at a young age!
A game of Bridge is played between two pairs, one designated North-South, the other East-West.
A pack of 52 playing cards (no Jokers) is dealt so
that each player has 13 cards (in
Bridge clubs this is computerised to ensure random distributions).
There are 635 billion possible
distributions of cards between the four players, so it is highly unlikely that
any two games will ever be the same.
The four suits are ranked, ♠ Spades being the
top suit, ♥ Hearts second, then ♦ Diamonds, with ♣ Clubs the
bottom ranked suit.
The first part of a game is the auction. With
the dealer having the first bid, players take turns bidding (clockwise
round the table) for the contract to play the game. Players may not give
any information about the cards they hold, other than that implied by the bids
they make.
There are 35 different contracts that can be bid, the
lowest being 1 Club, then 1 Diamond, 1 Heart, 1 Spade, 1 No Trump (1NT) –
these are one level bids - then 2 Clubs, 2 Diamonds…up to 7NT. As in
any auction, players are not permitted to make a bid below the level of previous
bids –if one player has bid for example 3 Hearts, other players can then only
bid 3 Spades or higher. A player not wishing to bid for the contract will pass.
The level of the contract determines the number of tricks
(of the 13 possible) that the player offering the highest bid (this player is
called declarer) is required to take in order to make his or her
contract. Playing a one level contract (1 Club, 1 Spade etc) declarer must take
seven tricks to make contract. To make at the 7 level (7 Hearts, 7NT etc)
declarer must take all 13 tricks. So, the number of tricks required to make a
contract is 6 plus the level at which the contract is declared – thus a
contract at the three level (3 Clubs, 3 Diamonds, 3 Hearts, 3 Spades, 3NT)
requires 9 tricks.
When playing in a suit contract (any
contract other than No Trumps) the contract suit is Trumps. Any card
played will be beaten by a higher card of the same suit, with the player playing
the highest card winning the trick. However,
any trump card (eg the Heart 2 when the contract is in Hearts) will beat any
non-trump card, in this example such as the Spade Ace. When this occurs we say
that the Spade Ace has been trumped – but this is only allowed when the
player doing the trumping has no cards of the suit that he/she has trumped.
In a No Trump contract any card played can
only be beaten by a higher card of the same suit – it cannot be trumped as
there are no trumps!
Players bid for the contract based on the strength
of their cards, measured by High Card Points (HCP), with an Ace valued at
4, King at 3, Queen at 2, Jack at 1 HCP, and by the length (number of
cards) in the suit that one is bidding. A player will usually have at least four
of a suit before bidding to play the contract in that suit (hoping that his/her
partner will have at least another four!). To be the first to bid (rather than
passing) a player will usually have 12 HCP or more of the total 40 HCP in the
pack.
The auction continues round the table until one pair
finds a fit, ie finds (only through the bidding) that they have between
them 8 or more of the same suit so they can play the contract in that suit.
Frequently both pairs will find a fit and keep bidding so that the level of the
contract being bid for increases. Fine judgement is required to know when to
stop (and so avoid being unable to make one’s contract and thus giving
opponents a score) and when to keep bidding in the hope of being able to make a
big contract and being rewarded with a big score. Alternatively a pair with
enough combined HCP will opt to play in No Trumps when they cannot find a fit in
a suit.
Contracts can be in a part-score, that is
below the level of game. A part-score contract receives a relatively poor
score. A contract at game level brings a much higher score (3NT [9
tricks], 4 Hearts, 4 Spades [both 10 tricks], 5 Clubs or 5 Diamonds [both 11
tricks] are the possible game contracts). An even higher score is made by a Slam
(a 6 level contract – 12 tricks) and the highest score with a Grand Slam
(7 level contract – all 13 tricks required to make contract). Making enough
tricks for a game when a game contract has not been bid results in a relatively
low score.
The auction is completed when three players in
succession pass (going, going, gone!). The last person to bid thus becomes
declarer and his/her last bid is the contract to be made by him/her, as
declarer.
The opponent next to the declarer in a clockwise
direction then opens play by leading a card for the first trick (placing it
face-up on the table). At that point the partner of the declarer lays his/her
cards on the table face up, with all of each suit together, and becomes dummy.
Dummy takes no further part in the game, other than to play his/her cards as
directed by declarer. Dummy may not initiate anything and may not comment on the
play.
Each player, in clockwise order then plays a card of
the same suit that was led and whoever wins the first trick (highest card) leads
for the next trick. This continues, with the winner of each trick leading for
the next trick until all 13 tricks have been played. Both pairs then count the
number of tricks won and lost and agree on the number won by declarer and
therefore whether or not declarer has made contract, or is plus or minus one,
two or more tricks. The person sitting North then records the score for that
result.
♠
♥
♦
♣
Bridge is thus a game in three parts. Bidding during
the auction is critical. When bidding, each player is describing his/her hand to
partner. For example, to bid one suit then a second suit usually says to partner
“I have at least five cards in the first suit and at least four cards
in the second suit”, so giving information about nine of the thirteen cards
held. Each partner who bids is communicating with the other in this way, their
objective being to find a contract that maximises the scoring potential of their
combined cards.
There are many systems to facilitate bidding. In
Australia the two most popular systems are ACOL and Standard American. It is
essential for anybody wishing to play Bridge to first learn a recognised bidding
system from a Bridge teacher.
To support the basic bidding systems there is a
series of conventions. These are bids that convey specific information to
one’s partner about the cards one is holding. For example, East opens the
auction by bidding 1NT; if his/her
partner (West) then bids 2 Clubs this is the Stayman convention, telling East
that West has at least 11 HCP and either four Hearts or four Spades (or perhaps
both) and if East has four of either of those suits he/she should bid that suit
at the two level, hoping to find an eight card fit. Subsequent bids can be made
based on what each partner now knows about the other’s cards.
Card Play is the second important part of Bridge. When the opening lead has been made by opponents and dummy’s cards are on the table, declarer does not play to the first trick from dummy until he/she has carefully examined the partnership’s combined cards to determine how they should be played to take the maximum possible number of tricks. The development of this strategy will ensure, for example, that declarer will not be left leading from one hand unable to win tricks available in the other hand. Tactics such as the use of the finesse and other technical means of winning tricks with seemingly unlikely cards, or trapping opponents’ high cards, are also planned before declarer plays a first card.
Defence is the third important aspect of playing Bridge. When an opponent is declarer it is our objective to prevent him/her from making contract so that we, rather than opponents, are awarded a score. As part of defence there are methods for signalling my cards to partner. For example if opponents are in a Heart contract and I lead the Spade 7 and partner wins with the Spade Ace, then leads the Spade King and I play the Spade 4, I have played high, low (the 7, then the 4), which tells partner I have only those two Spades. Partner next leads a small Spade and I trump opponent’s higher Spade with a small Heart to win the trick. There are many such defensive plays.
♠
♥
♦
♣
That is a very brief summary of how Bridge is played.
It is a fascinating, intriguing game involving problem solving, counting, memory
and the challenge of outwitting one’s opponents, so offering a series of
mental exercises in a very enjoyable social setting where opponents fully
appreciate any difficulties we might have.
In Club Bridge, when our table has finished playing a
game, the cards are replaced in the board in which we received them. The
board (actually a plastic box) has marked slots for North, East, South and
West’s cards, with “dealer” marked. These boards are passed from table to
table, so that every North-South pair plays the same cards, as does every
East-West pair. This method of play is known as Duplicate Bridge, it
allows scores of all East-West and all North-South pairs to be compared at the
end of a playing session, which usually consists of 27 or 28 games. A time clock
operates, allowing just six minutes per game – good training in quick
thinking!
For further information please contact South Perth
Bridge Club’s Publicity Officer, Tel: 9457-3759. The Club’s premises are at
the corner of Barker Ave and Brittain St. Como (just off Canning Hwy).
© Copyright 2008 J T Hughes