Bridge

Overview

Contract bridge. Four players in two partnerships bid for the right to name trumps and commit to a number of tricks, then try to make that contract.

The bidding is a constrained language for describing your hand to your partner — which is what separates bridge from every other trick-taking game.

This entry is checked against the World Bridge Federation's 2017 Laws of Duplicate Bridge, the Laws used in club and tournament play. Law numbers below are the WBF's. Rubber (social) bridge has its own laws, which haven't been checked here, so rubber-only points are marked as such.

1. Setup

Partners sit opposite one another, conventionally North–South and East–West. The full deck is dealt, thirteen cards each. Aces are high.

2. Hand evaluation

Not part of the Laws: this is the standard way players judge a hand. Most count high card points:

Card	Points
Ace	4
King	3
Queen	2
Jack	1

There are 40 in the deck, so an average hand holds 10. Add a point for a five-card suit and more for longer ones.

Rough guides: 12–13 points to open the bidding, about 25 combined for game, 33 for a small slam, 37 for a grand slam.

3. The auction

Starting with the dealer, each player bids, passes, doubles or redoubles.

A bid names a level and a denomination. "Two hearts" commits to winning eight tricks — six plus the level — with hearts as trumps. Seven is the maximum level, representing all thirteen tricks.

Denominations rank lowest to highest:

clubs · diamonds · hearts · spades · no-trump

Each bid must be higher than the last, in level or, at the same level, in denomination.

Three consecutive passes after a bid end the auction. The final bid becomes the contract.

If all four players pass, Law 22B: "The hands are returned to the board without play. There shall not be a redeal." In duplicate the deal is simply scored as passed out. Redealing a passed-out hand is a rubber-bridge practice.

Doubling

Double increases the scoring both ways, and is used either to punish a contract you expect to fail, or as a conventional message to partner. Redouble raises the stakes again.

4. Declarer and dummy

The declarer is "the player who, for the side that makes the final bid, first bid the denomination named in the final bid" (Law definitions). That isn't necessarily the player who made the final bid.

The player to declarer's left leads the first card. Declarer's partner then lays their hand face up as the dummy, and declarer plays both hands.

Dummy plays the dummy's cards as declarer directs and otherwise takes almost no part. Dummy's rights (Law 42) are limited: keep count of tricks, give information on fact or law when the Director is present, ask declarer (not a defender) whether they have a card of the suit when they fail to follow, and try to prevent an irregularity.

5. Play

Follow suit if you can; otherwise play anything. The highest trump wins the trick, or if none is played, the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads next.

Thirteen tricks are played. The first six are the book and score nothing — the contract counts tricks beyond that.

6. Scoring

Tricks made beyond the book score:

Denomination	Per trick
Clubs, diamonds (minors)	20
Hearts, spades (majors)	30
No-trump	40 for the first, 30 thereafter

Reach 100 contract points in a single deal and you have made game. The common game contracts are therefore 3NT, 4♥, 4♠, 5♣ and 5♦.

Achievement	Requirement
Part score	Under 100 points
Game	100+ contract points
Small slam	Twelve tricks bid and made
Grand slam	All thirteen bid and made

Vulnerability raises both bonuses and penalties, and rotates on a fixed schedule in duplicate play.

Failing a contract concedes undertrick points to the opponents (Law 77):

Undertrick	Not vulnerable	Vulnerable
Each, undoubled	50	100
1st, doubled	100	200
2nd and 3rd, doubled	200 each	300 each
4th onward, doubled	300 each	300 each
Redoubled	Twice the doubled figures	Twice the doubled figures

7. Bidding systems

The Laws require that agreements be disclosed (Law 40); the systems themselves are conventions, not Laws.

Partnerships agree a system — a shared vocabulary of what each bid means. The most common are Standard American, Acol in Britain and Australia, and 2/1 Game Forcing.

Common conventions layered on top:

• Stayman — 2♣ over partner's 1NT, asking for a four-card major
• Blackwood — 4NT asking how many aces partner holds
• Transfers — bidding one suit to ask partner to bid another

Both partnerships are entitled to know each other's agreements. Concealing a system is cheating; this is why conventions must be disclosed on request.

8. Rubber and duplicate

Rubber bridge, the social form, plays to the best of three games, with scores carried forward. It has its own laws, not checked here.

Duplicate bridge — the tournament form — has every table play the identical deals, so results are compared against other pairs holding the same cards. Luck of the deal is eliminated almost entirely, which is why bridge is a mind sport rather than a card game.

Commonly argued

• The declarer is whoever named the denomination first, not whoever bid last.
• Six tricks are free. A contract of "two hearts" needs eight tricks, not two.
• No-trump scores 40 for the first trick, then 30 — which is why 3NT is game but 3♠ is not.
• The opening lead comes before the dummy is exposed.
• Your partner's bidding agreements must be disclosed to opponents on request.
• Four passes: no redeal under the duplicate Laws. The hand is passed out. Redealing is a rubber-bridge practice.
• Dummy can't comment on the play, but does have a few specific rights under Law 42.