Contract bridge, more commonly called bridge, is a card game for four players; you can play at any level, in casual meetings and professional tournaments. The popularity of bridge has never been constant over time, but it still remains one of the most popular card games in the world. Read the steps below to learn the basics of this complex and challenging game.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Basic Elements
Step 1. Find three playmates
Bridge is a game for four people organized in teams of two players each, so your partner and another couple are a good potential choice. The players of each team sit opposite around a square table.
It is important to note that each of the four sides of the table is assigned the name of a cardinal point. Consequently, players are commonly referred to with the terms: North, South, East and West. North and South play on the same team against East and West
Step 2. Learn the game structure
Bridge is played with a standard deck of 52 cards, 13 per player, consequently, in each game (or round) the entire deck is distributed. After the cards are dealt, the players bid (bid). The final bid determines the importance of each suit or color (Spades-Hearts-Diamonds-Clubs), as well as the goal of the game. The games are then played, one card after another, in 13 sub-spins called "tricks". The object of the game is to score points by winning 7 or more tricks out of 13 in each game. Matches continue until one of the teams has accumulated a predetermined number of points.
- The score varies according to the game and group-to-group systems.
- The players take turns following the movement of the clock hands. This means that for each trick the players of the two teams alternate their play.
Method 2 of 3: Steps of the Game
Step 1. Deal the cards
The dealer deals 13 cards to each player, so that the entire deck is used. Give players time to sort their cards by suit and value. In bridge the aces have the highest value, followed by the kings, queens, jacks or jacks, tens, and then the other cards (discards) from 9 to 2.
The more cards you have in a suit, the greater the strength of those cards, and the more likely you are to succeed. Keep this in mind when the statement begins
Step 2. Declare and award the contract
Teams declare numbers and suit. The numbers represent the tricks (plus 6) that you think you can win in the game. The suit represents the trump, therefore, the color (trump) that will have more value than the other three during the game, with which it is believed to be able to make the number of tricks declared. The dealer bids first, then bids the player to the left of the dealer and so on, continuing for as many rounds as necessary to arrive at a final bid. The team that declares the highest number of tricks determines, at the same time, the trump suit for the match. There are many special rules and terms that govern the declaration stage; this guide only provides the basics for playing a friendly game.
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A minimum of 7 tricks are required to win each game. This is because there are 13 tricks per game, and you have to do more than the other team to win the game. Bridge players traditionally bid by numbering from the seventh trick. If your team wants to bid 7 tricks (i.e. they expect to win 7 of the 13 tricks in the current game), they will announce a bid of 1, and so on up to a bid of 7 to win all 13 tricks.
You can remember all this easily by adding 6 to whatever number is declared, to get the actual number of tricks that must be won to "make" (honor) the contract. You can never claim to win less than 7 tricks (so at least a bid of 1 is required)
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Suits are important when bidding. The value of the suit you bid will determine the minimum number of tricks necessary for the next bid to be able to exceed yours. The value of the suits is based on their rank, as follows: spades, so hearts (these are also called "major" suits), hence paintings, and finally, flowers (the second two are the “minor” suits).
- Each new bid must be more "challenging" than the one before it, so if a player before you bids 1 heart (i.e. 7 tricks out of 13 with trump hearts), you must either bid 1 spade (rank suit higher than that of hearts), or bid 2 (or more) in any other suit, to beat the previous bid.
- It is often advisable to bid the longest suit in your hand, even if it is relatively weak. For example, if your hand has six cards in the suit of diamonds, you could bid diamonds as a trump suit. Pay attention to your partner's statements, to get an idea of what he is holding.
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Bidding Without Trumps: In addition to bidding a trump suit, you can make a bid "Without trump" (abbreviated SA), with which you actually bid only a number of tricks without a trump suit. If you win an SA bid, the tricks are played without a trump suit, so only the highest value card can win the trick. This bid is riskier than a trump suit, but honoring a no-trump contract will give your team more points than the latter.
For bidding purposes, SA is considered the highest ranking "suit"; therefore, the highest possible bid is 7 SA.
- Be careful not to over-declare. If your team wins a bid, and then is unable to make the number of tricks they claimed, they have to pay the opposing team so many points that it could be very difficult to recover.
- You are not required to declare. Instead, you can pass the statement to the next person. If three players pass one after the other, the last bid wins the contract and determines the trump suit; if all four players pass without making any bid, the cards are shuffled and dealt a second time.
- There are specific expressions for each player once the contract has been awarded. The person who made the winning bid is called " the declarant", And his partner is called" the dead". The other team is collectively called " the defenders". Knowing these expressions makes it easier to follow the flow of the game.
Play Bridge Step 05 Step 3. Begin the first grip
Now that a trump suit (or no trump bid) has been established for the game, tricks begin. Play begins with the defender to declarer's left. The defender "leads" the trick by uncovering one of his cards and placing it on the table. The suit of this card is the suit for the trick, which means that players can only win the trick with a higher ranking card in the same suit, or with a card of the trump suit.
- The other two suits do not count during this trick.
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Once the trick has begun with the play of the first card, dummy falls on the table all his cards, usually in four columns, one for each suit. Dummy's hand is played by declarer throughout the game. Defenders play normally.
The dead man has a particular role. Dummy cannot comment on declarer's strategic decisions, but can intervene when declarer accidentally violates the rules of the game. Otherwise, leave the decisions during the game to declarer
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Players must, if possible, play a card of the same suit as the lead card (the top card of the trick). For example, if the suit of the lead card is clubs, and you have a club card in your hand, you are forced to play it. If you don't have any club cards, you can " cut"(Ie play a card of the trump suit, as long as it is different from the suit of the lead card) or" to deny"(Play, that is, a card of one of the two remaining suits).
- By cutting you have a chance of winning the trick, because every card of the trump suit beats the cards of every other suit.
- Denying is functionally similar to folding, and never allows you to win the trick.
Play Bridge Step 06 Step 4. The grip ends and the next one begins
After the defender has played the lead card, declarer plays a card from dummy's hand. The second defender then plays in turn, and finally declarer plays a card from his hand. Once the four cards have been played, the highest value card wins the trick, and whoever played it collects the four cards of the trick to score points later.
Whoever wins a trick plays the lead card for the next trick. After the first trick, there is, therefore, no pre-established order for who must play the lead card
Play Bridge Step 07 Step 5. End of the game
When all 13 tricks have been played, add up the number of tricks each team has won. If declarer's team has honored the contract, it wins the game; otherwise, the defending team wins the game. Award points according to the game system you have chosen. Extra points should be awarded for making a no-trump contract.
Play Bridge Step 08 Step 6. Start the next game
Shuffle the entire deck of cards and deal 13 cards to each player again. This is the second game. The games continue according to the scheme outlined above, until one of the teams earns the points necessary to win the game.
To make a quick game, play until one team wins a set number of games (for example 2 out of 3) instead of counting points
Method 3 of 3: Strategy
Play Bridge Step 09 Step 1. Play often
There is always a lot to learn about bridge strategy. The best way to improve is to play often. Books and guides help a lot, but ultimately it takes practice to develop a sense of the game.
Play Bridge Step 10 Step 2. Learn to understand your partner
You can't communicate directly with your partner during the declaration, but there are ways to give each other signals about what each of you would prefer as a contract. The first bid, in fact, is often used to communicate to the partner the strongest suit of the hand, rather than actually committing to a contract.
- The partner may support this bid by bidding a higher number of tricks in the same bid suit (signaling that he is happy with the suit), or suggest a different approach by bidding another suit.
- Non-trump bids often indicate that a person has a hand with many face cards and aces that can win a lot of tricks based on the value of the cards.
Play Bridge Step 11 Step 3. Score cards to gauge the strength of a hand
If you have difficulty estimating the strength of your hand, there is a commonly used system. In this system the deck has a total of 40 points.
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Points are awarded as follows:
- Aces are worth 4 points.
- Kings are worth 3 points.
- Queens are worth 2 points.
- Footmen or Jacks are worth 1 point.
- If your hand has 12 or 13 points or more, it is a really strong hand.
- With practice, this scoring system will help you decide how to organize opening bids to steer the final contract toward profitable outcomes, relative to the strength of the hand.
Play Bridge Step 12 Step 4. At first use a simple strategy
Two of the four main methods of winning a trick are fairly simple to understand and you can adopt them right away. The other two are a bit more complicated, and are based on indirect control of the opponents' hands, taking note of the cards they have already played and those they probably have in their hand. By using one of these two simple techniques, and choosing the right time to do so, you can improve your chances of honoring the contract (or successfully defending yourself if you are a defender). The two methods are:
- Play the highest card in the trick.
- Beat an opponent's high-value card with a trump suit card.
Play Bridge Step 13 Step 5. Handle the dead man's hand to honor the contract
When leading the trick as declarer, if you and dummy control the highest cards in the trump suit, you can be sure that the tricks in the trump suit will be yours. These are also called safe tricks, and they help you count the tricks you will be able to make. Play a card of your safe suit, and then play a dummy card in order to guarantee the catch.
- Once you have won the trick, you will lead the next one. Then repeat the pattern until you have played all safe tricks.
- Remember, you only need to honor the contract to win the game, as a result, take as many safe tricks as you can.
Advice
- Consider a simpler start if necessary. Bridge is one of the many games known as 'taking tricks'. Other games in the category include spades, hearts, and pinnacle. If you find bridge difficult at first, learning another game in this category will help you understand it better.
- Memorize the terms. Bridge uses many specific terms. At first it may seem easier to ignore them and use more generic expressions, but in the long run this can be confusing. Take the time to learn bridge lingo and the game will become more rewarding.
- Practice with experienced players. To become good at bridge, nothing is more useful than taking lessons from people who have been playing for many years. Look for a bridge club in your city, and / or tournaments you can participate in.
