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Eddie Kantar
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Published:
June 13, 2016

Bridge For Dummies

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Overview

Try a hand at bridge—and outsmart your opponents

Bridge is the most popular card game in the world—and, as any player will tell you, is simply the best card game ever. Whether you're new to the game or a long-time player looking for new tricks, this new edition of Bridge For Dummies walks you through the intricacies of the game and arms you with tried-and-true tips and strategies for being a better player and beating your opponents from the very first draw.

Covering not only traditional contract bridge, but other popular variations of the game—including ACOL, Rubber, and Duplicate Bridge—this hands-on, friendly guide takes the guesswork out of this beloved game and arms you with the knowledge and know-how to make your game mates your minions. From knowing when and how high to bid to bringing home the tricks when you end up in a trump contract, it'll take your bridge skills to the next level in no time!

  • Strategize with your bridge partner
  • Confidently play bridge in clubs and tournaments
  • Use basic and advanced bidding techniques
  • Find bridge clubs and tournaments all over the world

Are you ready to trump the competition? Success is a page away with the help of Bridge For Dummies.

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About The Author

Eddie Kantar is a Grand Master in the World Bridge Federation and a two-time world bridge champion. He wrote Complete Defensive Play, a book listed as a top ten all-time bridge favorite, and is the author of the first three editions of Bridge For Dummies.

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bridge for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

Arguably, bridge is the greatest card game ever. Not only is it a lifelong friend, it also enables you to make lifelong friends because it's a partnership game. From the four phases of playing a bridge hand to some expert advice on bidding, get started with playing bridge and then refine your game to increase your chances of winning.
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When you get hooked on the game, you may want to reach out for bridge information. Here’s some help! Keep reading for ten great references and resources that you may find handy. The American Contract Bridge League Joining the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a must-do. The ACBL is an excellent source of information about current events in the bridge community.
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Most bridge players value a reliable, happy partner above anything else. Working together as a team is important for the success of your partnership. You both want to win, so you can’t gain anything from getting upset when play doesn’t go exactly as planned. And it seldom does! Here, you'll find some tips on keeping your partner happy.
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In the following example, you can see the bids each bridge player makes during a sample bidding sequence. You don’t see the cards on which each player bases his or her bid — they aren’t important for now. Just follow the bidding around the table, noting how each bid is higher than the one before it. Assume that you’re in the South position.
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In bridge, bidding is considered the most important aspect of the game. It's a given that a good bidder equals a winning bridge player. Here are a few bidding tips to start you off: Before opening, add your high card points (HCP): Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1. With 12 or more HCP, open the bidding. To open 1♥ or 1♠, you need at least five cards in the suit.
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In bridge, bidding is an exchange of information. During bidding, you're trying to telegraph details about your cards to your partner. Your first impulse may be to develop some special bidding conventions that only you and your partner know.According to the rules of the game, however, you can't have any bidding secrets with your partner; the same goes for your opponents.
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Arguably, bridge is the greatest card game ever. Not only is it a lifelong friend, it also enables you to make lifelong friends because it's a partnership game. From the four phases of playing a bridge hand to some expert advice on bidding, get started with playing bridge and then refine your game to increase your chances of winning.
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The old phrase “You need to know where you are to know where you’re going” comes to mind when you’re playing bridge. After you know your final contract (how many tricks you need to take), you then need to figure out how to win all the tricks necessary to make your contract.Depending on which cards you and your partner hold, your side may hold some definite winners, called sure tricks — tricks you can take at any time right from the get-go.
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When the dummy leads its only honor card in Bridge (10 or higher) and you have a higher honor card, gently place your honor right on top of the dummy’s honor. By so doing, you force the declarer to play yet another honor to that trick. After at least three honor cards are played to the same trick, lower spot cards have a way of becoming winning tricks; it’s called promotion — the reason you cover.
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Bridge has five special contracts called game contracts: 3NT, 4♥, 4♠, 5♣, and 5♦. They all give you a trick score of at least 100 points. If you arrive at any of these game contracts and make them, bonus points await. Lots of them.By far the most common game contract is 3NT. Because six assumed tricks are always added to any bid, you need to take nine tricks to make this contract.
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In bridge, when a particular opponent has winning tricks and can hurt you by gaining the lead, you call that opponent the danger hand. For example, after you win the third round of spades in the hand below, West is the danger hand because West has two winning spades. Holding up your ace averts disaster.Stay clear of West.
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In bridge, if you can trump your opponents’ winning tricks when you don’t have any cards in the suit that they’re leading, it follows that your opponents can turn the tables and do the same to you. Instead of allowing your opponents to trump your sure tricks, play your higher trumps early on in the hand.Because your opponents must follow suit, you can remove their lower trumps before you take your sure tricks.
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Fun and games are over. Now it’s time to experience playing bridge and scoring your first Chicago wheel! Can you stand all this excitement?On the very first hand, you’re the dealer, and your side winds up playing a contract of 2♥. By sheer brilliance, you fulfill your contract and take exactly eight tricks. Your trick score is 30 × 2 = 60 + an automatic 50 for bidding and making a partscore contract.
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Here, you are introduced to the easiest and most popular form of bridge scoring. But first, someone has to step up to the plate and be the official scorekeeper for your game, and you have been elected!Dig up a sheet of paper to be your score sheet. This is what your score sheet looks like, and be sure to include a We and a They.
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You earn a certain number of points for each trick you take beyond the sixth one. The first six tricks, which are unspoken during the bidding, do not count in the scoring of any contract. When a major suit (hearts or spades) winds up as the trump suit, each trick taken after the first six is worth 30 points. When a minor suit (clubs or diamonds) winds up as the trump suit, each trick taken after the first six is worth 20 points.
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Sorry to break the news to you, but as yet no one has come up with software that can play bridge at an expert level. However, the quality of the software continues to improve. The beginner bridge programs give you a chance to practice your bidding, card play, and defense without risking the embarrassment of an angry partner.
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When you respond 1NT to your partner’s opening bid in bridge, you limit your hand, showing six to ten HCP, and your partner is captain. Nevertheless, developments may force you to make yet another decision. Here are a few of those developments. Sticking with notrump Take a look at these cards to see some hands in which your partner’s rebid may invite you to bid again.
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A 1NT rebid comes up frequently in Bridge because balanced minimum hands are very common. Thus, the following chart shows a typical sequence: Opener (Your Partner) Responder (You) 1♣ 1♥ 1NT ? Take a good look at this sequence. You hear this type of sequence so often that you may start to hum it in your sleep.
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If your partner has a six- or seven-card suit in Bridge, you can expect to hear her bid that suit at least twice, maybe three times. When your partner rebids a suit, she has limited her hand, meaning that you’re the captain. If you have support for the suit, you have found a home, but how high should you bid? It depends on your partner’s strength added to your strength.
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Most of the responder’s rebidding headaches arise after an initial one-over-one response, followed by the opener mentioning a second suit. At that point, three bids have been made, and neither player has made a limit bid. Both hands have problems determining each other’s strength. However, if the initial response is two over one, the opener already knows of 11 or more HCP, eliminating the possibility that you (the responder) have a weak hand.
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If your Bridge partner bids two suits and you’re not thrilled with either, you may want to veer off into notrump. A notrump rebid gets you out of the awkwardness of playing in a trump suit with only seven cards between the two hands. Just be sure to tell your partner your strength.If you want to make a notrump rebid, show your HCP according to the following scale after your partner’s rebid at the one level: 7 to 10 HCP: Rebid 1NT, a minimum-range hand.
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In Bridge, you bid a negative double when you want to tell the opener, your partner, about four- or five-card length in the unbid major(s). You use this bid when, for one reason or another, you can’t just bid the major. Only the responder can make a negative double (but he just says the one word, “Double”) after partner opens the bidding and an intervening overcall takes place.
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This handy table for bridge players shows how many points you score if you make your contract. Your bridge score depends upon which suit you end up in (including notrump) and how many tricks you take.For example, if spades are trumps and you bid for eight tricks and you take exactly eight tricks, read across the spade line to see that you scored 60 points.
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If you can generate extra tricks in bridge by trumping your losers in the dummy, you may think that you can generate extra tricks by trumping the dummy’s losers in your hand. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.For a moment, turn things around and think about trumping a loser in your hand — the long hand. Let’s put this theory into practice.
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The internet provides a vital forum for bridge players all over the world. Currently, you can find hundreds of bridge-related websites that offer everything from bridge games to blogs to bridge instruction. Following are some great picks for websites where you can play bridge and search for bridge info. Playing bridge online against others Players from around the world can play against each other online, keep abreast of the latest conventions, find out what’s happening in the bridge world, and connect with suitable partners.
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In bridge, the bidding often designates a suit as the trump suit. If the final contract has a suit associated with it — 4♠, 3♥, 2♦, or even 1♣, for example — that suit becomes the trump suit for the entire hand. Often, in bridge books, a single card like the four of spades is written ♠4 because it saves space.
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Bridge tournaments come in many sizes, shapes, and locations, offering a variety of skill levels and prizes. One day you may find yourself ascending in the tournament world. But when you first begin to play bridge, you may want to attend the tournaments to meet other players and watch some of the best players in action.
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Each hand of bridge is divided into four phases, which always occur in the same order: dealing, bidding for tricks, playing the hand, and scoring. Dealing Someone (anyone) shuffles the deck, and then each player takes one card and places it face-up on the table. The player with the highest card is the dealer.
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In bridge, setting up a side suit by trumping small cards from the dummy entails certain risks. When you set up the small cards in a long suit, you often can’t draw trumps first because you may need trump entries to the dummy to reach your winners after you establish the suit.If the only entries to the dummy are in the trump suit, you can’t put the cart before the horse; you have to use the trump entries to help you set up and use the side suit.
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Playing a bridge hand at a trump contract is all about getting rid of your side-suit losers (a side suit is any suit that isn’t the trump suit). One of the easiest ways to get rid of your losers is to put the dummy’s trump cards to work. Exactly how do you do that? Look for a side suit in the dummy that has shortness — zero, one, or two cards (a void, singleton, or doubleton) — and then check to see whether you have more cards in that suit than the dummy.
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