Bridge: Expert Guides and Resources

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bridge scoring revolves around the final contract (as determined by the bidding) and the number of tricks actually taken by the side buying the contract. If your final contract is 3, your goal is to win at least nine tricks and clubs are trump, the “wild” suit. If you take exactly nine tricks, you make your contract.

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.