How to Play Bridge: Bidding, Play and Scoring for Beginners

Bridge is a trick-taking game for four players in two partnerships. Skill and partnership understanding matter more than the cards you are dealt. It grew out of whist in the 19th century, and the modern form, contract bridge, took shape in the 1920s. Today it is played at home, online and in clubs worldwide.

This page explains contract bridge with duplicate scoring as the main form and rubber scoring covered briefly. Bidding systems are large and vary between partnerships, so it covers only the basics: how a deal runs, how to count your hand and how to read the score.

Goal of the game

Each deal has two phases. In the auction the partnerships bid for the right to name the trump suit. The side with the highest bid then tries to win at least the number of tricks it promised. The other side, the defenders, tries to stop them. You score points for making your contract and for the extras it earns. If you fall short, the defenders score.

Players, cards and seats

Four players sit around a table. Partners sit opposite each other and are called North and South against East and West. The deck is a standard 52 cards. The cards rank from ace high down to two in each of four suits: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. Spades and hearts are the major suits, diamonds and clubs the minor suits.

The cards are shuffled and cut, then dealt clockwise one at a time so everyone has 13. The deal passes to the left after each hand. Sort your hand by suit, alternating black and red suits, from the highest rank down. In duplicate bridge, hands are dealt into numbered boards and nobody shuffles at the table.

Counting your hand

Before you bid, count high-card points:

The deck holds 40 points, so an average hand has 10. Many players add points for length: a five-card suit counts 1, six cards 2, seven cards 3. A hand with about 12 or 13 points is generally strong enough to open the bidding. Together, the partnership needs roughly 25 or 26 points for a game in a major suit or no trump.

The auction

The dealer makes the first call, and then bidding goes clockwise. On your turn you may:

• Pass. You have nothing to say (but you can bid later).
• Bid. A bid is a number from 1 to 7 and a denomination: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades or no trump. The denominations rank in that order, lowest to highest. A bid must outrank the previous bid, either by a higher number or by a higher denomination at the same number. So 1 heart beats 1 diamond, 1 no trump beats 1 spade, and 2 clubs beats 1 no trump.
• Double. You may double an opponent's last bid. That raises the stakes if they make or fail it, but it does not change the rank of the bid.
• Redouble. You may redouble if your side's bid was doubled.

Three passes in a row after a bid end the auction. The last bid is the contract. If all four players pass at the start, the hand is thrown in.

The number in a bid counts only tricks above six. These first six tricks are the "book". So a bid of 1 spade promises 7 tricks, 4 hearts promises 10, and 7 no trump promises all 13.

The player who first named the contract's denomination, on the side that won the auction, is the declarer. Their partner is the dummy.

Basic bidding

Bidding systems are agreed between partners, and the usual beginner system is Standard American. Its ideas, in short:

• Opening 1 of a suit with about 12 or 13 points or more. In Standard American, with a five-card major (spades or hearts) you open it.
• Opening 1 no trump shows a balanced hand and a narrow range, commonly 15 to 17 points. Some partnerships play 16 to 18.
• Responding. In Standard American, a common guideline is 6 to 9 points for a simple response, about 10 to 12 to invite game, and 13 or more to commit to game.
• Finding a fit. By common wisdom, eight cards between the partners in a suit make a good trump suit, and a fit in a major is worth looking for.
• Passing. Pass when your hand is too weak to open.

A short auction

North deals and has a good hand with five spades and 14 points. South has four spades and about 10 points.

North opens 1 spade. South raises to 3 spades, showing support and invitational strength. North, who has more than a minimum, accepts the invitation with 4 spades. Three passes follow. The contract is 4 spades, declared by North, and East has to lead.

The play

Play begins with the opening lead: the defender to the declarer's left leads a card. Then the declarer's partner lays the whole hand face up on the table, sorted by suit, as the dummy. From then on:

1. Declarer plays the cards from both hands. Dummy has no say and may not give advice.
2. Each trick consists of one card from each of the four players, in clockwise order.
3. You must follow suit if you can. If you cannot, you may play any card, including a trump.
4. The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins.
5. The winner of a trick leads the next one.

There are 13 tricks per deal. If the contract is no trump, there is no ruffing and only the high cards of the suit led win tricks. At the end, count how many tricks the declaring side took.

A few ideas guide every play:

• Declarer has two hands to plan with: count the sure winners in both hands and look for where more tricks can come from.
• The defenders cannot see each other's cards, only the dummy. They share information through the cards they lead and discard.
• Lead toward a high card rather than away from it, so the opponent has to play before your honour.

Scoring

Scoring needs only a few numbers. This is the duplicate scoring that most clubs use, where each deal stands on its own.

Trick values

For each trick above six that you bid and make:

A doubled contract scores these points twice, a redoubled contract four times. Tricks above the contract (overtricks) score the same value each if the contract is not doubled. When the contract is doubled, each overtrick is worth 100 not vulnerable and 200 vulnerable.

Part-score, game and slam bonuses

The slam bonus comes in addition to the game bonus. Making a doubled contract earns an extra 50, and a redoubled one 100.

The contracts that make game at the lowest level are 3 no trump (100 points), 4 hearts or 4 spades (120) and 5 clubs or 5 diamonds (100).

Vulnerability

Each board is marked with who is vulnerable. A vulnerable side wins bigger bonuses and pays bigger penalties. In rubber bridge, a side becomes vulnerable once it has won one game.

Penalties

If the declarer fails, the defenders score for every trick short, called an undertrick. Undoubled, that is 50 per undertrick when not vulnerable and 100 when vulnerable. Doubled penalties are much steeper: the first undertrick costs 100 not vulnerable (200 vulnerable), and later ones more.

Rubber bridge

At home you may meet rubber bridge. You play to the best of three games, where a game is 100 points scored below the line from contracts. The side that wins the rubber gets a bonus of 700 for winning two games to none, or 500 for two to one. Honor bonuses and the rest of the table are found at pagat.com if your group plays it.

A worked example

South is declarer in 4 spades and the side is not vulnerable. The contract needs 10 tricks.

• Case one, South takes 10 tricks. Four tricks above book at 30 each is 4 × 30 = 120. That is 100 or more, so game: +300. Score: 120 + 300 = 420.
• Case two, South takes 11 tricks. The contract score is the same, plus one overtrick of 30: 120 + 300 + 30 = 450.
• Case three, South takes only 8 tricks, two short. The defenders score 2 × 50 = 100.

Other quick comparisons, all not vulnerable unless stated:

• 2 hearts made with 8 tricks: 2 × 30 = 60, plus 50 for part-score = 110.
• 3 no trump made with 9 tricks: 40 + 30 + 30 = 100, plus 300 = 400.
• 6 spades made, vulnerable: 6 × 30 = 180, plus 500 for game, plus 750 for small slam = 1430.
• 4 spades doubled and made with exactly 10 tricks: 120 × 2 = 240, plus 300 game, plus 50 = 590.

Variants and similar games

• Rubber bridge is the traditional game played at home, with each rubber bonus above.
• Duplicate bridge is the tournament form. Every table plays the same boards, and you are compared with the other pairs by matchpoints (one point for every pair you beat, half for a tie) or by IMPs.
• Minibridge skips the auction. Players count their points, the stronger side plays.
• Chicago is a shorter version of rubber bridge with four deals per set.

Tips for beginners

• Count your points before every bid. Bidding with too few points is a common beginner error.
• Learn one system first. Standard American is enough, and partners must agree what each bid means.
• Count tricks before you play to the first. In a suit contract, count the sure winners in both hands. In no trump, count tricks you can take without losing the lead.
• Draw trumps when you can, so that the defenders cannot ruff your winners.
• Watch the discards. What the defenders throw away tells you what they hold.
• Think before the opening lead. It matters, and the dummy is not yet on the table.

Common mistakes

• Bidding a suit at too high a level because you like it.
• Forgetting that the bid counts tricks above six.
• Not following suit when you could. This is a revoke and costs a penalty.
• Passing information to your partner through tone or hesitation, which is not allowed.
• Opening the bidding with a weak hand "to get things going".

History

Bridge descends from whist. A Russian form called Biritch appeared in the 19th century, and John Collinson published a rule book of it in 1886. Auction bridge followed in 1904. Harold Vanderbilt then changed the scoring so that only tricks bid and made count toward game, and that created contract bridge in 1925. The World Bridge Federation, founded in 1958, runs the world championships and updates the Laws of the game. Related games include whist and auction bridge.