ª © ¨ § BRIDGE FOR BEGINNERS : LESSON 1 ª © ¨ §
with Tina Zines
Bridge: when did it start?
Auction Bridge developed in 1904 from the game of whist, a fashionable 18th and 19th century amusement in England, and from ‘biritch’, a Russian form of whist. But it was not till the 1920s that US millionaire Henry Vanderbilt revamped the existing game to create the modern game of Contract Bridge.
The game has grown to such an extent that it is estimated that over 100 million people around the world currently play contract bridge. Every four years the World Bridge Federation (WBF) conducts the Bridge Olympiad and in intervening years the World Bridge Championships.
Bridge in Australia
In Australia, there are some 35,000 players who have some interest in playing competition bridge – they are registered with the Australian Bridge Federation (ABF), and are members of over 300 bridge clubs around the country. There are probably as many, or more, who just play socially. Most of our major cities conduct annual events or “congresses” each year, and these attract over 1000 competitors including many overseas visitors. The largest of these annual events are held in Canberra and the Gold Coast. They cater for players of all standards, and include sections reserved for players with limited experience (so they are not overwhelmed by the “experts”).
If you already have some experience in bridge, you may be interested in playing face-to-face at a bridge club near you. There is also now an Online option, called RealBridge, where you can see and hear your partner and opponents, and where you don't need to travel to any particular location. I play at several clubs in Sydney - including the North Shore Bridge Club. You can see their schedule of games by clicking on NSBC. They also have an extensive program of lessons, both for absolute beginners, and those who have played before. Links to other clubs are included in the right sidebar.
How is bridge played?
The basic materials needed at home are four players and two packs of cards. At your bridge club you will have instead a series of containers called boards with cards pre-dealt into four slots.
Players sit opposite their partners and are referred to by their direction in relation to one wall of the club, which is usually clearly marked ‘North’.
Now they are ready to commence play, North‑ South together against East‑West.
The form of contract bridge commonly played at home is called rubber bridge. In a club the exact cards that you play will be re-inserted in the board and passed on to the next table so that every table eventually plays the same cards. Various pairs also move to other tables according to the instructions of the director. This form of the game is duplicate bridge.
These lessons prepare you in particular for duplicate play in a club.
The Deal
In a home game, the dealer is normally decided after spreading one pack face down on the table – whoever draws the highest card is the dealer and chooses which of the two packs is 'theirs'. The right to deal rotates after that in clockwise fashion for each new deal.
The 52 cards (no jokers) are shuffled by the dealer’s LHO (left-hand opponent) cut by the dealer and dealt one at a time commencing with the player on the dealer's left. The dealer's partner meanwhile shuffles the other pack, which 'belongs' to the opposing side.
At the conclusion of the deal all players should finish up with 13 cards and the dealer should receive the last card. If not, a misdeal has occurred, and the deal is repeated.
At duplicate, the dealer is clearly indicated on the board, and players remove their already dealt cards from the slots, counting them face down to check there are 13. (The deal also rotates in orderly fashion. On Board 1 North is always dealer, Board 2 East, Board 3 South etc)
The players then sort the cards into suits. The cards should be arranged in your hand in order of rank within each suit, the highest on the left. The rank of the cards, from the top, is ace‑A, king‑K, queen‑Q, jack‑J, ten‑T , 9……………2. The A, K, Q, J and T are called honours, the remainder are called pips, rags or spot cards.
The aims of the auction
- Find the right strain to play in: Once your hand is good enough to bid during the auction, you search for a suit that you and your partner have in common, and if such a trump fit is found, finish up with that suit as trumps. Or with no suit in common, you often play in notrumps.
- Find the right level: While exploring what you would like as trumps you must also describe to your partner how strong your hand is in order to reach the maximum score that the two hands combined can achieve.
You tell partner that you have a poor hand by saying 'pass' or 'no bid' when it is your turn. You can come into the bidding later, as in a real auction, after having passed. But if all four players pass, the hand is thrown in and a new hand is dealt by the next dealer. At a club, written bidding is common, or the use of bidding boxes.
The first non-pass is called the opening bid. Once an opening bid is made the bidding continues until three players in succession pass. The bid that immediately precedes the three passes is the contract.
How the auction works
Every player, starting with the dealer, and proceeding clockwise, has the opportunity to make a call. Just as in any other auction, you can pass as often as you wish and still come in later as long as:
- the contract has not already been won by three players passing in succession
- your bid is higher than the previous bid. If your suit is higher-ranked than the last bid suit you can bid at the same level. If it is lower-ranked you have to go up a level.
Bids in notrumps rank above all suit bids. The ranking of the suits is, from top to bottom, spades, hearts, (the majors) diamonds, clubs (the minors). The lowest bid possible is the bid of 1§, the highest is the bid of 7NT.
Since each player holds 13 cards, there are 13 possible tricks (rounds of 4 cards) to be won on every deal. The level of the final contract (e.g. 1 NT or 2© or 5§) tells us how many tricks have to be made by the side that won the contract - the declaring side. Simply add 6 (called 'book') to the final level. For example, in a 4♠ contract, 10 tricks have to be made, in a 3NT contract 9 tricks.
When should the auction stop?
To assess this you need to be able to evaluate how strong your combined hands are. And the strength of a hand is mainly the sum of its high card points – HCP.
You count HCP thus:
- Ace = 4 HCP
- King = 3 HCP
- Queen = 2 HCP
- Jack = 1 HCP
- And a ten is very nice!
40 HCP (10 in each suit) are thus distributed among the 4 players on every deal. You will also learn later about other kinds of points.
The auction should only go as far as a pair’s combined strength permits:
- If a pair together have 25 -32 points they will usually be able to make game.
- The game contracts are:
3NT (9 tricks)
4♥ & 4♠ (10 tricks)
5♣ & 5♦ (11 tricks)
Can you understand why 3NT is a more popular game contract than 5♣ or 5♦?
If a pair together have fewer than 25 points, they work out which strain is best and then play in a partscore (= any contract below game, such as 1NT, 2♠, 3♥, 4♣).
If a pair between them have 33 - 36 points they should bid small slam. All contracts at the 6 level are small slams, needing 12 tricks.
If a pair together hold 37- 40 points they should bid grand slam. Contracts at the 7 level are grand slams, requiring all 13 tricks.
Scoring
You make a plus score in two ways - for making your contract, or for defeating theirs. And you receive a corresponding minus score when they succeed in their contract or defeat yours.
Let's look at making yours first. If you make your contract, you always receive some credit for tricks that you make after the first six.
Tricks in a minor suit contract score 20 points each, in a major suit contract 30 points each, in notrumps the same as in a major, plus a once-only bonus of ten.
If you succeed in a partscore contract, you receive a bonus of 50.
Thus if you make 8 tricks in your 2¨ contract, you score 2x20 + 50 = 90. If you make 9 tricks in a 2♥ contract, you score 3x30 + 50 = 140. If you make 10 tricks in your 1NT contract, you score 4x30 + 10 + 50 = 180.
However, the way to really boost your score is to bid high enough to earn a game bonus, or slam bonus.
A game bonus is worth an extra 300 points if your side is not vulnerable (indicated on the board by the colour green behind the names of your compass directions). It is worth an extra 500 if your side is vulnerable (indicated by the colour red on the board).
Thus if you make 10 tricks in your non-vulnerable 3NT contract, you score 4x30 + 10 + 300 = 430.
And if you are bold enough to bid and make a small slam, you receive as well as a game bonus an extra small slam bonus of 500 not vulnerable and 750 vulnerable.
For grand slam the additional bonus is 1000 not vulnerable and 1500 vulnerable.
To make 12 tricks in a vulnerable 6♠ contract scores 6x30 + 500 + 750 = 1430.
Thus bidding to the game level or the slam level brings considerable rewards for success.
If you defeat the opponents, you receive 50 for every undertrick when they are not vulnerable and 100 when they are vulnerable, regardless of the contract.
If you double the opponents and defeat them, you score even more. Not vulnerable down one doubled gives you 100, down two 300, down three 500…. Vulnerable, the same results give you 200, 500 & 800. Of course, if they make their doubled contract, they score extra points for your insolence! You might like to buy your own scorer to refer to in less common situations.
How the cards are played
The auction sets the stage for the play. The player who gets to play the hand, the declarer, is the one who first mentioned the strain in which the contract is to be played. Declarer's partner is called dummy. The opposing pair are the defenders.
The defender on declarer's left makes the opening lead by laying a card face downward on the table to commence the play. Once this lead has been accepted by opening leader’s partner (who may first wish to ask some questions about the bidding) it is turned up. Only then are dummy's cards placed face upwards on the table in four columns facing declarer, with any trumps on dummy's right.
Declarer should observe proper etiquette by thanking dummy before planning the play.
Declarer controls two hands by calling for a card from dummy each round (played by dummy) as well as playing a card from hand. Whoever wins the trick leads first to the next trick. Should the card called from dummy win the trick, the next trick must be commenced from dummy.
Board 1 Dlr: N Nil Vul
The contract you are asked to play is 3NT by North, a game contract - 9 tricks required.
NORTH
♠ A62
♥ AKQJ
♦ 962
♣ 754
WEST EAST
♠ K743 ♠ QJT9
♥ 873 ♥ T54
♦ T54 ♦ 873
♣ QJT ♣ K62
SOUTH
♠ 85
♥ 962
♦ AKQJ
♣ A983
East leads ♠Q (described as top of a sequence and promising, against a notrump contract, the jack and ten as well). South and West follow suit with ♠5 and ♠3. North wins with ♠A. Looking at her own hand and dummy, North counts 10 sure tricks and takes them at once.
North now plays 4 rounds of hearts. East, South and West follow for 3 rounds but on the fourth round they must each discard by playing a useless card from any other suit they choose. East and West each discard a low diamond and declarer discards a small spade from dummy.
Declarer can now cross to dummy's high diamonds and win 4 diamonds and §A before East‑West win the last 3 tricks. North-South thus win the first ten tricks, making 4NT. Contract made with one extra trick, called an overtrick.
The score is 4x30 + 10 + 300 = 430.
Board 2 Dlr: E NS Vul
The required contract is 6♠ by West, small slam - 12 tricks required.
NORTH
♠ 4
♥ KQT95
♦ QJ8
♣ T984
WEST EAST
♠ AQT86 ♠ KJ975
♥ AJ ♥ 74
♦ 3 ♦ A7652
♣ A7652 ♣ 3
SOUTH
♠ 32
♥ 8632
♦ KT94
♣ KQJ
North leads ♥K (promising, against a suit contract, only the queen as well). East and South follow low and West wins with the ace.
This time declarer can count only 8 sure tricks - 5 trumps and 3 side-suit aces. Where will the 4 extra winners come from? The clue lies in the minor suit singletons and the trick-generating strategy of trumping losers.
West now plays ♣A, all following low, and continues with a second club and trumps (or ruffs) with a low spade in dummy, while North and South must follow with clubs.
Next declarer plays dummy's ♦A, to which all follow, and continues with a second diamond on which North and South follow suit. Declarer, with no more diamonds, ruffs with a low spade.
Declarer continues to play clubs whenever on lead in hand and diamonds whenever on lead in dummy in order to win by cross-ruffing.
Often declarer extracts enemy trumps early, but not here. Four of them in each hand might be needed to trump all the minor suit losers.
East-West can then easily win 12 tricks, making a non-vulnerable small slam. Their score is 6x30 + 300 + 500 = 980.
I hope you noticed that East-West have nothing like 33 HCP between them, and yet they made small slam! Much more of that later.
Board 3 Dlr: S EW Vul
The contract is 6♥ by South - another small slam. 12 tricks are needed.
NORTH
♠ 54
♥ AT98
♦ T92
♣ AKQJ
WEST EAST
♠ J987 ♠ T3
♥ 52 ♥ 43
♦ KQJ8 ♦ A7654
♣ 632 ♣ T987
SOUTH
♠ AKQ62
♥ KQJ76
♦ 3
♣ 54
Against South’s 6♥ contract West leads ♦K (promising, against a suit contract, at least the queen) and when it wins continues with ♦Q, which South ruffs.
Declarer can count twelve sure winners - five in hearts, three top spades and four top clubs. The only possible hitch would be if declarer allowed the opponents to trump one of these winners.
So it is correct to draw trumps (extract the enemy trumps) at once. Since the trumps break 2-2, it takes only two rounds of hearts to rid the opponents of their trumps.
Declarer then takes 4 club tricks and 3 spade tricks. A failure to draw trumps might enable the opponents to turn a 'sure trick' into a loser by trumping it.
Bidding slam and making 12 tricks scores 6x30 + 300 + 500 = 980.
Board 4 Dlr: W All Vul
The contract is 3NT by East, a game contract in which 9 tricks are required.
NORTH
♠ 654
♥ QJT9
♦ T86
♣ J97
WEST EAST
♠ 987 ♠ A32
♥ 876 ♥ AK2
♦ Q543 ♦ AK2
♣ 542 ♣ AKQ3
SOUTH
♠ KQJT
♥ 543
♦ J97
♣ T86
South leads ♠K against East’s 3NT contract (promising at least a three-card sequence of KQJ). Declarer can count 9 sure tricks - one in spades, two in hearts and three each in diamonds and clubs.
But in this game, greed is good. Declarer must consider how to make overtricks. Both minor suits, with a combined holding of seven cards offer the possibility of a fourth trick if the missing six cards break 3-3 (or if a defender throws one away from a 4-card holding).
So declarer wins with ♠A and now tests the clubs. She plays off the ace, king and queen and notices that all clubs have now been played. Thus ♣3 is high and can be cashed.
Next to the diamonds. Again there are only 6 cards outstanding. Play the ace and king. With everyone following, there are now only 2 left. Now a small diamond to dummy's queen and both opponents follow. Thus ♦5 in dummy is high and another extra trick is created.
Notice how important it is to play off the ace and king of diamonds first, known as playing honours from the short hand first. Now your ♦2 enables you to cross over to dummy’s ♦Q. Then, since the suit breaks 3-3, you can cash your winning ♦5.
If you play your ¨Q too early, before the honours in your hand, you will have no way back to dummy later and your little diamond winner will be stranded because you have blocked the suit.
Thus by careful play declarer should finish with 11 tricks – two overtricks in a vulnerable game contract for a score of 5x30 + 10 + 500 = 660.
HOW’S MY PROGRESS AFTER LESSON ONE?
You should very soon be able to answer all the following questions without referring to your notes. (Okay, okay, most of them) You will find progress much easier if you start early to commit things to memory. Osmosis will work in the long run, but weekly revision is far more effective!
- Who makes the first call?
- When is the auction finished?
- Which player becomes the declarer?
- Who makes the opening lead?
- When is dummy’s hand put on the table?
- How many HCP in the pack?
- How are the 5 possible strains ranked in the bidding, starting with the highest?
- What are the five different minimum bids at game level?
- How many tricks does declarer have to make in each of these game contracts?
- What are the five small slam bids?
- How many tricks must be made in any small slam?
- And the five grand slam bids?
- And the number of tricks to be made in any grand slam?
- How many points normally required by the partnership for game?
- And for small slam?
- And for grand slam?
- What do you call any contract below game?
- What do you score for making 9 tricks, vulnerable, at 3♦? At 3NT? At 4♥?
- What do you score for making 11 tricks, not vulnerable, in a contract of 2♣? In 4♠? In 6♦?
- What do you score for bidding and making a vulnerable grand slam in notrumps?
- What is promised by the lead of an honour against a notrump contract?
- How does this differ from what is promised by the lead of an honour against a suit contract?
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