HOW TO PLAY BRIDGE

The cards are played clockwise round the table until four cards have been played. The highest card played wins the trick.

* the card is placed like this if your side won the trick,

or like this if your side didn't win the trick.

You must always follow suit if you can, but if as a result of the bidding there is a trump suit, then any card in the trump suit beats any card in the other suits. So, if hearts are trumps, the 2  would beat the A.

You may only use a trump when you are unable to follow suit, but you don't have to. You may choose to Discard (throw away) a card from another suit. Beating another suit with a trump card is known as Ruffing.

STARTING OUT TO PLAY MINIBRIDGE

We'll start by describing MiniBridge which is a great introduction to bridge for players of all ages.

MiniBridge enables you to start playing bridge right away without having to know all the rules for bidding. Everything you learn in MiniBridge is relevant to real bridge i.e. counting your points, how to play the cards, game and part score contracts, scoring etc.

HIGH CARD POINTS

Each player estimates the value of their hand by using a scale of points for the high cards.

Ace	4	King	3
Queen	2	Jack	1

SUIT RANKING ORDER

Notice it is alphabetical. Clubs are the lowest ranking and No Trumps the highest.

NT	No Trumps
Spades
Hearts
Diamonds
Clubs

HOW TO PLAY MINIBRIDGE

1. The cards are dealt out one by one to the four players, playing in two partnerships sitting opposite each other, thirteen cards each.
2. Each player estimates the value of their hand by using a scale of points for the high cards. Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1.
3. Each player announces their points starting with the dealer and going clockwise round the table. The total should add up to forty.
4. The pair with the most points between them becomes the declaring side, the other pair become the defending side. If both sides have twenty points, redeal the cards. The person on the declaring side with the most points becomes the declarer and their partner becomes the dummy. If both players have the same number of points, then declarer is the one who announced their points first.
5. The dummy's hand is put down on the table for all to see and declarer chooses the contract. He announces either 'part-score' or 'game' and either no-trumps or a specific trumps suit. The goal for a part-score is 7 tricks, and the goals for game contracts are 9 tricks in no-trumps, 10 tricks in or and 11 tricks in or
6. The first person to lead a card is the player on the left of the declarer. Each person plays a card in turn clockwise and whoever puts down the highest card wins the trick, any trump beating any card in another suit. If either defender wins a trick, it counts as a trick for their side.
7. The cards are then turned over and the winner of the trick leads the first card for the next trick.
8. Declarer controls the play of dummy's cards and if the winning card comes from the dummy, the first card for the next trick comes from the dummy (but the declarer says which card it should be).
9. After all the cards have been played, the players agree how many tricks were won by each side and calculate the score.
10. The position of the dealer moves round the table clockwise with each deal.

SCORING

1. The declaring side only scores points if they win the target number of tricks (or more).
2. No points are won for the first six tricks. For each additional trick, points are scored according to the contract, as follows:

   No Trumps	40 points for the first trick, 30 points for each subsequent trick.
   Hearts/Spades	30 points
   Clubs/Diamonds	20 points

   (Note that the goals of 9 tricks in No Trumps, 10 tricks in Hearts or Spades or 11 tricks in Clubs or Diamonds, will lead to a total of 100 points, the requirement for 'game')

3. If 'game' has been announced before the play of the cards and it is achieved you gain a bonus of 300 points.
4. If 'part score' has been announced and 7 or more tricks have been made you gain a bonus of 50 points.
5. If you do not reach your goal, you do not get any points for the tricks that you do make. Instead, the defenders get 50 points for each trick that the declaring side is short of their target.

TARGET CONTRACTS

The table below shows the expected number of tricks you will make from your partnership's combined point count.

Remember that no points are scored for the first six tricks.

'Game' contracts

A 'game' is when the score for the tricks you bid and make adds up to at least 100. When your partnership has at least 25 high card points you should usually choose a 'game' contract as follows:

9 tricks in No Trumps (3NT) = 40+30+30 (= 100) + 300 bonus = 400
10 tricks in or (4/4) = 4 x 30 (= 120) + 300 bonus = 420
11 tricks in or (5/5) = 5 x 20 (=100) + 300 bonus = 400

'Part Score' contracts

A 'part score' is when the score for the tricks you bid and make adds up to less than 100. If your partnership has fewer than 25 high card points you should choose a target of 7 tricks (i.e. as low as possible).

There is no advantage in choosing a target of 8 tricks over choosing a target of 7 tricks. A contract for 8 tricks making exactly 8 tricks scores the same as a contract for 7 tricks making 8 tricks.

DECLARER

When you see the opening lead, STOP!!! Ask yourself three questions:

1. How many tricks do I need to make the contract? Then look carefully at your hand and the dummy:
2. How many tricks can I make without losing the lead?
3. How will I get the extra tricks?

DEFENDERS

THE OPENING LEAD AGAINST NO TRUMPS

Best lead is the top of a sequence of three honour cards e.g. Ace from AKQ, King from KQJ etc. If you don't have a sequence of honour cards lead the 4th highest card of your longest suit. e.g. the four from AJ942.

WIN A TRICK AS CHEAPLY AS POSSIBLE

If you have the Ace and King, win with the King. It helps partner work out what cards you don't have. If you win a trick with the Ace partner knows you don't have the King. If you win a trick with the King partner knows you don't have the Queen.

SECOND HAND LOW

If you can't win the trick in second seat, play a low card. Even if you can win the trick, it is still correct most of the time to play low to give partner a chance to win the trick. If in doubt play low!

THIRD HAND HIGH

Even if you can't win the trick, you should play high. You may set up winners for your partner. When playing 3rd hand high with equally high cards, play the lowest of the equal cards (see 'Win a Trick As Cheaply As Possible').