Bridge Unlocked teaches all of this in the Bridge Basics path, free. Keep it beside you the first few times.
The table
Bridge is played by four people in two partnerships. You sit opposite your partner; the seats are named after the compass, North and South against East and West. It is never a solo performance: every hand is won or lost by a pair.
A full pack of 52 cards is dealt out, 13 to each player. You sort your cards into suits and keep them to yourself.
Tricks, how the cards are won
Play goes in tricks. One player leads a card; the other three play a card each, clockwise; the highest card of the suit led wins, and the winner leads to the next. There are 13 tricks in every deal.
Two rules do almost all the work. You must follow suit if you can: a heart is led, you hold a heart, you play a heart. If you can’t follow suit, you may play anything, and in a suit contract that anything can be a trump, and the smallest trump beats the biggest card of any other suit.
Within a suit the cards rank A, K, Q, J, 10, 9 … 2. The ace is highest.
The two halves of every deal
The auction. Starting with the dealer and going clockwise, each player either passes or makes a bid: a number and a suit or no-trumps, like one heart or two no-trumps. Each bid must be higher than the last; the auction ends when three players pass in a row. The bids are the only conversation you and partner get about your hands.
The contract. The final bid. The number is the tricks over six that side promises to win: two spades means eight tricks with spades as trumps; three no-trumps means nine tricks with no trump suit. The lowest bid is 1 (seven tricks); the highest is 7NT (all thirteen).
The play. Whoever first named the final suit for the winning side is declarer. Declarer’s partner is dummy: after the opening lead, dummy lays every card face up and takes no further part. Declarer plays both hands. The other two are the defenders; the one on declarer’s left makes the opening lead.
Bidding ranks
| Rank | Denomination | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| highest | NT, no-trumps | No suit is trumps |
| Spades | Major suit | |
| Hearts | Major suit | |
| Diamonds | Minor suit | |
| lowest | Clubs | Minor suit |
1 outbids 1; 1NT outbids 1; to beat 1 in a suit you go up a level: 2, 2 or 2. Majors and no-trumps score more than minors, which is why so much bidding is a search for a heart or spade fit.
What you’re playing for
The side that wins the auction scores if it makes its contract; the defenders score if they defeat it. Tricks score 20 each in a minor, 30 in a major, 40 then 30 in no-trumps, and the prize is game, 100 trick-points, which earns a large bonus. So the contracts everyone chases are 3NT (9 tricks), 4 or 4 (10), 5 or 5 (11). Twelve tricks is a small slam; thirteen a grand slam.
Your first deal, in order
- Deal; everyone sorts their 13.
- Dealer bids or passes; three passes end the auction.
- The defender on declarer’s left leads, face up.
- Dummy goes down, in suits, trumps on the right.
- Thirteen tricks are played; everyone follows suit.
- Count the tricks against the promise; score; deal again.
Next
Every idea on this page is taught step by step, with hands you play yourself, in the Bridge Basics path.
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This handout goes with the Beginner course, in ACOL or 5-card majors.
