- Partners, seats and dealing 13 cards each
- Counting your hand before you bid
- The auction: what a bid means
- Dummy, declarer and the opening lead
- Contract bridge scoring in plain terms
- Rubber, Chicago and duplicate: three ways to keep score
- My advice for your first evening of bridge
- Frequently asked questions
Contract bridge is a trick taking card game for four players in two partnerships, played with a standard 52 card deck. Each hand starts with an auction where the partnerships bid for how many of the 13 tricks they'll win and which suit will be trumps, then the side that wins the auction tries to make that contract while the other side tries to stop them.
Bridge has a reputation for being hard, and the bidding can go as deep as you like. But the basic game is simple enough to start tonight. The ACBL, the body that runs bridge in North America, puts it nicely: four friends and a standard deck of cards is all you need. Here's the version you'll play at a kitchen table, rubber bridge, with the scoring kept as light as possible.
Partners, seats and dealing 13 cards each
| What you need | Contract bridge |
|---|---|
| Players | 4, in two fixed partnerships, partners sitting opposite |
| Seat names | North and South play against East and West |
| Deck | One standard 52 card deck, no jokers |
| Card ranking | A (high), K, Q, J, 10 down to 2 |
| Suit ranking for bids | Clubs (low), diamonds, hearts, spades, then no trumps (high) |
| Cards each | 13, dealt one at a time, face down, starting on the dealer's left |
Sort your hand into suits as soon as you pick it up. The ACBL suggests alternating colours, black, red, black, red, so you don't mistake a club for a spade halfway through the hand.
Counting your hand before you bid
Before anyone says a word, count your high card points. This is the scale almost every beginner course uses, and the ACBL teaches it on day one:
| Card | High card points |
|---|---|
| Ace | 4 |
| King | 3 |
| Queen | 2 |
| Jack | 1 |
| Each card over four in one suit | Add 1 more (a five card suit adds 1, six cards adds 2) |
There are 40 high card points in the whole deck, so an average hand holds 10. A long suit adds value too, because once the other players run out of it, your small cards start winning tricks.
The auction: what a bid means
Here's the rule that confuses everyone at first. A bid isn't the total number of tricks you want. Every bid sits on top of a base of six tricks, which the ACBL calls the book. So a bid of One Spade is a promise to win seven tricks with spades as trumps, and Four Hearts means ten tricks with hearts as trumps.
- The dealer speaks first, then the auction moves clockwise.
- On your turn you can pass, make a bid (a number from 1 to 7 plus a suit or no trumps), double an opponent's bid, or redouble a bid of yours they've doubled.
- Each new bid must be higher than the last one: a bigger number, or the same number in a higher ranking suit. Two No Trumps beats Two Hearts, and you'd need Four Clubs to beat Three No Trumps.
- The auction ends when a bid is followed by three passes in a row. That last bid is the contract.
- If all four players pass straight away, the hand is thrown in and the next player deals.
One more catch. The declarer isn't simply whoever made the last bid. According to Bicycle, it's the player on the winning side who first named the suit of the contract. If your partner opened One Spade and you later bid Four Spades, your partner plays the hand.
Dummy, declarer and the opening lead
Once the contract is set, everyone takes a role. The declarer plays the hand. Their partner becomes the dummy, and the other two are the defenders.
- The defender on the declarer's left makes the opening lead, before anyone sees the dummy.
- The dummy then lays all 13 cards face up on the table, sorted into suits, with the trumps on the dummy's right (which is the declarer's left).
- The declarer plays both hands in turn, calling or touching the card the dummy will play. The dummy stays silent.
- Everyone must follow suit if they can. If you can't, you can trump or throw any card.
- The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. The winner leads next.
- After 13 tricks, count how many the declaring side won and score the hand.
A neat ACBL habit: instead of gathering tricks into a pile, each player turns their own card face down in front of them, upright if your side won the trick and sideways if you lost it. At the end you can see the whole story of the hand.
Contract bridge scoring in plain terms
The ACBL says scoring isn't something to spend much time on at the start, and I agree. The idea is simple: make your contract and you score, fail and your opponents score. Here are the trick values from pagat.com for each trick bid and made over the book of six:
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| Trump suit | Points per trick bid and made | Contract you need for game in one hand |
|---|---|---|
| Clubs or diamonds (minor suits) | 20 | Five Clubs or Five Diamonds |
| Hearts or spades (major suits) | 30 | Four Hearts or Four Spades |
| No trumps | 40 for the first trick, 30 for each after | Three No Trumps |
Contract points are written below the line on the score sheet, and 100 below the line wins a game. The first side to win two games wins the rubber, with a bonus of 700 for a two to nothing win or 500 for two games to one. Overtricks, undertricks and slam bonuses go above the line and don't count towards game. If you fall short, every trick you miss gives your opponents a penalty score above the line, and that penalty grows when you're vulnerable or doubled.
Rubber, Chicago and duplicate: three ways to keep score
- Rubber bridge: the classic social game above, played as the best of three games.
- Chicago: four players over exactly four deals, with fixed vulnerability on each deal. It's handy for clubs and evenings with a time limit.
- Duplicate bridge: the tournament form, where the same deals are replayed at other tables so luck matters less. Pagat.com notes you need at least eight players.
If bridge feels like a lot, play some whist first. It's the same trick taking engine without the auction. You'll find whist, Hearts and Spades side by side in my guide to trick taking card games, and if you'd rather practise on your phone between games, I've rounded up free bridge apps and sites.
My advice for your first evening of bridge
Bridge suits anyone who likes puzzles and talking strategy with a partner. It's brilliant for retired friends, couples who play as a team, and teenagers who like chess. For your first few hands, play every hand open: deal, bid, then turn all four hands face up and talk through what you'd have done. The ACBL also offers Minibridge for beginners, which skips most of the bidding so you can learn the play first. The mistake to avoid is getting lost in conventions before you can count to seven tricks. Count your points, bid what you can see, and enjoy being the dummy, because it's the one time in bridge you can top up your tea while everyone else works.
Frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for bridge?
Bridge needs exactly 4 players in two partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other as North and South against East and West.
What does a bid of One Spade mean in bridge?
It's a promise to win seven tricks with spades as trumps. Every bid sits on top of a base of six tricks called the book.
Who is the dummy in bridge?
The dummy is the declarer's partner. After the opening lead they lay their cards face up and the declarer plays them.
How do you count points in a bridge hand?
Count 4 for each ace, 3 for each king, 2 for each queen and 1 for each jack. There are 40 high card points in the deck.
What do you need to bid to make game in bridge?
Three No Trumps, Four Hearts, Four Spades, Five Clubs or Five Diamonds will each score the 100 points needed for game in one hand.
