• Clark Auction Bridge Game

Bridge declarer play Alternative names Bridge Type Trick-taking Players 4 Skills required, Cards 52 Deck Play Clockwise Card rank (highest to lowest) A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Playing time tournament games = 7.5 minutes per deal Random chance Low to moderate (depending on variant played) Related games, Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a using a. It is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions of people play bridge worldwide in clubs, online and with friends at home, making it one of the world's most popular, particularly among. The is the governing body for international competitive bridge, with numerous other bodies governing bridge at the regional level. The game consists of several, each progressing through four phases. The cards are to the players, and then the players or bid to take the, specifying how many tricks the partnership receiving the contract (the declaring side) needs to take to receive points for the deal. During the auction, partners communicate information about their hand, including its overall strength and the length of its suits, although conventions for use during play also exist.

Clark Auction Bridge Game

The cards are then, the trying to fulfill the contract, and the trying to stop the declaring side achieving its goal. The deal is based on the number of tricks taken, the contract, and various other factors which depend to some extent on the variation of the game being played. Is the most popular variation for casual play, but most club and tournament play involves some variant of, where the cards are not re-dealt on each occasion, but the same deal is played by two or more different sets of players to enable comparative scoring.

A trick North has led the 10 ♠ and so all players must play a spade card if they have one; if not, they may play any card. East plays the K ♠, South the J ♦ and West the 7 ♥. In a notrump game, East is the winner, having played the highest spade card. However, if there is a trump suit, diamonds or hearts, South or West respectively wins the trick. Bridge is a four-player partnership with thirteen tricks per deal. The dominant variations of the game are, more common in social play; and, which enables comparative scoring in tournament play.

Each player is dealt thirteen cards from a standard 52-card deck. A starts when a player leads, i.e. Plays the first card. The leader to the first trick is determined by the auction; the leader to each subsequent trick is the player who won the preceding trick. Each player, in a clockwise order, plays one card on the trick.

Players must play a card of the same suit as the original card led, unless they have none (said to be 'void'), in which case they may play any card. The player who played the highest-ranked card wins the trick. Within a suit, the ace is ranked highest followed by the king, queen and jack and then the ten through to the two.

In a deal where the auction has determined that there is no trump suit, the trick must be won by a card of the suit led. However, in a deal where there is a trump suit, cards of that suit are superior in rank to any of the cards of any other suit. If one or more players plays a trump to a trick when void in the suit led, the highest trump wins. For example, if the trump suit is spades and a player is void in the suit led and plays a spade card, he wins the trick if no other player plays a higher spade. If a trump suit is led, the usual rule for trick-taking applies. Unlike its predecessor, the goal of bridge is not simply to take the most tricks in a deal.

Instead, the goal is to successfully estimate how many tricks one's partnership can take. To illustrate this, the simpler partnership trick-taking game of has a similar mechanism: the usual trick-taking rules apply with the trump suit being spades, but in the beginning of the game, players bid or estimate how many tricks they can win, and the number of tricks bid by both players in a partnership are added. If a partnership takes at least that many number of tricks, they receive points for the round; otherwise, they receive penalty points. Bridge extends the concept of bidding into an, where partnerships compete to take a, specifying how many tricks they will need to take in order to receive points, and also specifying the trump suit (or no trump, meaning that there will be no trump suit). Players take turns to call in a clockwise order: each player in turn either passes, doubles—which increases the penalties for not making the contract specified by the opposing partnership's last bid, but also increases the reward for making it —or redoubles, or states a contract that their partnership will adopt, which must be higher than the previous highest bid (if any). Eventually, the player who bid the highest contract—which is determined by the contract's level as well as the trump suit or no trump—wins the contract for their partnership.

Example auction West North East South 1 ♦ 1 ♥ 1 ♠ 2 ♣ 2 ♠ 3 ♣ 4 ♠ Pass 4NT Pass 5 ♦ Pass 6 ♠ Pass Pass Pass East-West and North-South compete for the contract. East-West prevail, specifying the trump suit (spades) and the minimum number of tricks beyond six which they must win (six). In the example auction on the right, the East-West pair secures the contract of 6 ♠; the auction concludes when there have been three successive passes. Note that six tricks are added to contract values, so the six-level contract would actually be a contract of twelve tricks. In practice, establishing a contract without enough information on the other partner's hand is difficult, unlike in Spades where players only have to bid for their own hand, so there exist many assigning meanings to bids, with common ones including, and. After the contract is decided, and the first lead is made, the declarer's partner (dummy) lays his cards face up on the table, and the declarer plays the dummy's cards as well as their own. The opposing partnership is called the, and their goal is to stop the declarer fulfilling his contract.

Once all the cards have been played, the hand is scored: if the declaring side make their contract, they receive points based on the level of the contract, with some trump suits being worth more points than others and no trump being the highest, as well as bonus points for. But if the declarer fails to fulfil the contract, the defenders receive points depending on the declaring side's undertricks (the number of tricks short of the contract) and whether the contract was doubled by the defenders. Setup and dealing. Bridge seating arrangement The four players sit in two partnerships, with each player sitting opposite his partner. Are assigned to each seat, so that one partnership sits in North and South, while the other sits in West and East. The cards may be freshly dealt or, in duplicate bridge where partnerships compete with each other, dealt beforehand.

All that is needed in basic games are the cards and a method of keeping score, but there is often other equipment on the table, such as a board containing the cards to be played (in duplicate bridge),. In rubber bridge, each player draws a card at the start of the game: the two players who drew the highest cards are partners, and play against the other two. The deck is shuffled and cut, usually by the player to the left of the dealer, before dealing.

Players take turns to deal, in a clockwise order. The dealer deals the cards clockwise, one card at a time. In duplicate bridge, the cards are pre-dealt in order to allow for competitive scoring. Once dealt, the cards are stored in a device called a, with a slot for each cardinal direction. The director of a duplicate bridge game or their assistants may shuffle the decks immediately before play starts, or in advance. After a deal has been played, all four players slot their cards back into the board, ready to be played by the next table.

A containing all the possible calls a player can make in the auction. The dealer opens the auction and can make the first call, and the auction proceeds clockwise. When it is their turn to call, a player may pass—but can enter into the bidding later—or bid a contract, specifying the level of their contract and either the trump suit or no trump (the denomination), provided that it is higher than the last bid by any player, including their partner. All bids promise to take a number of tricks in excess of six, so a bid must be between one (seven tricks) and seven (thirteen tricks). A bid is higher than another bid if either the level is greater (e.g., 2 ♣ over 1NT) or the denomination is higher, with the order being in ascending order: ♣, ♦, ♥, ♠, and NT (no trump). Calls may be made orally, or with a bidding box, or digitally in online bridge. If the last bid was by the opposing partnership, one may also the opponents' bid, increasing the penalties for undertricks, but also increasing the reward for making the contract.

Doubling does not carry to future bids by the opponents unless future bids are doubled again. A player on the opposing partnership being doubled may also, which increases the penalties and rewards further. Players may not see their partner's hand during the auction, only their own. There exist many bidding conventions that assign agreed meanings to various calls to assist players in reaching an optimal contract (or obstruct the opponents). The auction ends when, after a player bids, doubles, or redoubles, every other player has passed, in which case the action proceeds to the play; or every player has passed and no bid has been made, in which case the round is considered to be 'passed out' and not played.

Play The player from the declaring side who first bid the denomination named in the final contract becomes declarer. The player left to the declarer leads to the first trick. Then the dummy lays their cards face up on the table. Play proceeds clockwise, with each player required to follow suit if possible. Tricks are won by the highest trump, or if there were none played, the highest card of the led suit. The player who won the previous trick leads to the next trick. The declarer has control of the dummy's cards and plays them when it is their turn, although the declarer often requests his partner to play a specified card on his behalf.

There also exist conventions that communicate further information between defenders about their hands during the play. At any time, a player may, stating that their side will win a specific number of the remaining tricks, and if not obvious explains how he intends to play the remaining cards. The claiming player lays their cards down on the table for examination. The opponents can either accept the claim and the round is scored accordingly, or dispute the claim. In rubber games, play continues with the claiming player's cards face up. In duplicate games, play ceases and the tournament director is called to adjudicate the hand.

Main article: At the end of the hand, points are awarded to the declaring side if they make the contract, or else to the defenders. Partnerships can be, increasing the rewards for making the contract, but also increasing the penalties for undertricks. In rubber bridge, if a side has won 100 contract points, they have won a and are vulnerable for the remaining rounds, but in duplicate bridge, vulnerability is predetermined based on the number of each board. If the declaring side makes their contract, they receive points for, or tricks bid and made in excess of six. In both rubber and duplicate bridge, the declaring side is awarded 20 points per odd trick for a contract in clubs or diamonds, and 30 points per odd trick for a contract in hearts or spades. For a contract in no trump, the declaring side is awarded 40 points for the first odd trick and 30 points for the remaining odd tricks.

Contract points are doubled or quadrupled if the contract is respectively doubled or redoubled. In rubber bridge, a partnership wins one game once it has accumulated 100 contract points; excess contract points do not carry over to the next game. A partnership that wins two games wins the rubber, receiving a bonus of 500 points if the opponents have won a game, and 700 points if they have not.

Overtricks score the same number of points per odd trick, although their doubled and redoubled values differ. Bonuses vary between the two bridge variations both in score and in type (for example, rubber bridge awards a bonus for holding a certain combination of high cards), although some are common between the two. A larger bonus is awarded if the declaring side makes a small slam or grand slam, a contract of 12 or 13 tricks respectively. If the declaring side is not vulnerable, a small slam gets 500 points, and a grand slam 1000 points.

If the declaring side is vulnerable, a small slam is 750 points and a grand slam is 1500. In rubber bridge, the rubber finishes when a partnership has won two games, but the partnership receiving the most overall points wins the rubber. Duplicate bridge is scored comparatively, meaning that the score for the hand is compared to other tables playing the same cards and match points are scored according to the comparative results: usually either 'matchpoint scoring', where each partnership receives 2 (or 1) point for each pair that they beat, and 1 (or a half) point for each tie; or IMPs (international matchpoint) scoring, where the number of IMPs varies (but less than proportionately) with the points difference between the teams. Undertricks are scored in both variations as follows: Undertricks Points per undertrick Vulnerable Not vulnerable Undoubled Doubled Redoubled Undoubled Doubled Redoubled 1st undertrick 100 200 400 50 100 200 2nd and 3rd, each 300 600 200 400 4th and each subsequent 300 600 300 600 Rules The rules of the game are referred to as the laws as promulgated by various bridge organizations. Laws of duplicate bridge. Main article: The official rules of duplicate bridge are promulgated by the as the 'International Code of Laws of Duplicate Bridge, 2007'.

The Laws Committee of the WBF, composed of world experts, updates the Laws every 10 years; it also issues a Laws Commentary advising on interpretations it has rendered. In addition to the basic rules of play, there are many additional rules covering playing conditions and the rectification of irregularities, which are primarily for use by tournament directors who act as referees and have overall control of procedures during competitions. But various details of procedure are left to the discretion of the zonal bridge organisation for tournaments under their aegis and some (for example, the choice of movement) to the sponsoring organisation (e.g.

Some zonal organisations of the WBF also publish editions of the Laws. For example, the publishes the Laws of Duplicate Bridge and additional documentation for club and tournament directors. Rules of rubber bridge There are no universally accepted rules for rubber bridge, but some zonal organisations have published their own. An example for those wishing to abide by a published standard is The Laws of Rubber Bridge as published by the. The majority of rules mirror those of duplicate bridge in the bidding and play and differ primarily in procedures for dealing and scoring. Laws of online play In 2001, the promulgated a set of Laws for online play. Bridge club at, 1942.

Bridge is a member of the family of and is a development of, which had become the dominant such game and enjoyed a loyal following for centuries. According to the, Bridge is the pronunciation of a game called, which was also known as Russian Whist. The oldest known Biritch rule book, dated 1886, is by John Collinson. It and his subsequent letter to The Saturday Review dated May 28, 1906, document the origin of Biritch as being the Russian community in Istanbul.

It has some features in common with. The game had many significant bridge-like developments: dealer chose the suit, or nominated his partner to do so; there was a call of notrumps ( biritch); dealer's partner's hand became dummy; points were scored above and below the line; game was 3NT, 4H and 5D (although 8 club odd tricks and 15 spade odd tricks were needed); the score could be doubled and redoubled; and there were slam bonuses. This game, and variants of it known as 'bridge' and 'bridge-whist', became popular in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1890s despite the long-established dominance of whist. In 1904 was developed, in which the players bid in a competitive auction to decide the contract and declarer. The object became to make at least as many tricks as were contracted for, and penalties were introduced for failing to do so.

The modern game of contract bridge was the result of innovations to the scoring of auction bridge by and others. The most significant change was that only the tricks contracted for were scored below the line toward game or a slam bonus, a change that resulted in bidding becoming much more challenging and interesting. Also new was the concept of 'vulnerability', making sacrifices to protect the lead in a rubber more expensive.

The various were adjusted to produce a more balanced and interesting game. Vanderbilt set out his rules in 1925, and within a few years contract bridge had so supplanted other forms of the game that 'bridge' became synonymous with 'contract bridge'.

In the USA and many other countries, most of the bridge played today is, which is played at clubs, in tournaments and online. The number of people playing contract bridge has declined since its peak in the 1940s, when a survey found it was played in 44% of US households. The game is still widely played, especially amongst retirees, and in 2005 the estimated there were 25 million players in the US. Tournaments Bridge is a game of skill played with dealt cards, which makes it also a, or more exactly, a tactical game with inbuilt randomness, imperfect knowledge and restricted communication. The chance element is in the deal of the cards; in duplicate bridge some of the chance element is eliminated by comparing results of multiple pairs in identical situations. This is achievable when there are eight or more players, sitting at two or more tables, and the deals from each table are preserved and passed to the next table, thereby duplicating them for the other table(s) of players.

At the end of a session, the scores for each deal are compared, and the most points are awarded to the players doing the best with each particular deal. This measures skill (but still with a significant element of luck) because each pair or team is being judged only on the ability to bid with, and play, the same cards as other players. However very often even the most skillful play will only succeed some of the time, and the skilled player may be unlucky because an alternative, less expert play achieves a better result. But in the long run the expert player will score better. Duplicate bridge is played in clubs and tournaments, which can gather as many as several hundred players.

Duplicate bridge is a, and its popularity gradually became comparable to that of, with which it is often compared for its complexity and the mental skills required for high-level competition. Bridge and chess are the only 'mind sports' recognized by the, although they were not found eligible for the main program. In October 2017 the British High Court ruled against the English Bridge Union, finding that Bridge is not a sport under a definition of sport as involving physical activity, but did not rule on the 'broad, somewhat philosophical question' as to whether or not bridge is a sport. The basic premise of duplicate bridge had previously been used for whist matches as early as 1857. Initially, bridge was not thought to be suitable for duplicate competition; it was not until the 1920s that (auction) bridge tournaments became popular. In 1925 when contract bridge first evolved, bridge tournaments were becoming popular, but the rules were somewhat in flux, and several different organizing bodies were involved in tournament sponsorship: the (formerly the American Auction Bridge League, which changed its name in 1929), the, and the. In 1935, the first officially recognized world championship was held.

By 1937, however, the had come to power (a union of the ABL and the USBA), and it remains the sanctioning body for in North America. In 1958, the was founded to promote bridge worldwide, coordinate periodic revision to the Laws (each ten years, next in 2017) and conduct world championships. Bidding boxes and bidding screens.

Bidding box In tournaments, ' are frequently used, as noted above. These avoid the possibility of players at other tables hearing any spoken bids. The bidding cards are laid out in sequence as the auction progresses.

Although it is not a formal rule, many clubs adopt a protocol that the bidding cards stay revealed until the first playing card is tabled, after which point the bidding cards are put away. In top national and international events, ' are used. These are placed diagonally across the table, preventing partners from seeing each other during the game; often the screen is removed after the auction is complete. Game strategy Bidding. Main articles: and Much of the complexity in bridge arises from the difficulty of arriving at a good final contract in the auction (or deciding to let the opponents declare the contract). This is a difficult problem: the two players in a partnership must try to communicate enough information about their hands to arrive at a makeable contract, but the information they can exchange is restricted – information may be passed only by the calls made and later by the cards played, not by other means; in addition, the agreed-upon meaning of each call and play must be available to the opponents. Since a partnership that has freedom to bid gradually at leisure can exchange more information, and since a partnership that can interfere with the opponents' bidding (as by raising the bidding level rapidly) can cause difficulties for their opponents, bidding systems are both informational and strategic.

It is this mixture of information exchange and evaluation, deduction, and tactics that is at the heart of bidding in bridge. A number of basic in bridge bidding and play are summarized as.

Bidding systems and conventions A bidding system is a set of partnership agreements on the meanings of bids. A partnership's bidding system is usually made up of a core system, modified and complemented by specific (optional customizations incorporated into the main system for handling specific bidding situations) which are pre-chosen between the partners prior to play. The line between a well-known convention and a part of a system is not always clear-cut: some bidding systems include specified conventions by default. Bidding systems can be divided into mainly natural systems such as and, and mainly artificial systems such as the and. Calls are usually considered to be either natural or conventional (artificial). A natural call carries a meaning that reflects the call; a natural bid intuitively showing hand or suit strength based on the level or suit of the bid, and a natural double expressing that the player believes that the opposing partnership will not make their contract.

By contrast, a conventional (artificial) call offers and/or asks for information by means of pre-agreed coded interpretations, in which some calls convey very specific information or requests that are not part of the natural meaning of the call. Thus in response to 4NT, a 'natural' bid of 5 ♦ would state a preference towards a diamond suit or a desire to play the contract in 5 diamonds, whereas if the partners have agreed to use the common, a bid of 5 ♦ in the same situation would say nothing about the diamond suit, but tell the partner that the hand in question contains exactly one ace. Conventions are valuable in bridge because of the need to pass information beyond a simple like or dislike of a particular suit, and because the limited bidding space can be used more efficiently by adopting a conventional (artificial) meaning for a given call where a natural meaning would have less utility, because the information it would convey is not valuable or because the desire to convey that information would arise only rarely. The conventional meaning conveys more useful (or more frequently useful) information.

There are a very large number of conventions from which players can choose; many books have been written detailing bidding conventions. Well-known conventions include (to ask the opening 1NT bidder to show any four-card major suit), (a request by (usually) the weak hand for the partner to bid a particular suit first, and therefore to become the declarer), and the (to ask for information on the number of aces and kings held, used in slam bidding situations). The term refers to a high-level tactical bid by a weak hand, relying upon a very long suit rather than high cards for tricks. Preemptive bids serve a double purpose – they allow players to indicate they are bidding on the basis of a long suit in an otherwise weak hand, which is important information to share, and they also consume substantial bidding space which prevents a possibly strong opposing pair from exchanging information on their cards.

Several systems include the use of opening bids or other early bids with weak hands including long (usually six to eight card) suits at the 2, 3 or even 4 or 5 levels as preempts. Basic natural systems As a rule, a natural suit bid indicates a holding of at least four (or more, depending on the situation and the system) cards in that suit as an opening bid, or a lesser number when supporting partner; a natural NT bid indicates a balanced hand. Most systems use a count of as the basic evaluation of the strength of a hand, refining this by reference to shape and distribution if appropriate. In the most commonly used point count system, aces are counted as 4 points, kings as 3, queens as 2, and jacks as 1 point; therefore, the deck contains 40 points. In addition, the distribution of the cards in a hand into suits may also contribute to the strength of a hand and be counted as.

A better than average hand, containing 12 or 13 points, is usually considered sufficient to open the bidding, i.e., to make the first bid in the auction. A combination of two such hands (i.e., 25 or 26 points shared between partners) is often sufficient for a partnership to bid, and generally to make, game in a or notrump (more are usually needed for a game, as the level is higher).

In natural systems, a 1NT opening bid usually reflects a hand that has a relatively balanced shape (usually between two and four (or less often five) cards in each suit) and a sharply limited number of high card points, usually somewhere between 12 and 18 – the most common ranges use a span of exactly three points, (e.g., 12-14, 15-17 or 16-18), but some systems use a four-point range, usually 15-18. Opening bids of three or higher are preemptive bids, i.e., bids made with weak hands that especially favor a particular suit, opened at a high level in order to define the hand's value quickly and to frustrate the opposition. For example, a hand of ♠ KQJ9872 ♥ 7 ♦ 42 ♣ 763 would be a candidate for an opening bid of 3 ♠, designed to make it difficult for the opposing team to bid and find their even if they have the bulk of the points, as it is nearly valueless unless spades are trumps, it contains good enough spades that the penalty for being set should not be higher than the value of an opponent game, and the high card weakness makes it more likely that the opponents have enough strength to make game themselves. Openings at the 2 level are either unusually strong (2NT, natural, and 2 ♣, artificial) or preemptive, depending on the system. Unusually strong bids communicate an especially high number of points (normally 20 or more) or a high trick-taking potential (normally 8 or more).

Opening bids at the one level are made with hands containing 12–13 points or more and which are not suitable for one of the preceding bids. Using with, opening hearts or spades usually promises a 5-card suit. Partnerships who agree to play 5-card majors open a with 4-card majors and then bid their at the next opportunity. This means that an opening bid of 1 ♣ or 1 ♦ will sometimes be made with only 3 cards in that suit.

Doubles are sometimes given conventional meanings in otherwise mostly natural systems. A natural, or penalty double, is one used to try to gain extra points when the defenders are confident of setting (defeating) the contract. The most common example of a conventional double is the of a low-level suit bid, implying support for the unbid suits or the unbid major suits and asking partner to choose one of them.

Variations on the basic themes Bidding systems depart from these basic ideas in varying degrees., for instance, is a collection of conventions designed to bolster the accuracy and power of these basic ideas, while Precision Club is a system that uses the 1 ♣ opening bid for all or almost all strong hands (but sets the threshold for 'strong' rather lower than most other systems – usually 16 high card points) and may include other artificial calls to handle other situations (but it may contain natural calls as well). Many experts today use a system called (enunciated as two over one game forcing), which amongst other features adds some complexity to the treatment of the one notrump response as used in. In the UK, is the most common system; its main features are a weak one notrump opening with 12-14 high card points and several variations for 2-level openings. There are also a variety of advanced techniques used for hand evaluation. The most basic is, (the 4-3-2-1 system detailed above) but this is sometimes modified in various ways, or either augmented or replaced by other approaches such as,. Common conventions and variations within natural systems include:.

Point count required for 1 NT opening bid ('mini' 10-12, 'weak' 12-14, 'strong' 15-17 or 16-18). Whether an opening bid of 1 ♥ and 1 ♠ requires a minimum of 4 or 5 cards in the suit ( 4 or 5 card majors). Whether 1 ♣ (and sometimes 1 ♦) is 'natural' or 'suspect' (also called 'phoney' or 'short'), signifying an opening hand lacking a notable heart or spade suit. Whether opening bids at the two level are 'strong' (20+ points) or ' (i.e., pre-emptive with a 6 card suit). (Note: an of 2 ♣ is usually played in otherwise natural systems as conventional, signifying any exceptionally strong hand).

(either the original version or ). (together with Blackwood, described as 'the two most famous conventions in Bridge'. ). Whether the partnership will play (bids of 2 ♦ and 2 ♥ over 1NT or 3 ♦ and 3 ♥ over 2NT respectively require the 1NT or 2NT bidder to rebid 2 ♥ and 2 ♠ or 3 ♥ and 3 ♠), minor suit transfers (bids of 2 ♠ and either 2NT or 3 ♣ over 1NT respectively require the 1NT bidder to bid 3 ♣ and 3 ♦) and Texas transfers (bids of 4 ♦ and 4 ♥ respectively require the 1NT, or 2NT bidder to rebid 4 ♥ and 4 ♠).

What types of (e.g. Rebidding the opponents' suit) the partnership will play, if any. Whether doubling a contract at the 1, 2 and sometimes higher levels signifies a belief that the opponents' contract will fail and a desire to raise the stakes (a penalty double), or an indication of strength but no biddable suit coupled with a request that partner bid something (a ). Whether doubling or overcalling over opponents' 1NT is natural or conventional. Most common artificial agreement is, where 2 ♣ is a transfer to be passed or corrected to a major, 2 ♦ means both majors and a major shows that suit plus a minor. How the partnership's bidding practices will be varied if their opponents intervene or compete. Which (if any) bids are and require a response.

Within play, it is also commonly agreed what systems of opening leads, signals and discards will be played:. Conventions for the govern how the first card to be played will be chosen and what it will mean,. indicate how cards played within a suit are chosen – for example, playing a noticeably high card when this would not be expected can signal encouragement to continue playing the suit, and a low card can signal discouragement and a desire for partner to choose some other suit. (Some partnerships use 'reverse' signals, meaning that a noticeably high card discourages that suit and a noticeably low card encourages that suit, thus not 'wasting' a potentially useful intermediate card in the suit of interest.). cover the situation when a defender cannot follow suit and therefore has free choice what card to play or throw away. In such circumstances the thrown-away card can be used to indicate some aspect of the hand, or a desire for a specific suit to be played. cover the situation when a defender is following suit (usually to a suit that the declarer has led).

In such circumstances the order in which a defender plays his spot cards will indicate whether an even or odd number of cards was originally held in that suit. This can help the other defender count out the entire original distribution of the cards in that suit. It is sometimes critical to know this when defending.

cover the situation where a defender is returning a suit which will be ruffed by his partner. If he plays a high card he is showing an entry in the higher side suit and vice versa. There are some other situations where this tool may be used. cover the situation when it is critical to show length in a side suit and it will be too late if defenders wait till that suit is played. Then, the play in the first declarer played suit is a count signal regarding the critical suit and not the trump suit itself. In fact, any signal made about a suit in another suit might be called as such.

Advanced bidding techniques Every call (including 'pass', also sometimes called 'no bid') serves two purposes. It confirms or passes some information to a partner, and also denies by implication any other kind of hand which would have tended to support an alternative call. For example, a bid of 2NT immediately after partner's 1NT not only shows a balanced hand of a certain point range, but also would almost always deny possession of a five-card major suit (otherwise the player would have bid it) or even a four card major suit (in that case, the player would probably have used the ). Likewise, in some partnerships the bid of 2 ♥ in the sequence 1NT - 2 ♣ - 2 ♦ - 2 ♥ between partners (opponents passing throughout) explicitly shows five hearts but also confirms four cards in spades: the bidder must hold at least five hearts to make it worth looking for a heart fit after 2 ♦ denied a four card major, and with at least five hearts, a Stayman bid must have been justified by having exactly four spades, the other major (since Stayman (as used by this partnership) is not useful with anything except a four card major suit). Thus an astute partner can read much more than the surface meaning into the bidding.

Alternatively, many partnerships play this same bidding sequence as 'Crawling Stayman' by which the responder shows a weak hand (less than eight high card points) with shortness in diamonds but at least four hearts and four spades; the opening bidder may correct to spades if that appears to be the better contract. The situations detailed here are extremely simple examples; many instances of advanced bidding involve specific agreements related to very specific situations and subtle inferences regarding entire sequences of calls. Play techniques. Main article: User-based play After many years of little progress, made great progress at the end of the 20th century. In 1996, the initiated official World Championships Computer Bridge, to be held annually along with a major bridge event. The first Computer Bridge Championship took place in 1997 at the North American Bridge Championships in.

Strong bridge playing programs such as Jack (World Champion in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009), Wbridge5 (World Champion in 2005, 2007 and 2008), RoboBridge and many-time finalist Bridge Baron, would probably rank among the top few thousand human pairs worldwide. A series of articles published in 2005 and 2006 in the Dutch bridge magazine describes matches between Jack and seven top Dutch pairs. A total of 196 boards were played. Overall, the program Jack lost, but by a small margin (359 versus 385 imps). Internet-based play There are several free and subscription-based services available for playing bridge on the. For example:. OKbridge is the oldest of the still-running internet bridge services: was established as a commercial enterprise in 1994, but the program started to be used interactively in August 1990 on players of all standards.

Beginners to world class may be found playing there. OKbridge is a subscription-based club, with services such as customer support and ethics reviews. SWAN Games was founded April, 2000.

In March 2004, announced a partnership to provide internet services to SBF members and is a competitor in subscription-based online bridge clubs. (BBO) is the most active online bridge club in the world, with more than 100 000 daily connections and 500 000 hands played each day, in part because it is free to play regular games and volunteer-run tournaments. These and other sites offer various features, such as opportunities to earn masterpoints, to play in online tournaments, to compile lists of friends, and to earn money playing Bridge. Bridge Base Online also has a feature showing tournaments from around the world for anyone interested to watch live. As well as written commentaries from top level players, voice commentaries have been incorporated since mid-2011. Software and hardware has been tested in 2011 in order to have digital cameras recognize the cards being played, which will avoid human error or delay. Some national contract bridge organizations now offer online bridge play to their members, including the English Bridge Union, the and the Australian Bridge Federation.

MSN and Yahoo! Games have several online rubber bridge rooms.

In 2001, the issued a special edition of the lawbook adapted for internet and other electronic forms of the game. Advantages of online play include:. The software prevents improper plays and calls, such as insufficient bids, (failure to follow suit when able), and actions out of turn. Unauthorised information cannot be passed by or (but can much more easily be passed by external communication). Detailed records are kept which can aid partners to review and improve their bidding and play. Hands can be easily be analysed for best play afterwards. Can play with partners far away - or across town.

No need to assemble 4 people in one place. Faster play - no shifting chairs or waiting for shuffles. Player rating systems may attempt to measure ability without regard to the number of games played or the number of years spent accumulating. Fewer restrictions on the conventions that are permitted compared to club tourneys. Easy to find opponents for practice in bidding and playing. You will meet bridge players from every country and time zone. Flexibility when to play (24/7), and choice of opponent skill level.

Choice of individual, pairs, or team competitions. Fun to watch famous bridge stars play 'live' as well as well-known personalities such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett (who used to appear regularly on OKBridge in set games) There are also a number of disadvantages:. Inability to decide on bidding convention ahead of time when partners are strangers. A reduced social element. Players may leave before a hand finishes, or in the middle of a planned session, either intentionally or because of connection difficulties.

Tournaments are usually shorter online. A common length is 12 boards (deals). Online services support many simultaneous tournaments. When you finish one tournament, another will start soon. Some online services like BBO have apps for and. Film Bridge has appeared in the following films,.

Card games related to bridge. e.g., if North is the dealer, they make a call, then the auction continues with East, South, West, and so on. e.g., if player A bids 2 ♥ and player B, their partner, raises to 4 ♥ and that becomes the final contract, then player A becomes declarer. e.g., if the declaring side makes a contract of 4NT and takes exactly ten tricks, fulfilling the contract (6 + 4), they receive 40 points for the first odd trick, and 90 (30 × 3) points for the remaining odd tricks, adding up to 130 contract points.

If the contract was doubled or redoubled, the declaring side receives 260 and 520 points respectively. Additional bonuses may apply depending on the variation played: for example, in duplicate bridge, the declaring side is awarded a game bonus for receiving 100 or more contract points, which is 500 if vulnerable, for a total of 630 points (500 + 130); or 300 if not vulnerable, for a total of 430 points (300 + 130). Citations. Teach Yourself Books. Hodder and Stoughton., page 1.

In face-to-face games, a convenient table size is from 32 to 40 inches (80 to 100 centimeters) square or a round table allowing each player to reach to the center of the table during the play of the cards. In online computer play, players from anywhere in the world sit at a virtual table. Retrieved 29 March 2016. The New York Times.

Retrieved 29 March 2016. The terms deal, hand and board may be used interchangeably in bridge literature. More accurately, a is one player's holding of 13 cards, a is the four hands in one allocation of 52 cards; a is a term more applicable to duplicate bridge and refers to a deal.

Nov 16, 2008 - Enigma also includes a full range of standard skins for a Rainmeter suite, including clocks and calendars that show your personal events; feed readers. Once it is done downloading, go to your downloads folder and right click the file named 'enigma_by_kaelri-d1ptasn' and click 'Install Rainmeter Skin'. Arcs is a futurustic clock and system monitor skin for Rainmeter, frequently used with Enigma. Along with Enigma, Arcs was one of Rainmeter's built-in skins in 2009. A legend is included in the skin package, as well as a variant with darker colors. One of the big changes is Enigma now uses WOEIDs for the Weather and World clock skins, rather than the old Weather.com location codes. ('Icon Right' variants are excluded from this behavior, so that right-aligned skins don't move around by themselves.). Download Enigma 4 Beta 2. GitHub deviantArt. Enigma is a full-featured “suite” for Rainmeter, a desktop customization platform for Windows PCs. It has been downloaded over 1 million times alone, and over 2 million times bundled with the Rainmeter app, which chose Enigma as its default theme in 2009. It has been featured by Lifehacker, Windows. Enigma rainmeter skin free download.

Bridge for Dummies, 2nd Edition. Wiley Publishing, Inc., page 11. Retrieved 29 March 2016. ^, Law 44, pp. ^, Law 3, pp., pp. 632–636., Law 72(a), pp., Law 19, p., Law 18, p. ^, Law 22, p. ^, Law 81, pp.

37–39. ^, Law 41, p. 19., p. 134. ^, Law 8, pp., Law 6, pp. 136: 'The ACBL Board of Directors authorizes tournament organizers in ACBL sanctioned events to use bidding boxes.'

., Law 80, pp., Law 6B & 6E, pp., Law 7B & 7C, p., pp. 135–136., Law 40, pp., Part I ('Definitions'): Declarer., pp. 136–137., Law 43, p., Law 68–71, p., Law 68–71, p. ^, Law 72–74, pp. ^, Law 77, p. Retrieved 2011-11-05. A cross-referenced listing with additional documentation is also available at the.

for online play. Retrieved 2011-11-05. Depaulis, Thierry; Fuchs, Jac (Sep–Oct 2003). First Steps of Bridge in the West: Collinson's 'Biritch'.

The Playing-Card, Vol. (Elwell 1905 and Benedict 1900). (Melrose 1901). (Foster 1889). Turning Tricks – The rise and fall of contract bridge'. (PDF).

October 2011. See WORLD BRIDGE FEDERATION (WBF).

Bridge Lessons series, Stayman & Transfer (Deal 1), by Andrew Robson. Taken from Andrew Robson Bridge Lessons series, 'Stayman & Transfer', deal 14.

Retrieved 2011-11-05. Retrieved 29 March 2016. ^ Manley et al. Retrieved 29 March 2016.

Bibliography. Bridge for Dummies (3rd ed.).

Francis, Henry G., Editor-in-Chief;; Francis, Dorthy A., Editor, Sixth Edition (2001). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list. Manley, Brent, Editor;; Greenberg-Yarbro, Tracey, Co-Editor; (2011). Horn Lake, MS: American Contract Bridge League.

CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list. (2016). Gibson, Walter B. Hoyle's Modern Encyclopedia of Card Games: Rules of All the Basic Games and Popular Variations.: Dolphin Books. Further reading.

Contract Bridge When this page was first written (in late 1995), there was already a fair amount of Bridge-related information on the Internet, but most of it was aimed at people who already knew how to play. This page was produced to fill the gap by explaining how Bridge is played. The explanation is intended for people who have some experience of cards and card games, but no knowledge of Bridge. In the following years, several other sites with information of use to Bridge beginners appeared.

Some of these appear among the at the end of this page. Types of Bridge Contract Bridge was invented in the 1920's and in the following decades it was popularised especially in the USA by Ely Culbertson. Bridge currently occupies a position of great prestige, and is more comprehensively organised than any other card game. There are clubs, tournaments and championships throughout the world.

Is the basic form of Contract Bridge, played by four players. Informal social Bridge games are often played this way, and Rubber Bridge is also played in clubs for money. Is the game normally played in clubs, tournaments and matches. The game is basically the same but the luck element is reduced by having the same deals replayed by different sets of players.

At least eight players are required for this. There are some significant differences in the scoring. Two types of Duplicate Bridge will be covered:. is a version of Bridge played by four people over four deals. Contract Bridge developed in the 1920's from Auction Bridge, which is different mainly in the scoring. In Auction Bridge, overtricks count towards making game, so it is only necessary to bid high enough to win the contract - there is no incentive to bid all the tricks you can make. Before Auction Bridge there was Bridge-Whist or Straight Bridge (at the time this game was just called Bridge).

Here is a link to the, which appeared in 1886 under the name Biritch or Russian Whist. In Bridge-Whist there is no bidding at all - the dealer either names a trump suit or passes, in which case the dealer's partner must choose trumps. In either case the dealer's partner is dummy. Either opponent may double before the lead to the first trick, and if doubled, the dealer's side may redouble. In the earliest form of the game, after any redouble, the other side can redouble again, and this can continue indefinitely.

The duplicate format, in which the same cards are played at more than one table, has been in use since the 19th century for competitions in Auction Bridge, Straight Bridge, their ancestor, and several other four-player card games, as well as for Contract Bridge from its invention to the present day. Rubber Bridge Players and Cards There are four players in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit facing each other. It is traditional to refer to the players according to their position at the table as North, East, South and West, so North and South are partners playing against East and West.

The game is played clockwise. A standard 52 card pack is used. The cards in each suit rank from highest to lowest: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. Deal The cards are shuffled by the player to dealer's left and cut by the player to dealer's right. The dealer deals out all the cards one at a time so that each player has 13. Turn to deal rotates clockwise. It is traditional to use two packs of cards.

During each deal, the dealer's partner shuffles the other pack and places it to the right. The dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from the left and pass them across to the right to be cut.

Provided all the players understand and operate it, this procedure saves time and helps to remember whose turn it is to deal, as the spare pack of cards is always to the left of the next dealer. Bidding There is next an auction to decide who will be the declarer. A bid specifies a number of tricks and a trump suit (or that there will be no trumps). The side which bids highest will try to win at least that number of tricks bid, with the specified suit as trumps. When bidding, the number which is said actually represents the number of tricks in excess of six which the partnership undertakes to win. For example a bid of 'two hearts' represents a contract to win at least 8 tricks (8 = 6 + 2) with hearts as trumps. For the purpose of bidding the possible trump suits rank as follows: no trumps (highest), spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs (lowest).

A bid of a larger number of tricks always beats a bid of a smaller number, and if the number of tricks bid are equal, the higher suit beats the lower. The lowest bid allowed is 'one club' (to win at least 7 tricks with clubs as trumps), and the highest is 'seven no trumps' (to win all 13 tricks without trumps).

In North America, the term for contracts played without a trump suit is 'notrump' or 'no trump' (without an 's'). It is also possible, during the auction, to 'double' a bid by the other side or to 'redouble' the opponents' double. Doubling and redoubling essentially increase the score for the bid contract if won and the penalties if lost. If someone then bids higher, any previous doubles and redoubles are cancelled.

Note that doubling does not affect the ranking of a bid - for example a bid of two spades is always higher than two hearts, even if the two hearts bid has been doubled or redoubled. The dealer begins the auction, and the turn to speak passes clockwise.

At each turn a player may either:. make a bid, which must be higher than the previous bid if any;. say 'double', if the previous bid was by an opponent, and has not already been doubled;. say 'redouble', if the previous bid was by one's own side and has been doubled by an opponent, but not yet redoubled;. pass, by saying 'no bid' or 'pass'. This indicates that the player does not wish to bid, double or redouble at that turn, but a player who has passed is still allowed to bid, double or redouble at a later turn. Either 'no bid' or 'pass' is permissible, but you should stick to one term or the other.

'No bid' is usual in Britain; 'pass' is usual in the USA. If all four players pass on their first turn to speak the hand is said to be passed out. The cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals. If anyone bids, then the auction continues until there are three passes in succession, and then stops. After three consecutive passes, the last bid becomes the contract. The team who made the final bid will now try to make the contract. The first player of this team who mentioned the denomination (suit or no trumps) of the contract becomes the declarer.

The declarer's partner is known as the dummy. Example of an auction (North dealt): North East South West pass 1 heart double 3 hearts 3 spades pass 4 spades pass pass pass North-South will try to win at least 10 tricks with spades as trumps; North, who mentioned spades first, is the declarer. South's double of one heart was cancelled by West's bid of 3 hearts. The Play The player to the left of the declarer leads to the first trick and may play any card. Immediately after this opening lead, the dummy's cards are exposed. The dummy should arrange them neatly in suits, the cards of each suit arranged in rank order in an overlapping column, pointing towards the declarer, so that all the cards are clearly visible.

The trump suit if any should be to dummy's right (declarer's left); in the diagram, spades are trump. Play proceeds clockwise. Each of the other three players in turn must if possible play a card of the same suit that the leader played. A player with no card of the suit led may play any card. A trick consists of four cards, one from each player, and is won by the highest trump in it, or if no trumps were played by the highest card of the suit led.

The winner of a trick leads to the next, and may lead any card. Each trick is gathered together and turned face down when complete, but you may ask to see the cards and ask who played which card until you or your partner has played to the next trick. The tricks won are to be arranged neatly in front of one member of the winning side, so that they can easily be counted. Dummy takes no active part in the play of the hand. Whenever it is dummy's turn to play, the declarer must say which of dummy's cards is to be played, and dummy plays the card as instructed (provided that it is legal). Dummy is not permitted to offer any advice or comment on the play. When dummy wins a trick, the declarer specifies which card dummy should lead to the next trick.

If when calling for a card the declarer specifies the suit only, dummy is to play the lowest card of that suit. It is also legal, and not unusual, for the declarer to play dummy's cards by physically taking them from dummy's hand rather than just calling for them. This allows the dummy player to leave the table during the play of the hand. Scoring As its name suggests, Rubber Bridge is played in rubbers. A rubber is the best of three games. A game is won by the first team to score 100 or more points for successful contracts, over several deals if necessary. A side which has already won one game towards the current rubber is said to be vulnerable.

A side which has not yet won a game is not vulnerable. A side which is vulnerable is subject to higher bonuses and penalties than one that is not. The score is kept on a piece of paper divided into two columns headed WE and THEY, for the two teams, with a horizontal line part-way down (see ). Scores for successful contracts are entered below the line, and count towards winning a game. Other scores, such as bonuses for tricks made in excess of the contract ( overtricks), or penalties for tricks short of the contract ( undertricks) are entered above the line, and do not count towards winning the game. Score for making the contract For a successful contract, the score below the line for each trick (in excess of 6) bid and made is as follows:.

If trumps are Clubs or Diamonds, 20 per trick. If trumps are Hearts or Spades, 30 per trick.

If there are No Trumps, 40 for the first trick, and 30 for each subsequent trick. If the contract was doubled the above scores are doubled. If it was doubled and redoubled, they are multiplied by 4. In addition, the declarer's side scores an extra 50 points above the line if they succeed in a doubled contract. This is sometimes known as '50 for the insult'. For making a redoubled contract the bonus is 100 above the line. Because of the difference in score, clubs and diamonds are called the minor suits and hearts and spades are the major suits.

Slam bonus A contract to make 12 tricks is known as a small slam. A contract to make all 13 tricks is called a grand slam.

For bidding and making a slam, declarer's side get an extra bonus above the line, depending on their vulnerability, as follows: Slam bonus small slam grand slam not vulnerable 500 1000 vulnerable 750 1500 Score for overtricks If the declarer's side wins more tricks than were bid, and were not doubled, then in addition to the score below the line for the contract, they score for the overtricks above the line at the same rate as for bid tricks - i.e. 20 per trick if a minor suit was trumps; 30 per trick in a major suit or no trumps. If the contract was doubled or redoubled, the bonus for overtricks does not depend on the trump suit, but does depend on whether the declarer's side was vulnerable as follows: Score per overtrick doubled redoubled not vulnerable 100 200 vulnerable 200 400 Penalty for undertricks If the declarer's side win fewer tricks than they bid, neither side scores anything below the line, but the declarer's opponents score above the line. This score depends on the declarer's side's vulnerability, and whether the contract was doubled or redoubled, as follows: Undertrick penalty: not vulnerable vulnerable Not doubled - each undertrick: 50 100 Doubled - first undertrick: 100 200 Doubled - 2nd and 3rd undertrick: 200 each 300 each Doubled - subsequent undertricks: 300 each 300 each Redoubled undertricks cost twice as much as doubled undertricks. Honours The top five trumps (A K Q J 10) are called honours. If one player holds all five of these cards, that player's side scores a bonus of 150 above the line. Four honours in one hand score 100.

If there are no trumps, and a player holds four aces, that player's side scores 150 for honours. Scores for honours are to be claimed at the end of the play (it is assumed that the players will remember what they held). As there is no skill in scoring for honours, players often agree to play without the honour bonuses. Game and Rubber A side that accumulates 100 points or more below the line has won a game. A new line is drawn under the scores. Anything the opponents had below the line does not count towards the next game - they start from zero again. It is important to notice that, starting from zero and in the absence of doubles, to make a game in one hand you need to succeed in a contract of at least three no trumps, four spades, four hearts, five clubs or five diamonds.

The side which first wins two games wins the rubber. For this they get a bonus of 700 if they won it two games to zero, or 500 if it was two games to one. Both sides' scores are then totalled and if the game is being played for money, the side with the higher score wins an amount proportional to the difference in scores from the side with the lower score. If play ends for any reason with a rubber unfinished, then a side with a game gets a bonus of 300 points, and a side with a part score (i.e. A score below the line towards an uncompleted game) gets a bonus of 100. Example of Rubber Bridge scoring The scoresheet of a completed rubber might look like the example below. (The letters in brackets indicate successive deals as described in the corresponding footnotes - they would not appear on the scoresheet.) WE THEY 500 (f) 50 (f) 100 (f) 200 (e) 500 (i) 300 (b) 30 (g) 60 (a) 30 (c).