Alrewas Bridge Club How to Play Bridge An introductory course for beginners By Charles Elliott MBA
Alrewas Bridge Club We meet every Tuesday At 2pm for Beginners and Improvers And every Mondays at 2pm for advanced players And Every Wednesdays and Fridays at 2pm for Advanced and Intermediate Players For further information please visit our website at www.alrewasbridgeclub.co.uk Revised January 2015
Introduction Welcome to Alrewas Bridge Club. This book is intended to give you an introductory overall picture of the wonderful intricacies of the great game of bridge. It is often described as the prince of all card games. It might seem a little complicated at first sight, but don t worry, your fellow members are here to help and after only few visits to the club you will soon be getting the hang of it. Enjoy! PLAY MINI-BRIDGE Perhaps the easiest way to learn how to play Bridge is to start with the very simplest form, namely Mini-Bridge. You can learn this in just a few minutes. Introduction to Bridge - Mini-bridge The game of Mini-bridge is played with a standard pack of 52 playing cards with the jokers removed. There are four players, who sit round a table and are usually identified by the points of the compass: North, South, East and West. They play as two partnerships, North-South and East-West. Partners can be agreed or designated, or the cards can be cut to determine who plays with whom.
If you are cutting for partners then the two players with the highest cards will play together. The person drawing the highest card can have choice of seat. Mini-bridge is a trick-taking game. One player starts by leading or playing the first card to a trick. Each player in turn clockwise contributes one card to each trick and the highest card played wins the trick. Aces are high, followed in order by the king, queen, jack, ten, nine and so on down to the two, the lowest card in each suit. There are four suits of these 13 cards: The difference between major and minor suits will become important when we learn about the scoring Spades and Hearts (the major suits) Diamonds and Clubs (the minor suits) When playing to a trick, each player must follow suit with a card of the suit led if possible. Otherwise they may discard any card they like, but a discard cannot win the trick, however high the card chosen. The winner of a trick makes the lead to the next trick. Deals may be played in no trumps or with a trump suit one which is more powerful than the others. Say spades are trumps then any spade beats any card in the other three suits. Players must still follow suit to each trick if they can, but when unable to follow, instead of discarding, a trump may be played which will win the trick (unless another player plays a bigger trump card to the trick). The main feature of Mini-bridge that distinguishes it from whist and other similar trick-taking games is the existence of a declarer who decides the contract that is, the choice of trump suit and a target number of tricks to be won by the partnership. The contract must always be for at least 7 of the 13 tricks available, but a higher target
can be set, known as a game contract, for which the declaring side scores more if it is made. Initially the target number of tricks will be determined by the points held. 1 - Shuffle and deal The pack should be shuffled and cut for dealer (highest deals). Dealer deals out the cards clockwise one by one to the players, so that they have 13 cards each. Dealer for the second game will be the next player clockwise and so on. Please note that many teachers will provide you with pre-dealt hands in bridge boards. 2 - Sorting the hand The players sort the cards in their own Hand into suits and into sequence within Each suit, without showing the cards to the other players. 3 - Counting points The value of the hand is worked out by counting up the high card points held, using the following scale: Ace = 4 points King = 3 points Queen = 2 points Jack = 1 point Note that there are 40 points altogether between the four hands in each deal. 4 - Announcing points Beginning with the dealer, and then in clockwise order, each player announces how many points his or her hand contains. The partnership
with the most points becomes the declaring side who decide the contract. The other pair are the defending side, who try to prevent the contract being made by making tricks themselves. There is a re-deal if the point distribution between the partnerships turns out to be 20:20. 5 - The declaring side The player with the higher number of points in the declaring side becomes declarer, and his partner becomes dummy. If they both have the same number of points, the player who announced points first is declarer. Dummy then lays his or her hand down face up on the table to face declarer, with the suits arranged in columns (see the following diagram). 6 - Deciding the trump suit Declarer may choose no trumps or a trump suit. If declarer chooses a trump contract, the cards in dummy in the chosen suit are moved to be on the dummy s right hand side (the left hand end as declarer looks at them).
7 Declarer s Target Declarer will attempt as a minimum to take a target number of tricks based on the points that his side holds: Combined points No trumps Declarer s tricks target Suit contract 1-22 7 8 23-24 8 9 25-27 9 10 28-32 10 11 33-36 12 12 37+ 13 13 The points held give an indication of the tricks that might be achieved. Note that this is only a guide the point count will be most accurate in no trump contracts, where the hands are often fairly balanced, although this can vary if the defenders manage to establish tricks in their long suit. In general, the possession of a trump suit will result in the hands making about one trick more than if there were none. This will become important when we move on to bridge (as opposed to minibridge) and consider the scoring table. 8 - Play begins The player on declarer s left plays the first card, i.e. makes the opening lead. Play is in clockwise order and players must follow to the suit led whenever possible. The highest card played wins the trick (unless, in a suit contract, it is beaten by a trump, since trumps
outrank the other three suits). If several rounds of a suit are played and a player runs out of cards in that suit, he or she may discard a card from another suit (which cannot win the trick), or in a trump contractcan choose to play a trump (which will win the trick unless it is beaten by a higher trump). 9 - Taking tricks Each card is played face up in front of each player in such a way that everyone can see the cards clearly. When a trick is complete, the cards are turned over, players placing the quitted cards from their own hands face down on the table in front of themselves in a neat row. To make it easy to see how many tricks have been won or lost, cards in tricks won are placed upright, and cards in tricks lost are placed sideways on. The winner of the first trick leads to the second and so on. 10 - Dummy play Declarer controls the play of dummy s cards, telling partner which card to play when it s dummy s turn. Declarer s partner must always play dummy s cards as instructed, and must keep the cards already played from dummy in correct order and formation. Otherwise dummy takes no part in the play of this particular deal. 11 - Play ends When all the cards have been played, the tricks for each side are counted and agreed, and the result is calculated and scored. Players record their score on a score sheet. The session can end when an agreed target total has been reached by one side, or after a set number of deals has been played.
12 - The next deal The position of dealer moves clockwise round the table for each game. It is a good idea to have two packs of cards available, so that the second pack can be shuffled by the dealer s partner while the first is being dealt. Before starting dealing the next set of hands these cards should be cut by the player on the new dealer s right. Rubber Bridge Rules Rubber Bridge (and Contract Bridge which we will be discussing later) is merely an advanced form of Minbridge. 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. 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 on that round, but a player who has passed is still allowed to bid, double or redouble at a later turn. NB. 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 sample). 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 totaled 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) 200 500 (e) (i) 300 30 (g) (b) 60 (a) 30 (c) The Line 60 (a) 100 (c) End of Game 360 90 (d) (f) End of Game 60 (h) 40 (g) 90 (i) End of Rubber (a) we bid 2 hearts and made 10 tricks - 60 below the line for the contract and 60 above for the overtricks
(b) they bid 4 spades, we doubled them, and they took only 8 tricks - we score 100 for their first undertrick and 200 for the second. (c) they bid 3 no trumps and made 10 tricks. This gives them a game (100 below the line) plus 30 above the line for their overtrick. A new line is ruled below the scores to indicate the start of a new game. (d) they bid and made 3 spades (e) they bid two diamonds and made 6 tricks - they are now vulnerable so we score 100 for each undertrick. (f) we bid 6 hearts; they doubled us, but we won all 13 tricks. We score 360 (180 x 2) below the line for our doubled contract, giving us a game; 100 above for our doubled non-vulnerable overtrick; 50 above for making a doubled contract; and 500 bonus for a small slam bid and made. (g) they bid one no trump and took 8 tricks; note that their 90 on deal (d) was part of the previous game, so the 40 below does not give them a game. (h) we bid 3 clubs and made exactly 9 tricks. (i) they bid 3 hearts and took exactly 9 tricks giving their second game and the rubber, for a bonus of 500 (two games to one). Adding up the scores, we have 1690 and they have 880. Therefore we have won by 810 points (even though they won the rubber). In this example the "above the line" scores were entered starting immediately above the line and working upwards. This is traditional, at least in Britain, but not necessary - you can start at the top, just below the WE-THEY headings, and work downwards if you prefer. There is a Contract Bridge Scoring Card at the back of this book.
DUPLICATE BRIDGE How to Play Bridge Duplicate Bridge, the system we generally play at Alrewas Bridge Club, is only slightly different to Contract Bridge. In rubber bridge, although the better players have a noticable edge and will undoubtedly win in the long run, the outcome of a single rubber depends heavily on which side is dealt the better cards. The idea of duplicate bridge is to eliminate this element of luck, by having the same hands played more than once, by different sets of players. Suppose we are partners and play a hand of duplicate bridge as North- South. Instead of being rewarded for our absolute score on that hand, our score is compared with those of other players who played the same deal as North-South against other opponents. We win if we score better than other players managed with our cards, and lose if we score worse. For this comparison to be fair, it is necessary that each group of players who play the same deal should start from the same position. Therefore it is not practicable to play rubbers, where the scores carried forward from deal to deal affect the tactical situation. Instead, each deal is scored in its own right, and does not affect the scores for subsequent ones. The concept of vulnerability is retained, but on each deal the vulnerability is preassigned. Boards An almost essential piece of apparatus for playing duplicate bridge is a set of duplicate boards, and a pack of cards for each board. Each board contains four pockets marked North, East, South and West in which the cards for the four players are stored. Each board also carries a number to identify it, and has marks showing which of the players is dealer and whether each team is vulnerable or not. Before the boards are played the cards are shuffled, dealt and placed in the pockets, by a neutral person or by a player in the presence at least one opponent.
When about to play a board, the players take their cards from the appropriate pockets, check to see that they have 13 each, and then bid as usual. The mark on the board showing the 'dealer' in practice just indicates which player is to begin the bidding. The opening lead is always made face down, as explained above, to give the leader's partner an opportunity to ask questions about the bidding before the led card is shown. During the play, the cards are not played in the centre of the table but in front of the players. At the end of each trick, all four players turn their played card face down. The cards played by each player are overlapped, with the longer axis of the card pointing to the winners of the trick (i.e. the cards belonging to tricks you have won are placed upright from your point of view, and the ones belonging to lost tricks sideways). That way you can easily see how many tricks you have won. Also, if the cards are kept in order, any dispute about revokes or tricks won or lost can be settled by reconstructing the play. At the end of the play, each player's cards are gathered up and replaced in the correct pocket, ready for the next time the board is to be played. When this method of play is used, dummy is expected to remain at the table if at all possible, and declarer then always calls dummy's cards rather than pulling them from the dummy. You may ask to look at the cards played to a trick by the other players as long as your own card is face up. Once you have turned your card face down, you no longer have the right to see any of the other cards played to that trick. (Unless you are dummy, you are still allowed to peek at your own played card, without exposing it, until the lead is made to the next trick.) Scoring Each board is marked to show whether both sides, one side or neither side is vulnerable for that board. You still need to score at least 100 points for tricks bid and made to make a game, but on each board, both sides start with zero points towards games - there are no 'part scores' carried forward. In place of the rubber bonus, there are game and part score bonuses: Making a game when vulnerable: 500 points
Making a game when not vulnerable: 300 points Making a part score any time: 50 points The rest of the scores are the same as in rubber bridge, except that there are no bonuses for honours in duplicate bridge. BRIDGEMATES Fortunately, although it is good know how the scoring system works, in our case all the scoring is done via our BridgeMates wireless system. All we (generally the players sitting at North table) have to do is to enter the contract and the result and the system displays the scores on the computer. MODERN ACOL (Standard English) There are several methods of bidding. Acol is the most used and there are versions of Acol. Modern Acol is the system we use at Alrewas Bridge Club. Many years ago, I was called in to help with a problem. Apparently there were a team of four aspiring rowers, who for some odd reason, although there were all fit, strong, young and healthy, trained hard every day they just couldn t win any rowing races. Within minutes I discovered the reason for their lack of success. One of them was sitting the wrong way round! Once corrected their fame became legendary. However apocryphal, this story illustrates the need for all of us to be paddling in the same direction or, in our case, to be all playing the same system, particularly so as we generally draw for partners at the beginning of each playing session. Experience players are expected to play this system, particularly when playing with newer members.
Bidding: Standard English (Acol) How to Play Bridge Bidding between partners is an exchange of information. Using a very restricted vocabulary, each player in turn tries to describe his hand. The objective is to provide enough information so that one player can make the decision: what suit (if any) should be trumps, and how many tricks should we attempt to take. Initially we will consider the bidding as a dialogue between the pair with the majority of the high-card strength; this is frequently the case. However, there are times when the values are more evenly distributed between the pairs, and both sides are then involved in the bidding phase. For now we will ignore this possibility; it will be easier to consider bidding as a partnership exercise before thinking about how things change when both pairs are bidding. The most important considerations when evaluating your hand for an opening bid are the high-card strength and the shape of the hand. An opening bid generally requires 12 or more points. Opening the bidding: balanced hands A balanced hand means: no singleton or void not more than 1 doubleton no 6-card or longer suit With 12-14 points (Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1) and a balanced hand with no 5-card major suit: open 1 No Trump With 20-22 points and a balanced hand, open with a bid of 2NT With an exceptional hand of 23+ points you will start with an artificial opening bid of 2 - see below.
With a balanced hand of 15-19 points, you do not initially bid no trumps. You will bid No Trumps later; start with a bid in a suit. Responding to 1NT with a balanced hand: (See Chart 4 at end of book) Opening with a suit bid open your longest suit with two 5-card suits, open the higher-ranking with two 4-card suits open the higher-ranking. Exception: with Spades and Hearts open 1 with three 4-card suits, open the middle of 3 in a row, or the suit below the gap With a hand of exceptional strength, where you do not want partner to pass even with a very weak hand, there is the option of opening with a strong bid of 2 of your long suit or, exceptionally, 2 (artificial and strong) see below. Responding to an opening bid of 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 Raising partner s suit with less than 6 points 6-9 points pass raise to the 2-level
10-12 points 13+ points raise to the 3-level raise to the 4-level (in a major) Responding in No Trumps 1 No Trumps 6-9 points (denies a suit that can be bid at the 1-level or support for partner s major suit) 2 No Trumps 10-12 points, balanced hand 3 No Trumps 13-15 points, balanced hand Responding in a new suit a response in a new suit to an opening bid of 1 of a suit is forcing: partner cannot pass respond in your longest suit with two 5-card suits, respond in the higher-ranking. You will then bid the other suit if practical to give partner a choice. with two or three 4-card suits, make the most economical response bid your own suit before supporting partner s minor suit do not bid in a new suit at the 2-level with less than 9 points
remember that, if you lack the strength to respond at the 2-level, you may instead respond 1NT (this need not show a balanced hand) a jump shift response in a new suit shows 16+ points and is forcing to game raising partner s major suit is a priority do not raise partner s minor suit if there is an alternative, such as responding in a suit at the 1-level. Opener s second bid (1) With a weak hand Pass if partner has made a non-forcing bid (i.e. a raise of your suit or a no trump response) support partner s major suit with 4-card support rebid in a new suit at the 1-level rebid in a lower-ranking suit at the 2-level (N.B. the safety level ) rebid your first suit at the lowest level with at least 5 cards (2) With a strong hand Jump raise partner s major suit (promises at least 4-card support) Jump rebid your own long (6-card +) suit Jump in a new suit forcing to game
Bid a new suit at the 2-level above the safety level a reverse, showing a strong hand. This is forcing if partner responded in a suit at the 2-level. (3) With a balanced hand rebid in No Trumps to show a balanced hand (but prefer to bid a major suit if you can) rebid No Trumps at the lowest level with 15-16 points rebid No Trumps with a jump with 17-18 points rebid 3NT with 19 points Strong Opening Bids Some hands are very powerful. With this type of hand you would normally open the bidding at the 2-level. An opening bid of 2, 2 and 2 show a hand worth about 8 playing tricks in the suit bid, or possibly a strong two-suited hand with similar strength. The idea is that if you were to open with a bid of one of a suit partner may pass and you may miss game (or even a slam!). The bid is forcing for one round (i.e. partner must respond). Normal requirements to open 2, 2 and 2 : 8 Playing Tricks
Responses: 2NT is the Negative Response. It denies the ability to make any other response. Having given a negative response, responder may pass on the next round if opener makes a simple rebid of the suit that he opened or bids a second suit without a jump. Positive Responses (at least!). Any positive response is forcing to game A single raise (e.g. 2-3 ) promises a fit and an ace. The hand may have little more than those minimum requirements or it may be a strong hand, when responder will explore for slam. A double raise (e.g. 2-4 ) shows trump support with, strictly speaking, two second-round controls (Kings or singletons) but denies an Ace (with an Ace, responder would make the stronger single raise, leaving more room to explore for a slam). A single raise is stronger than a double raise. Note: it is now common practice to make the double raise on any hand with support for partner and some values but lacking an ace; the old requirement for two second-round controls tends to be ignored. A response in a new suit (e.g. 2-3 ) shows a good 5-card or longer suit and 7+ points. Lacking these basic requirements, begin with an alternative response (perhaps even a negative 2NT, and then show signs of life later in the auction). Do not respond in a bad suit. A jump to 3NT (e.g. 2-3NT) indicates a balanced hand with 10-12 points A jump in a new suit (e.g. 2-4 ) promises a solid suit (AKQxxx at least)
The 2NT opening bid This shows a balanced hand with 20-22 points. It is not forcing, but responder needs only 4+ points to know that the values for game are probably there. Responses: a bid of 3 or 3 shows a 5-card suit and asks opener to choose between game in no trumps (with only two cards in responder s suit) or game in the major (i.e. 4 or 4 ). Acol 2 Opening Bid The artificial opening bid of 2 shows a super strong hand with either 23+ points in a balanced hand (i.e. too strong to open with an Acol 2NT bid) or a hand that is too strong even to open with a strong, forcing bid of two of a suit. Responding to a 2 Opening Negative Response: The response with less than 7 points is an artificial bid of 2. The opener rebids naturally, showing his long suit or bidding NT on a balanced hand. The opening bid of 2 is forcing to game * * Exception to the rule: there is only one situation where the opening bid of 2 is not forcing to game. If, after a 2 negative response, opener rebids 2NT, he is showing a balanced 23-24 points. With absolutely no values, responder may pass this 2NT rebid. However, with as little as 2 or 3 points he should bid again, responding to the 2NT rebid in a similar manner to the way in which he would respond to a 2NT opening bid (i.e Stayman, 3 and 3 forcing). Remember how strong the opening hand is before you take the decision to pass the 2NT rebid.
N.B. if opener, after 2-2, makes any rebid other than 2NT, the responder must keep the bidding open until game (at least) is reached. Positive responses to a 2 opening: 2, 2, 3, 3 7+ points and a 5-card suit, or a 4-card suit headed by the A or K 2NT 3NT balanced 7-9 points balanced 10-12 points Overcalls and Responses OVERCALLS In this section we will be highlighting 3 types of overcalls. Simple Overcall This is usually a weak bid with as little as 8-12 points but is ideal in disrupting communication between your opponents and also informing your partner that you hold a good 5 card suit. For the purposes of illustration we will assume that the opponent on your right has opened 1 Club. You hold a good 5 card suit in Spades but with only 8-12 points. How should you bid? Suit Quality Test To enable you to bid correctly you should firstly apply the suit quality test. Simply count the length of your long suit, in this case spades, and add the number of honour cards in that suit. The total is the strength of your suit quality. If the total is 7 then you can make and overcall of 1 Spade. If the total is 8 then you can make an overcall of 2 Spades and so on.
Jump Overcall For a sound jump overcall you would need to have a 6 card suit together with a suit quality of 8+ and an opening hand of 12+ points. 1 NT Overcall 15-18 points with a balanced hand and a stopper in opponent s suit. RESPONSES TO OVERCALLS Remember that your partner has overcalled on what is probably a weak hand, with only one good suit, and with the intention of obstructing your opponents. Therefore, the majority of responses to his overcall should also be barrages. However, there are responses available. Supporting Partner This is the bid your partner wants to hear most of all, because it means that you are cooperating with the idea of using up your opponents bidding space. All bids supporting partners overcall are weak. To determine your bid the deciding factor is the number of trumps that you hold. Assuming that your partner holds a five card suit for his overcall, you should raise your partners overcall to the same number of tricks that you have trumps between you. So, if you think you have a total of eight trumps between you, you should raise partner to 8 tricks (the two level). If you think you have nine trumps, raise to nine tricks (the three level), and so on. So, in a barrage situation, it is the number of trumps you hold and the distribution of your hand that is important, not your points.
RESPONDING WITH A STRONG HAND What about when the responder has a genuinely good hand? Obviously, you can t just support partner and hope he understands. You must make a different bid and the easiest is the so-called "unassuming cue bid". This is a complicated sounding bid but actually just involves calling the opponents suit at the lowest available level. What the bid means is that you think that you and your partner hold the majority of the points and that there might be a game contract in the offing by your side. In other words, whereas supporting your partner is crying wolf to make life difficult for your opponents, this bid is saying that you genuinely think your side holds the majority of the values and that there may be a possibility of bidding to game.
Contract Bridge (Rubber) Scoring Contracts N.T. 1 20 30 40 2 40 60 70 3 60 90 100 4 80 120 130 5 100 150 160 6 120 180 190 7 140 210 220 Slams Not Vul Vul Small 500 750 Grand 1000 1500 Rubbers Three Games 500 Two Games 700 Unfinished Rubbers Game 300 Part Score 50 Overtricks per overtrick Not Vul Vul Not Doubled trick value Doubled 100 200 Redoubled 200 400 Undertricks Not Doubled Doubled Not Vul Vul Not Vul Vul 1 50 100 100 200 2 100 200 300 500 3 150 300 500 800 4 200 400 800 1100 5 250 500 1100 1400 6 300 600 1400 1700 7 350 700 1700 2000 Other Bonuses 4 trump honours in one hand 100 5 trump honours in one hand 150 4 aces in one hand (N.T.) 150 Making a doubled Contract 50 Making a redoubled Contract 100
Golden Rule: Stayman with four, bid the suit with more How to Play Bridge Professional Bridge Tuition 2010 Modern Acol (Standard English) Responding to 1NT (Chart 4) Do I have a weak hand (less than 11 points)? No Do I have a 6-card major suit? No Do I have a 5-card major suit? No Do I have a 4-card major suit? Yes Yes Yes Yes No Do I have a 5-card (+) suit? Yes No Pass Bid 4 / 4 Bid 3 / 3 asking partner to choose 3NT or 4 / 4 Bid 2 Stayman Bid 3NT (13+ pts) or invite game with 2NT (11-12) Is it a 6-card or longer club suit? Yes No Am I 5-4 in the majors? Yes No No Have we found a 4-4 major suit fit? Bid 2 (Stayman) but then bid 3 to play Bid 2 of your long suit (asking partner to pass) Weak with 5-4 in the majors: bid 2 Stayman, pass a response of 2 /2, bid the 5-card major over 2 The Exception to the Golden Rule Yes Bid 4 / 4 (13+ pts) or invite game with 3 / 3 (11-12)