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Bridge Bidding - Standard American Yellow Card

Nicolae Sfetcu

Published by Nicolae Sfetcu

Second Edition

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Contract Bridge

Game type: trick-taking game
Players: 4
Skills required: Memory, tactics, probability, communication
Cards: 52
Deck: French
Play: Clockwise
Card rank: (highest to lowest) A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Playing time: WBF tournament games = 7.5 minutes per deal
Random chance: Low to moderate depending on variant played
Related games: Whist, Auction bridge

Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table. For purposes of scoring and reference, each player is identified by one of the points of the compass and thus North and South play against East and West. The game consists of several deals each progressing through four phases: dealing the cards, the auction (also referred to as bidding), playing the hand, and scoring the results. Dealing the cards and scoring the results are procedural activities while the auction and playing the hand are the two actively competitive phases of the game.

While the game involves skill and chance, it has many variants and event types designed to emphasize skill, vary the method of scoring, set limits on the nature of the bidding systems which may be used, set the pace and duration of play, define player eligibility, enable larger team composition, provide country representation in international play, and to group players of similar interests, skill levels, age, or gender, or combinations thereof. The most common game variants are rubber bridge and duplicate bridge. In rubber bridge, two partnerships participate in the game at one table and the objective is to score the most points in the play of several hands. In duplicate bridge, there are more tables and partnerships and the hands are dealt and played in such a manner that each partnership plays the same set of hands as their East-West or North-South counterparts and with the scoring based upon relative performance. Competitions in duplicate bridge range from small clubs with a handful of tables, to large tournaments such as the World Bridge Championships where hundreds of tables play the same hands. The game variant and associated method of scoring have significant influence on bidding and card play strategies.

Game play

A session of bridge consists of a number of deals (also called hands or boards). A hand is dealt (or may have been pre-dealt), the bidding (or auction) proceeds to a conclusion and then the hand is played. Finally, the hand's result is scored.

The goal of a single deal is to achieve a high score with the cards dealt. The score for the hand is affected by two principal factors: the contract (number of tricks bid in the auction, the denomination, and which side has bid it) and the number of tricks taken during play. It may also be affected by the vulnerability. The contract, a feature which distinguishes contract bridge from its predecessors, is an undertaking made during the auction by one partnership that they will take at least the stated number of tricks, either with a specified suit as trumps, or without trumps (notrumps). The contract has two components: level and strain (also called denomination).

There are seven levels, numbered 1-7, and the number of tricks required is six plus the level number, so may be anywhere between 7 and 13. The five strains are ranked, from lowest to highest, as clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), spades (♠), and notrump (NT). The two lower-ranked suits (♣ and ♦) are called the minor suits (or minors), and the higher-ranked suits (♥ and ♠) are called majors. Minor suit contracts score less, so are less frequently chosen.

For instance, the contract "3 hearts" is a promise that the partnership will take nine tricks (six plus three) with hearts as the trump suit. Thus, there are 7 × 5 = 35 possible basic contracts; 1♣ being the lowest, followed by 1♦ etc., up to 7NT.

In the bidding stage or auction, the pairs compete to determine who proposes the highest-ranked contract, and the side that wins the bidding must then strive in the play of the hand to fulfil that bargain by winning at least the contracted number of tricks if it is to obtain a score. Broadly speaking, there is an incentive to bid accurately to the optimum contract and then to play to make the contracted number of tricks (or more if good play or luck allows). If the side that wins the auction (declaring side) then takes the contracted number of tricks (or more), it is said to have made the contract and is awarded a score; otherwise, the contract is said to be defeated or set and points are awarded

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.04.2018

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