The object of bridge is to score points. A game is won by the first team to score 100 or more points. Rubber Bridge is played as a series of rubbers: a set of best-of-three games.
Players form two two-player teams, known as partnerships. Each partnership plays across the table from one another. If the four seats are labelled North, South, East, and West (arranged like the compass directions) then North-South is one team, and East-West is the other team. For each hand, one player is the dealer. That player deals out all 52 cards (no jokers) to the 4 players: 13 cards each. Then there is an auction, followed by the play. The play and auction together determine who earns points and how many; then the deal passes to the left and the next hand begins.
Each bid must be higher than any previous bid, which means it must either name a higher number than the previous bid or it must name the same number and a higher-ranking suit. From highest to lowest, suits rank as follows: no trump, spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs. The lowest possible bid is therefore "one club," followed by "one diamond," "one heart," "one spade," "one no trump," "two clubs," "two diamonds," and so on, up to "seven no trump."
A bid is an undertaking by a partnership to take a certain number of tricks with the designated suit as trump--or, in the case of no trump, without any suit being trump. (Tricks and trumps are explained in "The Play.") A bid of one promises to take seven tricks; a bid of two promises to take eight tricks, and so on. Just add six to the bid, and that's how many tricks the bid is promising to take.
There are two other legal bids: "double" and "redouble." A player may only say "double" if the last bid (other than pass) was made by a member of the opposing partnership. A player may only "redouble" if the last bid (other than pass) was a double by one of the opposing players.
When three players in a row have passed, the final bid becomes known as the "contract." If the final bid is "two hearts," for example, the partnership who bid it has contracted to take at least eight tricks with hearts as trump. If they are successful, the partnership earns points (see "Scoring"); if unsuccessful, the other partnership earns points, known as "penalties." If the final bid was "double," rewards and penalties increase (sometimes by more than double); if it was "redouble," they increase even more.
The exception to this is that if the first three players pass, the fourth gets a chance to bid before the auction is over. If all four players pass, no contract is reached and the hand is "thrown in." - neither team scores any points, and the next hand is started.
After the contract has been decided, the partners who bid it take on two different roles: declarer, who plays the hand, and dummy--who, after the opening lead, exposes his hand to the other three players and takes no further active part in the play (though dummy may play cards as directed by declarer, and also has some limited rights, such as to remind partner to follow suit). The player who was first to bid the suit of the final contract is the declarer; this is not necessarily the player who made the final bid. For example, if South opens the bidding with one heart, West passes, North bids two hearts, and East, South, and West all pass, the declarer will be South--because South was the first to bid hearts--even though North made the final bid of two hearts.
After the lead (the first card of a trick), play progresses clockwise around the table. When it is a particular hand's turn to play, that hand must play a card in the suit of the lead, if they have one. Otherwise, they may play any card. The hand that wins the trick is the one that plays the highest trump card in that trick, or the one that plays the highest card of the same suit as the lead (if no trumps are played). Whichever hand wins a trick must make the lead for the next trick.
Once all 13 tricks are played, the players count how many tricks were won by each partnership. If the declarer's team wins enough tricks, they make their contract; otherwise the opposing team (the defenders) set them.
A scoresheet for rubber bridge has two columns--one for each partnership--and a horizontal rule running across the middle, known as "the line."
A partnership that bids and makes a contract earns trick points, which are entered below the line, for each level bid. Minor suit tricks are worth 20 points each, and major suit and no trump tricks are 30 points each, except that the first no trump trick is worth 40 points instead of 30. Bidding and making two hearts, for example, earns 60 points below the line.
If a player makes more tricks than he or she bid, extra points--earned at the same per trick value--are entered above the line. A player who bids two hearts but makes three (takes nine tricks) earns 60 points below the line and 30 points above the line.
When additional points are earned below the line, they are added below previously earned points. When additional points are earned above the line, they are added above previously earned points.
When a team earns 100 or more points below the line, it wins a game. To indicate this, a new horizontal line is drawn below the points that were below the line. A game can be earned in a single deal by bidding and making at least 3 no trump, 4 hearts or spades, or 5 clubs or diamonds; or it can be earned by accumulating smaller numbers of points below the line over a period of two or more deals. A score of fewer than 100 points below the line is known as a "part score" or "partial."
If a partnership bids and makes a contract that was doubled, all points earned below the line on that hand are doubled. If the contract was doubled and redoubled, the points below the line are quadrupled. Making a bid of one spade doubled and redoubled, therefore, is worth 120 points below the line and wins a game.
A team that has won a game in the rubber is said to be "vulnerable"; a team that has not yet won a game in the rubber is "not vulnerable." Vulnerability affects the size of penalties for failing to make a contract, as well as the value of certain bonuses that may be earned.
, but you are definitely violating the rules of the bidding system and should be prepared for your partner to be upset about it.
Next: Lesson 2: The Very Basics of Bidding