Mini Bridge Rules
Bridge is a card game played with a deck of 52 cards. The object of the game is for partners to win as many "tricks" as possible during the play of the hand. The game of Bridge is based on some simple rules, but playing the game well can take a lifetime to learn.
A decks of cards has 52 cards. There are two colors and four designs (called suits). The four suits are called: clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades. In Bridge the cards are ordered from the lowest card, the deuce or "two" to the highest card, the ace. Each suit has 13 cards.
In Bridge, there are four players in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit facing each other. It is traditional to refer to the players according to their geographic 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. Determine which player is sitting in each geographic location – north, south, east or west in the room.
Using one of the decks, the person in the "north" position to spreads all cards of this deck face down on the table. Each player will then draw a card in order to determine the person to deal the cards (the dealer). The person with the highest card in the highest suit (suits rank from lowest to highest alphabetically: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades) wins the deal. The person to the left of the dealer shuffles the cards and then passes them to the dealer who then passes them to the opponent on his/her right. This player will cut for the dealer (lifting a portion of the deck and placing it in front of the dealer who then places the bottom potion of the deck and places it on top). The dealer deals all the cards face down, in clockwise rotation one at a time, until each player at the table has a hand consisting of 13 cards. No player should touch his/her cards until the dealer has finished dealing the last card.
After the play of each hand is completed, the deal moves around the table clockwise so that each person has a turn to deal the cards. It is traditional to use two packs of cards during a game. During each deal, the dealer's partner shuffles the other pack and places it to his/her right. The dealer for the next hand then simply needs to pick up the cards from the left and passes them across to the right to be cut. Provided all the players understand and use it, this procedure saves time and works as a reminder of whose turn it is to deal, because the spare pack of cards is always to the left of the next dealer.
Once all cards have been dealt, the players pick up the cards and arrange the cards into their hand. Cards are arranged into the players' hand by suit. It is easier to play the hand if cards are arranged red, black, red, black. Many beginning players like to arrange their cards in descending order (with the highest card to the left, by suit, in their hand) so that during the play of the hand keeping track of the cards is easier.
Remember, the object of Bridge is to win tricks for your side. The first card played to each trick is called the lead.
After the lead, the next three players must play the same suit as the lead. For instance, if a spade is led and your hand contains any spades, you must play one of them (any spade you choose). If you have no spades, you may play any other card. When everyone in the group has played a card, the trick is complete. The rules for determining the winner of a trick are:
- If a trick contains no trump card, it is won by the highest card of the suit led.
- If a trick contains a trump card, the highest trump played wins it.
- After each trick, one player of the side that wins it should collect the cards and arrange them neatly so the number of tricks won can be counted easily. Play continues this way for all 13 tricks.
Counting Points
In Bridge, cards are valued from the lowest card, a two or deuce, to the highest card, an ace. The four high cards (A, K, Q, J) have values when counting points. In counting cards for Bridge, the players use the following values:
The entire deck of cards has 40 high card points. So, with four players, an "average" individual hand would hold 10 "high card" points.
To determine who is in control of each hand or the "declarer," players count the points in their hand and starting with the dealer, each player announces the number of points in their hand, going around the group in a clockwise direction. (The total of all four hands should be 40. If not, you should recount.)
The partnership with the most total points is in control and the player with the most points in that partnership becomes the "declarer," while his/her partner's hand is the "dummy hand." (If both sides have 20 points, the dealer collects the cards and deals again. If both partners have the same number of points, the partner who announced their points first is the declarer.)
The dummy hand is displayed face up on the table for all to see. The player who held it does not participate in the play. The declarer must play both the dummy and his own hand, each in proper turn.
The dummy hand should be laid on the table neatly, separated into suits. The cards in each suit should be in order of rank and overlapped, with the rank of each card clearly visible. If there is a trump suit, it is placed on dummy's right (viewed by declarer, trumps are on the left). In this example, spades are trump.
Dummy Hand
The declarer decides the contract - which suit will be trump or no trump, and the number of tricks he/she will take. Trump suit is the one in which the partners hold the greatest number of cards. This would usually be eight or more cards of the same suit between the two hands. If there are less than eight cards of the same suit, the declarer will determine that there is No Trump for this hand. No Trump means that the first card played in each trick becomes trump for that trick. The object is to take at least half the tricks (13 possible tricks, half of which is 6 1/2, and rounds up to seven tricks). Six tricks is called "book" and the declarer only earns points after he/she has taken six tricks or book.)
Next the declarer decides the number of tricks he/she expects to win. This is stated as the number of tricks over "book," or over six. So the declarer would state, "Trump is hearts and I will take 2 tricks." which indicates book plus an additional 2, or eight tricks total.