How does Bridge work?

 

Bridge is a partnership game for four people deriving from the much older game of whist. It uses a standard pack of 52 cards in four suits, 13 of which are randomly dealt to each player in each deal.

 

The objective is for each partnership to win as many tricks as possible, each trick comprising one card from each of the four hands dealt. Tricks can be won by high cards - aces are high, followed by the other honour cards: king, queen and jack and then the 10 down to the 2 - or by trumps, cards of a designated suit which always outrank cards in any other suit.

 

Each deal consists of two distinct stages - the bidding and the play of the cards to the tricks. During the bidding the trump suit is decided and a target number of tricks is set, which must be won before any points can be scored for the side winning the contract.

 

That makes bridge different from whist is that there is a dummy - one of the four hands which is placed face up for all to see during the card-playing stage. This is always the hand which partners the declarer - the player who has won the auction and contracted to take a particular number of tricks - always more than half the total of 13 available. The other two players form the defenders, whose aim is to prevent the contract being made.

 

The bidding is conducted in a special bridge language where the words are the same all over the world, but the meanings given to the bids made can vary enormously. Much of the skill at this stage is in making sure you and your partner 'talk the same language' - that you mean the same things by your bids. There's plenty of scope for misunderstandings here and bridge players have been known to be quite vociferous in arguing for their own interpretation!

 

The card play stage requires all kinds of skills - planning, counting, reasoning, working out probabilities and often a bit of cunning and deception as well. Again there's a need for teamwork - the defending side has to pull together if it is to do well.

 

When a player first looks at his hand, he needs to assess how good it is - how likely is it to take lots of tricks in conjunction with partner's hand? Obviously, the honour cards are important, so we assign a value to each of them: four points for an ace, three for a king, two for a queen and one for a jack.

 

Obviously, the honour cards are important, so we assign a value to each of them: four points for an ace, three for a king, two for a queen and one for a jack.

 

This same method of valuation is used in MiniBridge as well – the simplified form of the game, which is generally taught as an introduction to bridge. The total points in a hand give a pretty good idea of its strength, though possession of a long suit – five or six or more cards in one suit – can also be very useful, especially if you can contrive for that suit to be trumps.

Isn't it really just a gambling game though, based on the luck of the cards?

 

Absolutely not. There is some luck in any one deal, though over a period of time this should even out. But there is a form of the game - duplicate bridge - which eliminates the luck element completely.

 

Tihis is because the same deals are played by different partnerships - the hands are duplicated to allow this, which sounds rather complicated to organise but actually isn't at all. So you are just trying to do better than others holding exactly the same cards - pure skill, in fact, with no element of betting or gambling.

 

Duplicate bridge is not a mere 'game of cards' - it is played at many schools where 'cards' are banned but bridge is encouraged because its educational value is recognised. This is the sort of bridge promoted by the English Bridge Union (EBU), the governing body for duplicate bridge in this country.

 

Puplicate bridge is a real 'sport of the mind', as evidenced by the fact that it has been recognised by the International Olympic Committee as a demonstration sport, the first step towards its inclusion in the Olympic Games. It is as keenly contested as any sport with national, European and World Championships. There are open, women's, mixed and junior events and we are proud that teams from this country have been Champions in many of these events in the past and, we hope, will be again in the future!