You’d like to learn bridge? A great idea, you’ll enjoy it!

But there’s a fair bit you need to know before you can play, so here’s a few ideas for how to go about learning.

Join a class – Day and evening classes run in most places across England. Look in your local library for details, or take a look at the EBU learn bridge pagesSet up a bridge group at your school or university – the EBU can help you to do this - just click the links above to find out more and get started!

Study a bridge book – it’s not that easy to learn bridge from a book, but if you have a few basic ideas you can certainly make sure you are on the right track by finding a helpful book. Be warned – lots of books you might find in libraries are very out-of-date and many are based on different bidding systems which most people in this country don’t play. You want an up-to-date book on Acol and we would recommend as a starting point Really Easy Bidding, which is published by the English Bridge Union. It is easy to read and has exercises at the end of each chapter to test your understanding. Try to get your library to order the book for you – the ISBN is 0 9506279 2 5. Or if you’d like your own copy, you can buy it from the EBU Bridge ShopCome to our Junior Teach-In weekend – a great way to start learning. We hold a weekend at the end of the summer holidays each year that caters for bridge enthusiasts of all school ages.

Teach yourself and your friends to play MiniBridge as a starting point - there are lessons and articles, even some MiniBridge Hands all ready for you to play and learn with. Download a Learn Bridge program – not ideal, because the system taught is Standard American rather than Acol, but better than nothing. The American Contract Bridge League website has some good free software at www.acbl.org.