Contract bridge, usually known simply as Bridge, is a trick-taking card game for four players who form two partnerships, or "sides". The partners on each side sit opposite one another. Game play is in two phases: bidding and playing.
Dealing
The game is played with one complete deck of 52 cards; one player is the dealer.
In rubber bridge, after the shuffle, the dealer hands out all the cards clockwise one at a time, starting with his left-hand opponent and ending with himself. At the same time, for convenience, the dealer's partner is usually shuffling a second deck, ready for use on the following deal. The deal rotates clockwise, so the dealer's left-hand opponent will deal next.
In duplicate, one player is designated as "dealer" on each particular board, but this is only for purposes of the auction and does not affect the actual dealing. The cards may be manually shuffled and dealt as in rubber bridge, but by any player; if this is done, it happens only once at the start of a session or match. Where computer-dealt hands are used, dealing machines (which may read either the standard markings, or bar codes added to each card) may be used to assemble the hands ready to be placed in the boards. It is also common for the movement to be arranged so that none of the players play all the boards; then at the start of play, each one may be given to players who will not play it, together with a printed record of the deal, and they assemble the hands.
The auction
The dealer makes the first call, and the bidding continues clockwise until three players in rotation have passed after any call. A call is any bid, a pass, a double or a redouble. (However, the word "bid" is often used informally in place of "call".)
When a player has the turn to bid, he may do any one of the following:
- Make a new bid,
- Pass,
- Double if the last preceding bid was made by the opponents, or
- Redouble a bid that has been doubled by the opponent.
A bid must include a number of odd tricks (from one to seven) and a denomination. Odd tricks are the tricks that a partnership proposes to take in excess of six (known as book). A denomination is any suit or notrump specified in a bid.
Each bid must supersede the last preceding bid by naming a greater number of tricks in any denomination, or by naming the same number of tricks in a higher ranking denomination. The rank of the denominations in descending order is notrump, spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs.
The auction ends when there have been three passes following a bid (or double or redouble). The last bid becomes the contract. The player in the partnership that made this final bid who first bid the denomination of that bid (suit or notrump) will be the declarer.
When, in a deal, all four players have passed without there being a bid, the deal is scored as a zero and the cards are passed on to the next dealer.
The play of the hand
The player from the pair that won the bidding (that is, the pair that is going to play the contract), who was the first to make a bid in the suit of the final contract (who is thus either the player bidding the final contract or his partner), is called the declarer. His partner is called the dummy.
Play to the first trick starts with the player to the left of the declarer. After the first card has been played, the dummy lays his cards open on the table. These cards are from then on played by the declarer, who tells the dummy which card is to be played whenever it is the dummy's turn to play on a trick.
Apart from this, the play is just like other trick-taking games - the player who took the previous trick leads to the next one (if the declarer took the trick in dummy, he has to play from dummy on the next trick, if he took the trick in his own hand, he has to play from his own hand). Whether there is a trump suit, and if so, which suit it is, has been decided during bidding.
During the play, each player must follow suit--that is, play the same suit as that led. If a player cannot follow suit (has no more cards of the suit led), he may discard a card of another suit, or, in a suit contract, play a trump. Trumping is optional. Failure to follow suit can result in penalties for a 'revoke.' The player who contributes the highest card from the lead suit wins, except that if any player plays a trump, the highest trump card wins.