How to Play Bridge: Card Game Rules for Beginners

Learning how to play bridge card game basics is easier than its reputation suggests. Contract bridge is a partnership game for four players: you and your partner bid for the right to name trumps, promise to win a certain number of tricks, and then try to make that promise. This beginner guide covers the deal, the bidding (called the auction), how the dummy works, trick play and the standard scoring, with a scoring table you can keep beside you at the table.

Quick rules

• Four players in two partnerships, partners sitting opposite. Each player gets 13 cards.
• Players bid in turn. A bid names a number of tricks over six and a trump suit or no trumps.
• The highest bid becomes the contract. The player who first named that suit for the winning side is the declarer.
• Declarer's partner lays their hand face up as the dummy, and declarer plays both hands.
• Players must follow suit if they can. The highest trump wins a trick, otherwise the highest card of the suit led.
• Make your contract to score points. Fall short and the opponents score instead.

What you need

• One standard 52-card deck (many players keep a second deck shuffled and ready for the next deal).
• Four players, a square table, a score pad and a pencil.

Setup

1. Partners sit across from each other. Players are known by compass points: North and South play against East and West.
2. Cards rank ace (high) down to 2. Suits rank for bidding only: clubs (lowest), diamonds, hearts, spades, then no trumps (highest).
3. The dealer deals all 52 cards one at a time, clockwise, so each player has 13. The deal passes to the left after each hand.
4. Sort your hand by suit and count your high card points: ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1. With 12 or more points you usually have enough to open the bidding.

How to play bridge

Phase 1: the auction

1. The dealer speaks first, then bidding goes clockwise. On your turn you may pass, bid, double or redouble.
2. A bid is a number from 1 to 7 plus a denomination, such as "2 hearts". The number is tricks above six (the "book"), so 2 hearts promises 8 of the 13 tricks with hearts as trumps.
3. Each bid must be higher than the last: either a higher number, or the same number in a higher-ranking denomination. 1 spade beats 1 heart, and 2 clubs beats 1 no trump.
4. You may double the opponents' last bid, which increases the scoring. Their side may then redouble.
5. The auction ends when a bid, double or redouble is followed by three passes in a row. If all four players pass at the start, the hand is thrown in and the next dealer deals.
6. The final bid is the contract. The declarer is the player on the winning side who first bid that denomination.

Phase 2: the opening lead and dummy

1. The player to declarer's left leads the first card face up.
2. Declarer's partner then spreads their whole hand face up on the table, sorted into suits. This hand is the dummy.
3. Dummy takes no further part. Declarer chooses every card played from both hands.

Phase 3: playing the tricks

1. Play goes clockwise, each player adding one card to the trick.
2. You must follow the suit led if you can. If you cannot, you may play any card, including a trump.
3. The trick is won by the highest trump played, or if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led. In a no trump contract there are no trumps.
4. The winner of each trick leads to the next. When dummy wins, declarer leads from dummy.
5. After 13 tricks, count how many declarer's side won and score the hand.

Bridge card game scoring

A side is "vulnerable" after winning one game in rubber bridge, or as marked on the board in duplicate play. Vulnerable sides earn bigger bonuses and pay bigger penalties. The table shows standard values. Scoring in rubber and duplicate bridge differs mainly in the bonuses, as noted.

A game is 100 or more trick points from contracts bid and made. That means 3 no trumps, 4 hearts, 4 spades, 5 clubs or 5 diamonds. Redoubled undertricks score twice the doubled amounts.

How to win

In rubber bridge, the first side to win two games wins the rubber, and the side with the higher total score (including bonuses) wins overall. In duplicate bridge, each hand is replayed by other tables and you are scored by how well you did compared with them.

Variations

• Chicago (four-deal bridge): a set of four deals with fixed vulnerability, popular in clubs and home games because it ends quickly.
• Honors (rubber bridge): 100 points for holding four of the top five trumps in one hand, 150 for all five, or 150 for all four aces in no trumps.
• Bridge for 2 players: in honeymoon bridge, players take turns drawing and discarding to build a 13-card hand, then bid and play with no dummy.
• Call bridge: the call bridge card game popular in South Asia is a different, simpler game. Each player bids a number of tricks alone, spades are always trumps, and there is no dummy.
• The older game of whist uses the same trick play without the auction, and is a great way to practice.

Tips and strategy

• Learn a simple bidding system with your partner. Most beginners start with opening 1 of a suit with 12 or more points and 1 no trump with 15 to 17 points and a balanced hand.
• Your side together needs about 25 points to bid game and about 33 for a small slam.
• As declarer, pause when dummy comes down. Count your sure winners and plan before playing to the first trick.
• Draw trumps early when you are declarer, so the opponents cannot trump your winners.
• Lead the top of a sequence, such as the king from K-Q-J, to tell your partner what you hold.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting that bids count tricks over six. A bid of 4 spades needs 10 tricks.
• Playing from the wrong hand. Lead from the hand that won the last trick.
• Failing to follow suit. A revoke usually costs one or two tricks to the opponents.
• Dummy giving advice. The dummy player must stay silent about the play.

Enjoy trick-taking games? Try Spades, Euchre or Hearts, and keep score on our scoreboard.