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Contract bridge



Main article: Play techniques (bridge)

Terence Reese, a prolific author of bridge books, points out that there are only four ways of taking a trick by force, two of which are very easy:

  • playing a high card that no one else can beat
  • trumping an opponent's high card
  • establishing long suits (the last cards in a suit will take tricks if the opponents don't have the suit and are unable to trump)
  • playing for the opponents' high cards to be in a particular position (if their ace is to the left of your king, your king may be able to take a trick)

Nearly all trick-taking techniques in bridge can be reduced to one of these four methods.

The optimum play of the cards can require much thought and experience, and is too complicated to describe in a short article. However, below are some of the common techniques.

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Techniques by declarer

  • establishing long suits
  • finessing
  • when not to finesse
  • the holdup (mostly at NT contracts)
  • timing
  • unblocking
  • blocking
  • managing entries
  • trumping
  • the crossruff
  • when to draw trumps (how many rounds to draw)
  • when not to draw trumps
    • ruffing losers
    • discarding a quick loser
    • complete crossruff

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Advanced techniques by declarer

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Techniques by defenders

Defense is commonly seen as much harder then playing as a declarer mainly because the defenders have less information than the declarers. It starts from an opening lead. The opening lead can often determine the number of tricks the defenders can win. It's so important that the common opening lead conventions are usually included in the convention card (bridge). Below are the most commonly used conventions:

  • Which card to lead in a suit
    • the higher card from a doubleton to show count, create ruff opportunity, and avoid blocking (with or without honors)
    • the top card from a three-card sequence with honor(s) to cash and possibly establish the suit (strong enough to do so)
    • the smallest one or the fourth-highest card in a suit with honor to encourage return and help establish the suite (both suit and notrump contracts)
    • A or K from a suit led by AK for suit and notrump contracts (depending on conventions)
    • one card from a three-card suit without honor in suit and notrump contracts (depending on conventions)
  • Which suit to lead
    • singleton/doubleton for ruff in the second/third round
    • longest and strongest in notrump contracts
    • partner's bid suit
    • trump suit
  • Aggressive or passive leads

After the opening lead, the most important technique is Signal (bridge). There are three types of signals: attitude signals, count signals, and suit preference signals. Among them, the attitude signals are most frequently used. As its name shows, signaling is to disclose one defender's card information to the other defender (and the declarer as well).

Since the defenders usually have access to less information, communication is more crucial in defense. As seen above, both opening lead and signals disclose valuable information to help communicate. Other techniques for better communication include unblocking (bridge), overtaking (bridge), ducking (bridge), etc.

Generally, it's more effective for a beginner to learn play as a declarer before play as a defender since techniques for defenders are related to the declarer techniques, which are easier to understand.

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Example

For definition of terms used in the example, see Contract bridge glossary.
♠ J 3
♥ J 8 7 4
♦ A 10 7 6 5
♣ Q 3
♠ K Q 8 7 2

N

W         E

S

 ♠ 10 9 5 4
♥ A 2 ♥ 9 6
♦ J 4 2 ♦ K Q 9
♣ 10 7 2 ♣ K 9 6 4
♠ A 6
♥ K Q 10 5 3
♦ 8 3
♣ A J 8 5

The cards are dealt as in the diagram, and North is the dealer. As neither North nor East have sufficient strength to open the bidding, they each pass, denying such strength. South, next in turn, opens with the bid of 1♥, which denotes a reasonable heart suit (at least 4 or 5 cards long, depending on the system) and at least 12 high card points. West overcalls with 1♠, North supports partner's suit with 2♥, and East supports spades with 2♠. South inserts a game try of 3♣, inviting the partner to bid the game of 4♥ with good club support and overall values, and North complies, as North has extra values in the form of the ♦A, a fourth trump (the previous bid promised only three), and the doubleton queen of clubs to fit with partner's strength there. (North could instead have bid 3♥, indicating not enough strength for game.) The bidding was:

West North East South
Pass Pass 1♥
1♠ 2♥ 2♠ 3♣
Pass 4♥ Pass Pass
Pass

In the auction, North-South are trying to investigate whether their cards are sufficient to make a game (ten tricks in hearts or spades, 11 tricks in clubs or diamonds), which yields bonus points if bid and made. East-West are competing in spades, hoping to play a contract in spades at a low level. 4♥ is the final contract, 10 tricks being required for N-S to make with hearts as trump.

South is the declarer, having been first to bid hearts, and the player to South's left, West, has to choose the first card in the play, known as the opening lead. West chooses the spade king because spades is the suit the partnership has shown strength in, and because they have agreed that when they hold two touching honors (or adjacent honors) they will play the higher one first. West plays the card face down, to give their partner and the declarer (but not dummy) a chance to ask any last questions about the bidding or to object if they believe West is not the correct hand to lead. After that, North's cards are laid on the table and North becomes dummy, as both the North and South hands will be controlled by the declarer. West turns the lead card face up, and the declarer studies the two hands to make a plan for the play. The bottom line is, since the trump ace, a spade, and a diamond trick must be lost, a trick must not be lost in clubs.

Tactically, if the ♣K is held by West, South will find it very hard to prevent it making a trick. However, there is an almost-equal chance that it is held by East, in which case it can be 'trapped' against the ace, and will be beaten, using a strategy known as a finesse.

After considering the cards, the declarer directs dummy (North) to play a small spade. East plays low (small card) and South takes the ♠A, gaining the lead. South proceeds by drawing trump, leading the ♥K. West decides there is no benefit to holding back, and winning with the ace, cashes the ♠Q. For fear of a ruff and discard, West plays a diamond instead of another spade. Declarer ducks (plays low) from the table, and East scores the ♦Q. Not having anything better to do, East returns the remaining trump, taken in South's hand. The trumps now accounted for, South can now execute the finesse, perhaps trapping the king as planned. South enters the dummy (i.e. wins in the dummy's hand) by leading a low diamond, using dummy's ♦A to win the trick, and leads the ♣Q from dummy to the next trick. East covers the queen with the king, and South takes the trick with the Ace, and proceeds by cashing the remaining master ♣J. (If East doesn't play the king, then South will play a low club from South's hand and the queen will win anyway, this being the essence of the finesse). The game is now safe: South ruffs a small club with a dummy's trump, then ruffs a diamond in hand for an entry back, and ruffs the last club in dummy (sometimes described as a crossruff). Finally, South claims the remaining tricks by showing his or her hand, as it now contains only high trumps and there's no need to play the hand out to prove they are all winners.

(The trick-by-trick notation used above can be also expressed in tabular form, but a textual explanation is usually preferred in practice, for reader's convenience. Plays of small cards or discards are often omitted from such a description, unless they were important for the outcome).

North-South score the required 10 tricks, and their opponents take the remaining 3. The contract is fulfilled, and North enters +620 for the winning side (North-South are in charge of bookkeeping in duplicate tournaments) on the traveling sheet. All players return their own cards to the board, and the next deal is played.

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Bridge on the Internet

There are several free and some subscription-based servers available for playing bridge on the Internet. OKbridge is the oldest of the still-running Internet Bridge services; players of all standards, from beginners to world champions may be found playing there. OKbridge is a subscription based club, so it offers premium services such as customer support and ethics reviews. SWAN Games is a more recent competitor. Bridge Base Online is the most populated online bridge club in the world, in part because it is free to play regular games thereon. The above online clubs offer various features such as options to earn ACBL masterpoints, play in online tournaments, compile lists of friends, purchase software to improve Bridge skills, and earn money playing Bridge. On Bridge Base Online there is also a Vugraph feature where important international events are shown for anyone interested to watch.

Some national contract bridge organizations that now offer online bridge play to their members include the English Bridge Union, the Dutch Bridge Union and the Australian Bridge Federation. MSN and Yahoo! Games have several online rubber bridge rooms. In 2001, World Bridge Federation issued a special edition of the lawbook adapted for internet and other electronic forms of the game.

Advantages of playing bridge online are:

  • Flexible choice of when to play.
  • Choice of opponent skill level.
  • Player rating system that attempts to measure ability without regard to the number of games played or the number of years spent accumulating masterpoints.
  • Fewer restrictions on the conventions that are permitted.
  • Unauthorised information cannot be passed by tone of voice or body language.
  • Detailed records can be kept, to help resolve complaints.
  • The software prevents plays and calls that are against the laws.

Disadvantages are:

  • Inability to decide on bidding convention ahead of time, because partners are (usually) strangers.
  • A reduced social element.
  • Increased opportunities to cheat via external communication.
  • Players may leave before a hand finishes, or in the middle of a planned session, either intentionally or because of connection difficulties.

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Computer bridge

After many years of little progress, at the end of the twentieth century computer bridge made big strides forward. In 1996, the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) initiated official World Championships Computer Bridge, to be held annually along with a major bridge event. The first Computer Bridge Championship took place in 1997 at the North American Bridge Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Strong bridge playing programs such as Jack (World Champion computer bridge 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006) and Wbridge5 (World Champion computer bridge 2005 and 2007) would probably rank among the top few thousand human pairs worldwide. A series of articles published in 2005 and 2006 in the Dutch bridge magazine IMP describes matches between Jack and seven top Dutch pairs. A total of 196 boards were played. Overall, the program Jack lost, but by a small margin (359 versus 385 imps).

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Notable bridge people

Creators and early inventors, in the first half of the 20th century:

Influential players and theorists in the second half of the 20th century:

Modern world-top experts:

Notable people who play bridge:

Bridge players in fiction:

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Definitions of common terms

Main article: Contract bridge glossary

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References

  1. ^ (Elwell 1905 and Benedict 1900)
  2. ^ (Melrose 1901)
  3. ^ (Foster 1889)
  4. ^ (Bergholt 1915)
  5. ^ Review of the Olympic programme and the recommendations on the programme of the games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008; page 8 (2002-08).
  6. ^ Bridge Lessons series, Stayman & Transfer (Deal 1), by Andrew Robson
  7. ^ Taken from Andrew Robson Bridge Lessons series, "Stayman & Transfer", deal 14

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History of bridge

  • Foster's Whist Manual by R.F. Foster. London, Frederick Warne and Co. with Mudie and Sons. (4th ed, 1899)
  • The Bridge Manual by "John Doe" (George Cavendish Benedict). London, Mudie and Sons. (1900)
  • Bridge Whist by C.J. Melrose. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons. (1901)
  • Elwell's Advanced Bridge by J.B. Elwell. London, George Newnes. (5th ed., 1905)
  • Bridge and Auction Bridge by "Valet de Pique". London, Eveleigh Nash. (1912)
  • Royal Auction Bridge by Ernest Bergholt. London, George Routledge & Sons. (1915?)
  • The Mad World of Bridge by Jack Olsen. New York, Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (1960)
  • The Walk of the Oysters by Rex Mackey, London, W.H.Allen, 1964.
  • Bridge Is My Game by Jack Olsen with Charles Goren. New York, Doubleday. (1965)

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General reading

  • "Turning Tricks" by David Owen. The New Yorker, September 17, 2007 pp.90-93.
  • "Card Play Technique or the Art of Being Lucky" by Victor Mollo and Nico Gardener
  • "Teach Yourself Bridge" by David Bird. Hodder's

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External links




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