ͺ©¨§ Mini Bridge   ͺ©¨§

Players choose or are told their position at the bridge table, partners always sitting opposite each other.

                                        West – North – East -  South

in a clockwise direction.

North sits opposite South                      and                                East opposite West.

 

A dealer is nominated and the cards are dealt singly face down into 4 piles.

Each player receives on pile of cards and sorts them into suits normally with spades ͺ hearts ©diamonds¨ and clubs § in that order, and in order of magnitude. Aces are high and 2s are the lowest.

 

Each player counts their High Card Points allowing 4 for an Ace – 3 for a King – 2 for a Queen and 1 for a Jack.      Players announce how many HC Points they have.

 

The partnership with the most points becomes the declaring side and the one with fewer points become the defending side.

 

The player in the declaring side who has the most points becomes the Declarer and the one with fewer points in that partnership becomes the Dummy.

 

Dummy spreads his/her cards face up on the table and Declarer decides on how many tricks can be made and if there is to be a Trump suit or if the play will be No Trumps.

 

The total points between these two hands divided by 3 (with one added for luck) will be the number of tricks available. Decide if you have the magic 8 card fit in a suit, when you can add some points for your distribution (3 for a void – 2 for a singleton – one for a doubleton – and one extra point for every card more than 4 in a suit held in each hand.

 

The number of tricks aimed for must be more than 6, as the first 6 (called the book) don’t count towards the score.

Refer to the number of tricks needed for Game in any suit or in No Trumps and decide whether you are trying for a part score or for a game. (There are extra score points for declaring and making a game.)

 

Once the Contract is announced – Part score in Hearts maybe, the person on the left of the declarer leads out a card and declarer plans the play. There are rules you will learn about which card from which suit is the best to lead. This is done to help the partnership on the defending side guess what cards their partner holds and helps in their quest to defeat declarers contract. Normally second hand plays low and 4th hand plays high.

 

Clubs or Diamonds need 11 tricks for Game. Spades or Hearts need 10 and No Trumps need only 9.   Abbreviated to C – D – H – S - NTs

 

At the end of the play of the hand

the contract and the result is entered on your personal score card.                     EAJ