Difference between revisions of "Bridge"

Revision as of 14:35, 5 September 2009

Bridge is a trick-taking card game for two pairs of players played with a standard 52-card deck. The game has two phases: the auction, in which the partnerships bid in a structured manner trying to determine how many tricks they will be able to take; and cardplay, in which the auction-winning partnership attempts to make tricks against their opponents' defense. Although both portions of gameplay are equally difficult to perform well, the auction is more unique to the game and therefore harder to learn based on skill transfer from other games.

While bridge is stereotyped as a game primarily for old people, among its younger players there is a disproportionate number of mathematics and computer science majors.

Interested players should blanche themselves onto floorpi-notrump@mit.edu.

Gameplay

Objectives

Success in bridge requires partnerships to not only take a majority of the tricks, but also to correctly estimate the number of tricks they will take before actually playing their hands through. Points are awarded based on whether players successfully made their contract (the result of the auction), and by how much they were in excess (or in shortage).

In rubber bridge, partnerships are scored against the partnerships at their table; that is, your opponents are the people sitting right in front of you. In duplicate bridge, which is more commonly played in tournaments, a large number of partnerships will play the same hands, and the goal is to perform better on a given hand than the players sitting in the same positions as your partnership at other tables.

The Auction

Objective: During the auction, partnerships communicate to determine what contract they should be in.

Language: Auctions are held in a very limited language -- there are five bidding suits (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, and No-Trump, in increasing order), and seven levels (numbered 1 through 7). A normal bid is composed of a level and a suit, for example "1C" or "3NT". A player may also pass, double, or redouble.

Constraints: If a normal bid is made, it must be higher than the previous normal bid; that is, at a higher level, or at the same level in a higher suit. A player may double if the last normal bid was made by the opposing partnership; a player may redouble if the last non-pass bid was a double made by the opposing partnership.

Termination: The auction ends after three players pass consecutively; the final contract is the last normal bid, with double or redouble attached if relevant. Within the partnership that bid the contract, the first person to have made a bid in the contract's suit is the declarer (even if his partner later rebid the same suit at a higher level).

Semantics: A contract at the N level in suit S requires the winning partnership to make at least 6+N tricks during cardplay, with trump suit S. Bids generally have meaning to the partnership beyond setting this requirement, as they serve as communication between partners. For example, in our Floor Pi convention, an opening bid of 1S indicates that the bidder is holding at least 5 Spades, and a certain number of the deck's face cards. Bids can be artificial; for example, an opening bid of 2C indicates a strong holding of the deck's face cards, but says nothing about the bidder's club holdings.

Cardplay

Once the contract is decided, cardplay begins with a lead from the player seated to the left of the declarer. Then the declarer's partner, the dummy, lays his hand face up on the table so that the other three players can see it. Play progresses clockwise with each player contributing a card in turn to a set of four, with the declarer playing both his hand and the dummy's. Each set of four is a trick; each trick is won by the person who played the highest card, and this person leads into the next trick.

Players must follow the leader's suit if possible. If they are not able, they may discard a non-trump, or play a card of the trump suit if it exists. Trump cards are higher than cards of any other suit. Note that it is the leader of the trick that must be followed; one cannot trump even after the previous player has unless one also lacks the leader's suit.

Terminology

A single deal of the cards, and the play that follows, is called a board. The partnerships are said to sit North-South and East-West.

To win a trick by trumping is to ruff. To pass control back and forth between the hands of a partnership by exploiting complementary empty suits is to cross-ruff. Should an opponent play into a suit in which both you and your partner are empty, you may win the trick with a trump and discard a losing card from the other hand; this is called ruff and slough.

To fail to follow suit when you could have is to renege.

The face cards are honors, and this includes the Ace. Depending on the situation, the Ten may also be referred to as an honor.

An empty suit in a hand is a void. Similarly, a single card is a singleton, and two cards are a doubleton. These are examples of shortness in a suit; the opposite is length, which refers to having at least five cards in a suit. Strength refers to a significant holding of honors; its opposite is weakness.

A hand with no length or shortness is balanced.

Standard Floorpi Conventions

Mindfuck Variants