Bridge For Dummies E-Book

Eddie Kantar

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 539

Beschreibung

Bridge, as any player will tell you, is simply the best card gameever. It's challenging--each hand presents a differentset of conditions you must figure out and solve. It's verysocial--you play with a partner and two opponents. And best ofall--it's fun. Bridge For Dummies, 2E gives you a step-by-stepexplanation of the fundamentals of the game in terms you canunderstand. It walks you through the different aspects of bridge,featuring real-life examples, so that you can feel comfortable withthe basics before you ever start to play. And if you're alreadyexperienced at the game, you'll discover a wealth of tips and hintsthat can make you a better player. You'll learn all about: * The basics of nontrump play * How to play the hand in a trump contract * Bidding for fun and profit * Taking advantage of advanced bidding techniques * Playing a strong defense and keeping score * Playing bridge on your computer * Playing in bridge clubs and tournaments * Where to find other great bridge resources This newly revised edition features an expanded section onplaying bridge online, with updated web addresses and otherresources, along with new information on the latest biddingtechniques. For anyone from novice to pro wanting to learn bridgeor learn techniques to improve their game, Bridge For Dummies,2E makes an ideal partner!

Leseprobe

Bridge For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

by Eddie Kantar

Bridge For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2006926377

ISBN-13: 978-0-471-92426-5 Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6

2O/QW/QZ/QW/IN

About the Author

Eddie Kantar, a transplanted Californian, is one of the best-known bridge writers in the world. He has more than 30 bridge books in print, some translated into 8 languages, and is a regular contributor to the Bulletin,The Bridge World,Bridge Today, and many other bridge publications.

Eddie, a two-time World Champion, is highly regarded as a player and known as one of bridge’s great ambassadors.

Eddie learned to play bridge at age 11. By the time he was 17, he was teaching the game to his friends. Eddie was so enthusiastic about bridge that he often took his bridge books to school, hiding them behind his textbooks so that the teachers couldn’t see him reading about bridge during class. At the University of Minnesota, where Eddie studied foreign languages, he taught bridge to pay his tuition.

Eddie gained stature as a player by winning 2 World Championship titles and 11 North American Championships. His North American titles include wins in the Spingold Knockout Teams, the Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams, the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams, and the Grand National Teams. Eddie is a Grand Master in World Bridge Federation rankings and an ACBL Grand Life Master.

Today Eddie is best known as a writer, and many of his books are considered classics. When not playing bridge or writing about the subject, he can be found playing paddle tennis (an offshoot of tennis) or bridge at the paddle tennis courts at Venice Beach (come and join the fun in either game). By the way, Eddie is the only person ever to have played in both a World Bridge Championship and a World Table Tennis Championship (he did better at bridge).

Eddie was inducted into the Bridge Hall of Fame in 1996, the same year he was inducted into the Minnesota State Table Tennis Hall of Fame.

Dedication

I’d like to dedicate this book to my mom and dad, who stuck with me even when all the relatives were telling them that I’d come to no good end being a card player and asking why I didn’t find a “regular” job like everybody else. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Author’s Acknowledgments

I have to start by thanking Joyce Pepple, the acquisitions director, who I convinced that the diagrams in the first edition had to go. She, along with Stacy Kennedy, the acquisitions editor, were instrumental in convincing the powers that be that the diagrams needed more of a “bridge look.”

Second, I would like to thank Georgette Beatty, my project editor. Georgette is an absolute dream to work with. She couldn’t have been more supportive, and her ideas, suggestions, and corrections were spot on each time.

I also had a great copy editor, Krista Hansing, and an equally wonderful technical reviewer, Cyndy Cradick. What a team!

But every team needs a coach and I had the best: my wife, Yvonne. Her patience and understanding of just how far to go in this book saved me headaches and heartaches, not to mention extra work. Just as with the first edition, there would have been no second edition without Yvonne. I kid you not.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Georgette Beatty

(Previous Edition: Mary Goodwin)

Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy

Copy Editor: Krista Hansing

(Previous Edition: Diane L. Giangrossi, Joe Jansen)

Editorial Program Coordinator: Hanna K. Scott

Technical Editor: Cyndy Cradick

Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker

Editorial Assistants: Erin Calligan, Nadine Bell

Cover Photo: © INSADCO Photography/Alamy

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Jennifer Theriot

Layout and Graphics: Barbara Moore,  Heather Ryan, Alicia B. South, Julie Trippetti, Erin Zeltner

Proofreaders: John Greenough, Leeann Harney, Christy Pingleton, Aptara

Indexer: Aptara

Special Help Victoria M. Adang

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies

Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents

Title

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I : Beginning with Basic Notrump Play

Chapter 1: Going to Bridge Boot Camp

Starting a Game with the Right Stuff

Ranking the Cards

Knowing Your Directions

Playing the Game in Phases

Understanding Notrump and Trump Play

Building Your Skills with Clubs, Tournaments, and the Internet

Chapter 2: Counting and Taking Sure Tricks

Counting Sure Tricks after the Dummy Comes Down

Taking Sure Tricks

Chapter 3: Using Winning Trick Techniques at Notrump Play

Establishing Tricks with Lower Honor Cards

Taking Tricks with Small Cards

Chapter 4: Outsmarting Your Opponents at Notrump Play

Slipping Lower Honors Past Higher Honors: The Finesse

Cutting Communications: The Hold-Up Play

Overtaking One Honor with Another

Part II : Playing the Hand in a Trump Contract

Chapter 5: Introducing Trump Suits

Understanding the Basics of Trump Suits

Eliminating Your Opponents’ Trump Cards

Looking at How Trump Suits Can Be Divided

Counting Losers and Extra Winners

Chapter 6: Creating Extra Winners and Discarding Losers

Establishing Extra Winners in the Dummy

Finessing for Extra Winners

Determining How to Make Your Contract with Extra Winners

Chapter 7: Establishing the Dummy’s Long Suit

Turning Small Cards into Winning Tricks

Setting Up a Long Suit with a Finesse

Paying Attention to Long Suits in the Dummy

Making a Grand Slam with Long-Suit Establishment

Chapter 8: Getting Rid of Losers by Using the Dummy’s Trump Cards

Understanding the Concept of Using the Dummy’s Trumps to Your Advantage

Knowing When to Trump in the Short Hand

Saving Enough Trumps in the Dummy When Facing a Counterattack

Steering Clear of Trumping Losers in the Long Hand

Part III : Bidding for Fun and Profit

Chapter 9: Starting with Bidding Basics

Grasping the Importance of Bidding

Surveying the Stages of Bidding

Looking at the Structure and the Rank of a Bid

Settling Who Plays the Hand

Valuing the Strength of Your Hand

Chapter 10: Making a Successful Opening Bid

The Basics of Opening the Bidding

Opening the Bidding with 12 to 20 HCP in Your Hand

Opening the Bidding with 21 or More HCP

Making a Preemptive Opening Bid with 6 to 10 HCP

Chapter 11: Responding to an Opening Bid

Knowing When You Can Respond to an Opening Bid

Responding to a 1' Opening Bid

Responding to a 1l Opening Bid

Responding to a 1k Opening Bid

Responding to a 1; Opening Bid

Responding to a 1NT Opening Bid

Responding with a Jump Shift

Chapter 12: Rebidding by the Opener

Knowing When to Rebid and When to Pass

Rebidding After a One-Over-One Response

Rebidding After a Two-Over-One Response

Rebidding After a Limited Response

Chapter 13: Rebidding by the Responder

Becoming the Captain

Rebidding After Your Limited Response of 1NT

Rebidding After Your Partner Rebids 1NT

Rebidding Notrump After Your Partner Shows Two Suits

Rebidding with Four-Card Support for Your Partner’s Second Suit

Rebidding After Your Partner Repeats Her Suit

Rebidding Your Long Suit

Rebidding After a Two-Over-One Response

Playing the Waiting Game

Part IV : Taking Advantage of Advanced Bidding Techniques

Chapter 14: Creating Interference: Defensive Bidding

Getting Nasty with the Bad Guys: Overcalling

Listen Carefully: Responding to Your Partner’s Overcall

Chapter 15: Double Trouble: Doubling and Redoubling

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: The Penalty Double

Talking Back: Redoubling

Taking a Chance on a Takeout Double

Communicating Length: The Negative Double

Chapter 16: Hitting Hard: Slam Bidding

Getting to Know Your Slams

Bidding Notrump Slams

Bidding Slams at a Trump Contract

Part V : Playing a Strong Defense and Keeping Score

Chapter 17: Defending against Notrump Contracts

Making the Opening Lead against a Notrump Contract

Playing Third Hand against a Notrump Contract

Chapter 18: Defending against Trump Contracts

Opening Leads against a Trump Contract

Third-Hand Play against a Trump Contract

Chapter 19: Playing Second Hand

Playing Second Hand with Vision

Defending with the Dummy on Your Right

Defending with the Dummy on Your Left

Chapter 20: Wrapping Up with Scorekeeping

Knowing What It Takes to Win

Making Your Contract

Charting Your Points

Drawing Lines: The Basics of Scoring a Rubber

Not Making Your Contract: Handling Penalties

Scoring Slams

Scoring Doubled and Redoubled Contracts

Another Option: Playing Chicago

Playing Duplicate Bridge

Part VI : Becoming Addicted to Bridge

Chapter 21: Joining Bridge Clubs and the Tournament World

Connecting with Your Local Bridge Club

Playing in Novice Tournaments

Advancing in the Tournament World

Enjoying the Major Tournaments

Chapter 22: Playing Bridge on Your Computer and the Internet

Learning Bridge from Software Programs

Surfing for Bridge Web Sites

Part VII : The Part of Tens

Chapter 23: Ten Ways to Be Kind to Your Partner

Treat Your Partner Like Your Best Friend

Tolerate Your Partner’s Errors

Keep a Poker Face

Deal Well with Disaster

Play Conventions You Both Want to Play

Pick Up the Slack for the Weaker Player

Own Up to Your Own Errors

Offer Words of Encouragement

Treat Your Partner the Same Whether You Win or Lose

Know When to Have Fun

Chapter 24: Ten Great Bridge Resources (Besides This Book)

The American Contract Bridge League

Your Local Bridge Club

Adult Education Classes

Your Local Library and Bookstore

The Daily Bridge Column in Your Newspaper

Bridge Magazines

The Internet

The Daily Bridge Calendar

Bridge Supply Houses

Bridge Travel

Introduction

Bridge, quite simply, is the best card game ever. No other game even comes close. Of course, I may be a little biased. I’ve been playing since I was 11 years old, when my best friend’s father asked our gambling group, “Why don’t you guys find a good game to play?” What I found was a great game, and I’ve never looked back.

What exactly is it about bridge that fascinates countless millions, has fascinated countless millions, and will continue to fascinate countless millions? Let me count the ways:

Bridge is a social game: You play with a partner and two opponents. Right off the bat, you have four people together. Inevitably, you meet a host of new friends with a strong common bond, the game of bridge. Bridge is not an “I” game — bridge is a “we” game.

Bridge is a challenging game: Each hand is an adventure; each hand presents a unique set of conditions that you react to and solve. You have to do a little thinking. Studies have proven that playing bridge keeps the brain cells active, which is helpful when you get a bit older.

Bridge is a game of psychology: If you fancy yourself a keen observer of human behavior, look no further. You have found your niche. Players aren’t supposed to show any emotion during the play, but the dam always has a few leaks.

Bridge is fun: Hours become minutes! Playing bridge can mean endless hours of pleasure, a host of new friends, and many laughs.

About This Book

If you’re an absolute beginner, this is the book for you. I take you on a hand-held tour explaining the fundamentals in terms you can understand. I walk you through the different aspects of the game, showing you real-life examples, so you can feel comfortable with the basics before you start to play.

If you have played (or tried to play) bridge before, this book still has much to offer you. I condense my years of experience with the game into tips and hints that can make you a better player. And you don’t have to read the book from start to finish if you don’t want to; just flip it open and find the chapter or part on the topic that you want to know more about.

If you’re a bridge novice, eventually you’ll have to play a few hands to feel like a real bridge player. This book offers an easy-to-follow path that will increase your comfort zone when you actually have to play on your own!

Conventions Used in This Book

No, not bridge “conventions” yet! The conventions in this section refer to those used to help you navigate this book with maximum ease.

For example, I use a few symbols when referring to cards and bids. In a deck of cards, you have four suits: spades (), hearts (), diamonds (), and clubs (). When I refer to a particular card, I use abbreviations. For example, the six of spades becomes 6, and the jack of hearts transforms into J. However, when discussing the final contract, I use 6, not 6.

I talk a lot about cards in this book. Sometimes I want to show you all the cards in your hand, and sometimes I want to show you the cards in every player’s hand (that’s 52 cards!). Instead of listing those cards in the text, I set them aside in figures so you can more easily see who has which cards. The cards in a hand are separated by suit, making it even easier to see each player’s holdings.

In these figures, you may notice that I’ve assigned a “direction” to each of the four players: You see a North, South, East, and West. Again, I use directions to make it easier for you to follow the play as it goes around the table. For most of the book, you are South. If I want you to see something from a different perspective, I tell you where you’re seated.

When I talk about bidding (especially in Parts III and IV), I use a table like the following to show you how a bidding sequence progresses.

Don’t worry about what this bidding means. For now, I just want you to understand that you read these tables starting at the upper-left corner, continuing to the right until the fourth player, and then back to the second line and the first player. For example, for the preceding sequence, the bidding starts with the first player, South (who bids 1), and continues to the right until the fourth player, East (who passes). Then the sequence goes back to South, the first player, who passes.

To top it off, I use a few other general conventions:

Italics highlight defined terms.

Boldface text highlights key words in bulleted lists and the action part of numbered steps.

Monofont is used for Web addresses.

At times, it may seem that I overrun you with rules, but I’m just giving you guidelines, something to get you started. When you begin to play, you’ll see occasional exceptions to these guidelines. In bridge, “always” and “never” don’t apply. Just remember that bridge is based most of all on common sense. After reading this book, you’ll have a good idea of what to do when you encounter new situations.

What You’re Not to Read

When I wrote this book, it wasn’t with the intention of telling you what not to read! But if you can live without some items, they’re the sidebars (those shaded gray boxes featured throughout the chapters). Actually, some of them are pretty funny, but if you didn’t read them, you wouldn’t lose any of what you’re supposed to be learning.

Foolish Assumptions

I’m assuming that you’re not going to understand everything that you’re reading the first time around. Nobody does. Think of bridge as a foreign language. Patience, patience, patience.

I’m also assuming that you will go out and find three other people in your shoes who want to play bridge so you can practice. This is the “living end” for a beginner.

And I’m assuming that some of you want to understand the basics of bridge, while others may be seasoned players who want to pick up a few new techniques. I’m foolishly assuming that I can help both groups.

How This Book Is Organized

You’ll find the book divided into seven parts, each focusing on a different aspect of the game.

Part I: Beginning with Basic Notrump Play

Chapter 1 starts at ground zero and describes the mechanics of the game, giving you a bird’s-eye view of bridge. The rest of the part discusses various techniques for taking tricks in a notrump contract.

Part II: Playing the Hand in a Trump Contract

In this part, you discover the special know-how you need so you can bring home the tricks when you end up in a trump contract.

Part III: Bidding for Fun and Profit

This part also covers the fundamentals of bidding — when to bid, how high to bid, and how to shut up your partner!

Part IV: Taking Advantage of Advanced Bidding Techniques

This part deals with defensive bidding, doubles, and redoubles. I also introduce slam bidding.

Part V: Playing a Strong Defense and Keeping Score

You just can’t let your opponents walk all over you! In this part, you discover how to stick out your foot and really trip up your opponents with stellar defense. You also find out all about bridge scoring.

Part VI: Becoming Addicted to Bridge

You will come to love this game. In this part, you can read up on finding the best software, playing in clubs and tournaments, and playing on the Internet.

Part VII: The Part of Tens

In this part, you can read about the most important factor in any hand — your partner. This part also offers a list of some really great bridge resources that you can use after you put this book back on the shelf. (But of course, you can always take this book off the shelf and use it over and over again!)

Icons Used in This Book

The icons used in this book highlight important topics and help you pick out what you want to know.

Bridge has a language all its own, and I point you to a few key terms in this new language.

If you can’t remember everything you read in this book, don’t worry, you’re not alone — but do try to keep these items in mind.

I pack this book full of helpful hints that make you a smarter player, faster.

Watch out! You could lose many tricks or something equally disastrous if you ignore items marked with this icon.

Where to Go from Here

I describe many plays and sample hands throughout this book. To get a real feel for the game, try reading the book with a deck of cards nearby. In fact, you can save yourself weeks or months of time if you lay out the cards that you see in the example diagrams and play the cards as I suggest.

Better yet, try to find three other players who want to play this exciting game. You can read the book together and actually practice playing the hands as you read. Experience is the best teacher, and if you’re not ready for a real hand, you can use the material in this book as a kind of dry run.

If you are completely new to bridge, head straight to Chapter 1 so you can get a feel for the game. If you’re an old bridge pro, you can start anywhere you like and read the chapters in any order you like.

If, during the course of reading this book, you feel like you just have to get in on the action, feel free to jump into any game you can find. Play as often as you can. It’s the best way to learn. You can find information about bridge clubs and tournaments in Chapter 21.

Finally, log onto the Net for more bridge info or even online play! Yes, you can play online! Check out Chapter 22 for more on this topic.

Part I

Beginning with Basic Notrump Play

In this part . . .

Don’t get scared off by the title of the first chapter — “Going to Bridge Boot Camp.” I promise, I won’t ask you to drop and give me 20 sit-ups. But you can consider this chapter a kind of induction into the world of bridge; I cover all the fundamentals you need to get a quick start with the game.

In the rest of the part, I go over the various elements of playing a hand at a notrump contract, in which the highest card in the suit wins the shootin’ match (the trick). I show you how to count and take sure tricks, use winning techniques, and outsmart your opponents.

Chapter 1

Going to Bridge Boot Camp

In This Chapter

Gathering what you need to play bridge

Spelling out your bridge ABCs

Building your bridge skills with available resources

Welcome to Bridge Boot Camp! In this chapter, I talk about some basic concepts that you need to have under your belt to get started playing bridge. Consider this chapter your first step into the game of bridge. If you read this whole chapter, you’ll graduate from Bridge Boot Camp. Sorry — you don’t get a diploma. But you do get the thrill of knowing what you need to know to start playing bridge.

By the way, I want you to know that you made a good choice, a very good choice, about learning to play bridge. Perhaps I’m biased, but bridge is the best card game ever. You can play bridge all over the world, and wherever you go, you can make new friends automatically by starting up a game of bridge. Bridge can be more than a game — it can be a common bond.

Starting a Game with the Right Stuff

Before you can begin to play bridge, you need to outfit yourself with some basic supplies. Actually, you may already have some of these items around the house, just begging for you to use them in your bridge game. What do you need? Here’s your bottom-line list:

Four warm bodies, including yours.

A table — a square one is best. In a pinch, you can play on a blanket, on a bed, indoors, outdoors, or even on a computer if you can’t find a game.

One deck of playing cards (remove the jokers).

A pencil and a piece of paper to keep score on. You can use any old piece of paper — a legal pad, the back of a grocery list, or even an ancient piece of papyrus will do.

I’ve been playing bridge for a long time now, so let me offer you a few hints on how you can make getting started with the game a little easier:

Watch a real bridge game to observe the mechanics of the game.

Round up three friends who are interested in playing. Don’t worry if you all don’t know what you’re doing. We all begin knowing nothing; some of us even end up that way.

Follow the sample hands in this book by laying out the cards to correspond to the cards in the figures. Doing so gives you a feel for the cards and makes the explanations easier to follow.

Ranking the Cards

A deck has 52 cards divided into four suits: spades (), hearts (), diamonds (), and clubs ().

Each suit has 13 cards: the AKQJ10 (which are called the honor cards) and the 98765432 (the spot cards).

The 13 cards in a suit all have a rank — that is, they have a pecking order. The ace is the highest-ranking card, followed by the king, the queen, the jack, and the 10, on down to the lowly 2 (which is also called the deuce).

Because each card has a ranking, the more high-ranking cards you have in your hand, the better. The more honor cards you have, the stronger your hand. You can never have too many honor cards.

Knowing Your Directions

In bridge, the players are nameless souls — they’re known by directions. When you sit down at a table with your three pals to play bridge, imagine that the table is a compass. You’re sitting at due South, your partner sits across from you in the North seat, and your opponents sit East and West.

In Parts I and II of this book, you’re South for every hand, and your partner is North. Just as in the opera, where the tenor always gets the girl, in a bridge diagram, you’re represented as South — you are called the declarer, and you always get to play the hand. Your partner, North, is always the dummy. Don’t worry about what these terms mean just yet — the idea is that you play every hand from the South position.

Figure 1-1 diagrams the playing table. Get acquainted with this little diagram: You see some form of it many, many times in this book, not to mention in newspaper columns and magazines. For me, this diagram was a blessing in disguise — I never could get my directions straight until I started playing bridge.

Figure 1-1: You’re South, your partner is North, and your opponents are East and West.

Playing the Game in Phases

Obviously, more is involved in playing a game of bridge than I can tell you in the following sections. If playing bridge were that simple, it wouldn’t be half as challenging, rewarding, and fun (and you certainly wouldn’t need this book). I’d like to give you a fast-forwarded view of one bridge hand so you can get acquainted with how it all works.

First and foremost, bridge is a partnership game — you swim together and you sink together. Your opponents are in the same boat. In bridge, you don’t score points individually — you score points as a team. (To get the drift of the first several parts of this book, don’t worry about keeping score. See Chapter 20 to find out more about scoring if you can’t wait.)

Each hand of bridge is divided into four phases, which always occur in the same order:

1. The deal

2. The bidding

3. The play

4. The scoring

Phase 1: The deal

The game starts with each player seated facing his or her partner. The cards are shuffled and placed on the table face down. Each player selects a card, and the one who picks the highest card deals the first hand, but not before the player to the dealer’s left cuts the cards. (After each hand, the deal rotates to the left so one person doesn’t get stuck doing all the dealing.)

The cards are dealt one at a time, starting with the player to the dealer’s left and moving in a clockwise rotation until each player has 13 cards (you deal the entire deck of cards).

Wait until the dealer distributes all the cards before you pick up your hand. That’s bridge etiquette lesson number one. I throw in a few other etiquette tips throughout the book to keep you in line.

When each player has 13 cards, pick up and sort your hand using the following tips:

You can sort the cards in any number of ways, but I recommend sorting your cards into the four suits.

Alternate your black suits (clubs and spades) with your red suits (diamonds and hearts) so you don’t confuse a black card for another black card, or a red card for another red card. It’s a bit disconcerting to think you’re playing a heart, only to see a diamond come floating out of your hand.

Hold your cards back, way back, so only you can see them. It’s difficult to be a winning bridge player when your opponents can see your hand.

Phase 2: The bidding for tricks

Bidding in bridge can be compared to an auction. The auctioneer tells you what the minimum bid is, and the first bid starts from that point or higher. Each successive bid must be higher than the last, until someone bids so high that everyone else wants out. When you want out of the bidding in bridge, you say “Pass.” After three consecutive players say “Pass,” the bidding is over. However, if you pass and someone else makes a bid, just as at an auction, you can reenter the bidding.

In real-life auctions, people often bid for silly things, such as John F. Kennedy’s golf clubs or Andy Warhol’s cookie jars. In bridge, you don’t bid for cars, art treasures, or precious gems; you bid for something really valuable — tricks. Because the whole game revolves around tricks, you really need to understand the term.

Some of you may remember the game of War from when you were a kid. If you don’t remember, just pretend that you do and follow along. In War, two players divide the deck between them. Each player takes a turn placing a card face up on the table. The player with the higher card takes the trick.

In bridge, four people each place a card face up on the table, and the highest card in the suit that has been led takes the trick. Because each player has 13 cards, 13 tricks must be fought over and won in each hand.

Think of bidding as an estimation of how many of those 13 tricks your side (or their side) thinks it can take. The bidding starts with the dealer and moves to his left in a clockwise rotation. Each player gets a chance to bid. The least you can bid is for seven tricks, and the maximum you can bid is for all 13. A player can either bid or pass at his turn.

The bidding goes around and around the table, with each player either bidding or passing until three players in a row say “Pass.”

The last bid (the one followed by three passes) is called the final contract. No, that’s not something the Mafia puts out on you. It’s simply the number of tricks that the bidding team must take to score points (see Parts III and IV for more about bidding, and Chapter 20 for more about scoring).

Phase 3: The play of the hand

After the bidding for tricks, the play begins. Either your team or the other team makes the final bid. Because you are the star of this book, pretend that you make the final bid — for nine tricks. Therefore, your goal is to win at least nine tricks in the hand.

If you take nine (or more) tricks, your team scores points. If you take fewer than nine tricks, you are penalized, and your opponents score points. (See Chapter 20 for the details on scoring.) In the following sections, I describe a few important aspects of playing a hand of bridge.

The opening lead and the dummy

Once the bidding determines who the declarer is (the one who plays the hand), that person’s partner becomes the dummy (no offense intended). The person to the declarer’s left (West, assuming that you’re South) leads, or puts down, the first card, called the opening lead, face up in the middle of the table. The opening lead can be any card of West’s choosing.

When the opening lead lands on the table, the game really begins to roll. The next person to “play” is the dummy — but instead of playing a card, the dummy puts her hand face up on the table in four neat vertical rows, one row for each suit, and then bows out of the action entirely. After she puts down her cards, she says and does nothing, leaving the other three people to play the rest of the hand. Ever heard of the Sphinx?

The 13 cards that the dummy puts down are also called the dummy. Yes, the dummy puts down the dummy. I know, it doesn’t make much sense — I didn’t make up these terms.

Because the dummy is no longer involved in the action, each time it’s the dummy’s turn to play, you, the declarer, must physically take a card from the dummy and put it in the middle of the table. In addition, you must play a card from your own hand when it’s your turn.

The fact that the declarer gets stuck with playing all the team’s cards while the dummy is off munching on snacks may seem a bit unfair. But you do have an advantage over the defenders: You get to see your partner’s cards before you play, which allows you to plan a strategy of how to win those nine tricks (or however many tricks you need to make the final contract).

Following suit

The opening lead determines which suit the other three players must play. Each of the players must follow suit, meaning that they must play a card in the suit that’s led if they have one. For example, pretend that the opening lead is a heart. Down comes the dummy, and you (and everyone else at the table) can see the dummy’s hearts as well as your own hearts. Because you must play the same suit that is led if you have one, you have to play a heart, any heart that you want, from the dummy. You place the heart of your choice face up on the table and wait for your right-hand opponent (East, assuming that the dummy is North) to play a heart. After she plays a heart, you play a heart from your hand. Voilà: Four hearts now sit on the table. A trick! Whoever has played the highest heart takes the trick. One trick down and only 12 to go — you’re on a roll!

What if a player doesn’t have a card in the suit that has been led? Then, and only then, can a player choose a card, any card, from another suit and play it, which is called a discard. When you discard, you’re literally throwing away your card, knowing that it’s worthless because it’s not in the proper suit. A discard can never win a trick.

In general, you discard worthless cards that can’t take tricks, saving good-looking cards that may take tricks later. Sometimes, however, the bidding designates a trump suit (think wild cards). In that case, when a suit is led and you don’t have it, you can discard from another suit or take the trick with a trump card. See “Understanding Notrump and Trump Play” later in this chapter.

If you can follow suit, you must. If you have a card in the suit that’s been led but you play a card in another suit by mistake, you revoke. Not good; if you are detected, penalties may be involved. Don’t worry, though — everybody revokes once in a while. I once lost a National Championship by revoking on the last hand of the tournament.

Playing defense

Approximately 25 percent of the time, you’ll be the declarer; 25 percent of the time, you’ll be the dummy; and the remaining 50 percent of the time, you’ll be on defense! You need to have a good idea of which card to lead in the first trick and how to continue after you see the dummy. You want to be able to take all the tricks your side has coming. Remember, defenders can’t see each other’s hands so they have to use signals (yes, legal ones) to tell partner what they have. They do this by making informative leads and discards that announce to partner (and the declarer) what they have in the suit they are playing.

I show you winning defensive techniques in Part V.

Winning and stacking tricks

The player who plays the highest card in the suit that has been led wins the trick. That player sweeps up the four cards and puts them in a neat stack, face down, a little off to the side. The declarer “keeps house” for his team by stacking tricks into piles so anyone can see how many tricks that team has won. The defender (your opponent) who wins the first trick does the same for his or her side.

The player who takes the first trick leads first, or plays the first card, to the second trick. That person can lead any card in any suit desired, and the other three players must follow suit if they can.

The play continues until all 13 tricks have been played. After you play to the last trick, each team counts up the number of tricks it has won.

Phase 4: The scoring

After the smoke clears and the tricks are counted, you know soon enough whether the declarer’s team made its contract. You then register the score — see Chapter 20 for more about scoring.

After the hand has been scored, the deal moves one player to the left. So if South dealt the first hand, West is now the dealer. Then North deals the next hand, then East, and then the deal reverts back to South.

Play continues until one team bids and makes two game contracts, which is called winning a rubber. When the rubber is over, everyone can go home or start playing another rubber. If you play tennis, think of winning a rubber as winning a set, not necessarily the match.

Understanding Notrump and Trump Play

The names of the first two parts of this book have some funny words in them: trump and notrump. You can’t get very far playing bridge if you don’t decode these funny phrases.

Have you ever played a card game that has wild cards? When you play with wild cards, playing a wild card automatically wins the trick for you. Sometimes wild cards can be jokers, deuces, or aces. It doesn’t matter what the card is; if you have one, you know that you have a sure winner. In bridge, you have wild cards, too, called trump cards. However, in bridge, the trump cards are really wild because they change from hand to hand, depending on the bidding.

The bidding determines whether a hand will be played with trump cards or in a notrump contract (a hand with no trump cards). If the final bid names a trump suit, that suit is the “wild” suit for the hand. For example, suppose that the final bid is 4; — this bid determines that spades are trump (or wild) for the entire hand. For more about playing a hand at a trump contract, see Part II.

When the final bid ends in notrump, the highest card played in the suit that has been led wins the trick. All the hands that you play in Part I are played at notrump.

More contracts are played at notrump than in any of the four suits.

Building Your Skills with Clubs, Tournaments, and the Internet

You know, you’re not in this bridge thing alone. You’ll find help around every corner. You won’t believe how much is available for interested beginners.

Clubs: Most bridge clubs offer beginning bridge lessons and/or supervised play.

Tournaments: Many tournaments offer free lectures for novice players, as well as novice tournaments and supervised play. Watching experts (or anyone else) play is free.

The Internet: Once you get the knack, you can play bridge 24 hours a day on the Net . . . free!

To check this out, head for Part VI.

So what’s the fascination with bridge?

You may have met a few unfortunates who are totally hooked on playing bridge. They just can’t get enough of it. Being a charter member of that club, I can offer a few words on why people can get so wrapped up in the game.

One fascination is the bidding. Bidding involves a lot of partner-to-partner communication skills, and cleverly exchanging information between you and your partner in the special language of the game is a great challenge. Your opponents also pass information back and forth during the bidding, so figuring out what they’re telling each other is another challenge. Bidding is such an art that some bridge books deal entirely with bidding. (I cover bidding in Parts III and IV.)

Another hook for the game is taking tricks. You get to root out all kinds of devious ways to take tricks, both as a declarer and as a defender.

And don’t forget the human element. Bridge is much more than a game of putting down and picking up cards. Emotions enter into the picture — sooner or later, every emotion or personality trait that you see in life emerges at the bridge table.

Chapter 2

Counting and Taking Sure Tricks

In This Chapter

Recognizing the sure tricks in each suit

Adding sure tricks to your trick pile

If you’re sitting at a blackjack table in Las Vegas, you’re a goner if someone catches you counting cards. However, if you’re at a bridge table and you don’t count cards, you’re one dead duck.

When you play a bridge hand, you need to count several things — most importantly, you need to count your tricks. The game of bridge revolves around tricks. You bid for tricks, you take as many tricks as you can in the play of the hand, and your opponents try to take as many tricks as they can on defense. Tricks, tricks, tricks.

In this chapter, I show you how to spot a sure trick in its natural habitat — in your hand or in the dummy. I also show you how to take those sure tricks to your best advantage. (See Chapter 1 for general information about tricks and the dummy.)

Before the play of the hand begins, the bidding determines the final contract. In Parts I and II of this book, I purposefully omit the bidding process. Just pretend the bidding is over and the dummy has come down. In Parts I and II, I just want you to concentrate on how to count and take your tricks to your best advantage. After you discover the trick-taking capabilities of honor cards and long suits in the first two parts, the bidding makes much more sense. If you can’t wait, turn to Part III to discover the wonders of bidding for tricks. (I even include advanced bidding techniques in Part IV.)

Counting Sure Tricks after the Dummy Comes Down

The old phrase “You need to know where you are to know where you’re going” comes to mind when playing bridge. After you know your final contract (how many tricks you need to take), you then need to figure out how to win all the tricks necessary to make your contract.

Depending on which cards you and your partner hold, your side may hold some sure winners, called sure tricks — tricks you can take at any time right from the get-go. You should be very happy to see sure tricks in either your hand or in the dummy. You can never have too many sure tricks.

Sure tricks depend on whether you have the ace in a particular suit (either in your hand or in the dummy). Because you get to see the dummy after the opening lead, you can see quite clearly if any aces are lurking in the dummy. If you notice an ace, why not get greedy and look for a king in the same suit? Two sure tricks are better than one!

Basically, counting sure tricks boils down to the following points:

If you or the dummy has the ace in a suit (but no king), count one sure trick.

If you have both the ace and the king in the same suit (between the two hands), count two sure tricks.

If you have the ace, king, and queen in the same suit (between the two hands), count three sure tricks. Happiness!

Mind your manners: Being a dummy with class

The dummy doesn’t do much to help you count and take sure tricks except lay down her cards. After her cards are on the table, the dummy shouldn’t contribute anything else to the hand — except good dummy etiquette.

As the play progresses, the dummy isn’t supposed to make faces, utter strange noises, or make disjointed body movements, such as jerks or twitches. Sometimes such restraint takes superhuman willpower, particularly when her partner, the declarer, screws up big time. A good dummy learns to control her baser instincts.

If you end up as the dummy and get fidgety, you can always leave the table. The kitchen and TV room offer ideal visitation possibilities.

In Figure 2-1, your final contract is for nine tricks. After you settle on the final contract, the play begins. West makes the opening lead and decides to lead the Q. Down comes the dummy, and you swing into action, but first you need to do a little planning. You need to count your sure tricks. What follows in this section is a sample hand and sample diagrams where I demonstrate how to count sure tricks.

Eyeballing your sure tricks in each suit

You count your sure tricks one suit at a time. After you know how many tricks you have, you can make further plans about how to win additional tricks. I walk you through each suit in the following sections, showing you how to count sure tricks.

Figure 2-1: Looking for nine sure tricks is your goal.

Walking through the spades

When the dummy comes down, you can see that your partner has three small spades (7, 6, and 5) and you have the A and K, as you see in Figure 2-2.

Figure 2-2: Digging up sure spade tricks.

Because the A and the K are the two highest spades in the suit, you can count two sure spade tricks. If you also held the Q, you could count three sure spade tricks.

When you have sure tricks in a suit, you don’t have to play them right away. You can take sure tricks at any point during the play of the hand.

Counting some equally divided hearts

Figure 2-3 shows the hearts that you hold in this hand. Notice that you have the five highest hearts in the deck, the AKQJ10, between your hand and the dummy.

Figure 2-3: Your hearts are heavy with honor cards.

Your wonderful array of hearts is worth only three sure tricks because both hands have the same number of cards. When you play a heart from one hand, you must play a heart from the other hand. As a result, after you play the AKQ, the dummy won’t have any more hearts left (and neither will you). You wind up with only three heart tricks because the suit is equally divided (you have the same number of cards in both hands).

When you have an equal number of cards on each side, you can never take more tricks than the number of cards in each hand. For example, if you both hold four hearts, it doesn’t matter how many high hearts you have between your hand and the dummy — you can never take more than four heart tricks. Take a look at Figure 2-4 to see how the tragic story of an equally divided suit unfolds.

In Figure 2-4, you have only one heart in each hand: the A and the K. All you can take is one lousy heart trick. If you lead the A, you have to play the K from the dummy. If the dummy leads the K first, you have to “overtake” it with your A. This is the only time you can have the ace and king of the same suit between your hand and dummy and take only one trick. It’s too sad for words.

Figure 2-4: An honor collision causes some honor cards to become worthless.

Checking out some unequally divided diamonds

In Figure 2-5, you can see that South holds four diamonds (K, Q, J, and 5), while North holds only two (A and 2). When one partner holds more cards in a suit, the suit is unequally divided.

Figure 2-5: Some diamonds in the rough: An unequally divided suit can be a gem.

Strong unequally divided suits offer oodles of tricks, providing that you play the suit correctly. For example, take a look at how things play out with the cards in Figure 2-5. Say you begin by leading the 5 from your hand and play the A from the dummy, which is one trick. Now the lead is in the dummy because the dummy has taken the trick. Continue by playing 2 and then play the K from your hand. Now that the lead is back in your hand, play the Q and then the J. Don’t look now, but you’ve just won tricks with each of your honor cards — four in all.

Lean a little closer to hear a five-star tip: If you want to live a long and happy life with unequally divided suits that contain a number of equal honors (also called touching honors, such as a king and queen or queen and jack), play the high honor cards from the short side first. What does short side mean? In an unequally divided suit, the player with fewer cards is the short side. In Figure 2-5, the dummy has two diamonds to your four diamonds, making the dummy the short side. When you play the high honor from the short side first, you end up by playing the high honors from the long side, the hand that starts with more cards in the suit, last. (In this example, you have the long side.) This technique allows you to take the maximum number of tricks possible. And now you know why you started by leading the 5 over the A. You wanted to play the high honor from the short side first.

Coming up with no sure tricks in a suit with no aces: The clubs

When the dummy comes down, you may see that neither you nor the dummy has the ace in a particular suit, such as the club suit in Figure 2-6. You have 4, 3, and 2; the dummy has J, 10, 9, 6, and 5.

Figure 2-6: Forget about counting sure tricks in a suit that doesn’t have the ace in either your hand or the dummy.

Not all that pretty, are they? The opponents have the AKQ. You have no sure tricks in clubs because you don’t have the A. If neither your hand nor the dummy has the ace in a particular suit, you can’t count any sure tricks in that suit.

Adding up your sure tricks

After you assess how many sure tricks you have in each suit, it’s reckoning time. You need to add up all your sure tricks and see if you have enough to make your final contract.

Just to get some practice at adding up tricks, go ahead and add up your sure tricks from the hand shown in Figure 2-1. The total number of tricks is what’s important, and you have the following:

Spades: Two sure tricks: A and K.

Hearts: Three sure tricks: AKQ.

Diamonds: Four sure tricks: AKQJ.

Clubs: No sure tricks because you have no ace. Bad break, buddy.

You’re in luck — you have the nine tricks that you need to make your final contract. Now all you have to do is take them. You can do it.

Taking Sure Tricks

Having sure tricks is only half the battle; taking those sure tricks is the other half. In the following sections, I show you how to do it.

Starting with the strongest suit

When you have enough sure tricks between the two hands to make your contract, you don’t have to take the tricks in any particular order. However, a reliable guideline to get you off on the right foot is to start by first playing the cards in your strongest suit (the suit that offers you the most tricks). In the case of the hand shown in Figure 2-1, start by playing diamonds.

For a moment, backtrack to West’s opening lead of the Q. Say that you take the trick with the A, and now the lead is in your hand. You then take your four diamond tricks (AKQJ), and then you can take three more heart tricks by playing the AKQ. Finally, you take your ninth trick with the K. Your opponents take the last four tricks. No big deal — you’ve taken nine tricks and made your contract.

Taking sure tricks in unequally divided suits

Strong suits are a good source of tricks — the stronger, the better. If strong suits are unequally divided between the two hands but have equal honor cards in both hands, play the high honor from the short side first. The cards in Figure 2-7 show you the advantage of starting with the short-side honor cards.

Figure 2-7: Serving up sure tricks, starting with the short-side honor cards.

In the example shown in Figure 2-7, you decide to play spades, an unequally divided suit. You also (smartly) decide to play the high honors from the short side (your hand is the short side because you have three cards to dummy’s four cards). Play the A and then the K. You remain with the 2, and the dummy has two winning tricks, the QJ. Lead your 2 and take the trick with the dummy’s J. The lead is now in the dummy, and you can take a fourth spade trick with the Q. You have just added four tricks to your trick pile. There’s no stopping you now!

Chapter 3

Using Winning Trick Techniques at Notrump Play

In This Chapter

Getting the most out of your lower honor cards

Squeezing tricks from your small cards

Winning at bridge is a breeze if you always have enough sure tricks to make your contract. The sad news is that you seldom have enough sure tricks to make your contract. You must come up with other ways of taking tricks, ways that may mean temporarily surrendering the lead to your opponents. In this chapter, I show you clever techniques to win those extra tricks that you may need to make your contract in notrump play. Specifically, I explain how to establish tricks with lower honor cards and take tricks with small cards. (Chapter 4 explains how to outsmart your opponents by sidestepping their high honor cards and cutting their lines of communication.)

Throughout this chapter, you may notice that many figures show cards in only one suit. Sometimes I want you to focus on one suit at a time: In the following figures, you see suits that are ideal for creating extra tricks you need. Don’t forget: I always put you in the hot seat by making you South — that’s where the action is! (Your partner is North, and your opponents are West and East. See Chapter 1 for more details about positions in bridge.)

Establishing Tricks with Lower Honor Cards

When you don’t have the ace in a suit, you’re in bad shape as far as sure tricks are concerned (see Chapter 2 for more about sure tricks). Not to worry. Your new friend, establishing tricks, will see you through the tough times and help you win extra tricks you may need to make your contract. Check out the following sections for surefire techniques on establishing tricks.

Establishing tricks is about sacrificing one of your honor cards to drive out one of your opponents’ higher honor cards. You can then swoop in with your remaining honor cards and take a bundle of tricks.