1. The deck and suits

• Bridge is played with a standard deck of 52 cards.
• There are four suits - two red and two black: ♠ spades, ♥ hearts, ♦ diamonds and ♣ clubs.
• Each suit has 13 cards.
• Cards rank from Ace (high), through King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9 and on down to 2 (low).
• For scoring (see below) spades and hearts are the "major" suits; diamonds and clubs are the "minors".

2. Tricks

• A trick is one round of four cards — one from each player.
• One player leads a card to start the trick, and play continues clockwise.
• If you can, you must follow the suit that was led.
• The highest card in the suit led wins the trick.
• The winner of the trick leads the next one.

3. Four players + two phases

• Bridge is played by four players sitting around a table.
• You play with a partner, who sits opposite you.
• The two partnerships are North–South and East–West.
• Each hand has two phases: the auction and the cardplay.
• In the auction you agree a contract; in the cardplay you try to make it.

4. The auction

• Each hand begins with the auction.
• Players take turns to bid, starting with the dealer (West in the example below), moving clockwise.
• Bids suggest how many tricks you might win and which suit might be trumps (a suit that can beat the others).
• When three players pass in a row, the auction ends.
• The final bid becomes the contract for the hand (below it is 3NT). North bid NT first, so plays the hand.

5. The contract

• The final bid in the auction becomes the contract for one pair: North–South or East–West.
• It tells you how many tricks that partnership must try to win.
• It also tells you whether there is a trump suit (a special suit that beats the others).
• The contract number shows how many tricks above 6 are needed.
• For example, 3♥ by North means North–South must win 9 tricks, with hearts as trumps.

6. Trumps

• A trump suit is stronger than the other suits.
• If you cannot follow suit, you are permitted to play a trump.
• A trump card beats any card from a non-trump suit.
• If more than one trump is played, the highest trump wins.
• Some contracts have no trump suit. These are called No Trumps, or NT.

7. Scoring

• Your partnership scores points by making your contract.
• The score has two parts: points for tricks, and bonuses.
• Some contracts for 9 or more tricks earn a “game” bonus.
• Contracts for 12 or 13 tricks earn a large “slam” bonus.
• If you miss your contract, the opponents score penalty points.

Bridge can be played casually at home, socially in clubs, online, or competitively in duplicate and teams events.

To find out more about different formats, click the link below.