THE main purpose which I have had in view in writing this book has been to provide my pupils with a SIMPLE and ELEMENTARY work on Bridge. I have endeavoured to abstain from assuming a knowledge of Whist or Whist terms on the part of the reader, and have merely attempted to write a text-book which shall combine clear and concise statements of my rules, with a reason for and explanation of each one. These rules have stood the test of practical experiment by myself and others for the last five years, so that this statement of them will, I trust, be of benefit both to the beginner and to the advanced player.
J. B. E.
BRIDGE
PLAYERS
Bridge is usually played by four persons. If there are more than four candidates, the prior right to play is decided by cutting the cards.
CUTTING
This is done from a full pack of fifty-two cards which have been shuffled and spread face downward on the table. Each player draws a card. The four cutting the lowest cards play the first rubber. In cutting ace is low. The cards are also cut to decide partners, the two highest playing against the two lowest. The dealer is the player cutting the lowest card of all, and he has the choice of the seats and of the cards. Should the two players who cut the lowest cards draw cards of equal value, they must cut again to decide which shall deal.
DEALING
Before being dealt, the cards must be shuffled by the dealer and then cut by the player at his right. It is customary to play with two packs of cards, the dealer's partner shuffling, or making up, for his right-hand adversary. The cards are dealt one at a time, from left to right, until all are exhausted, each player having thirteen cards. The last card should not be turned face up. There is no penalty for a misdeal.
THE OBJECT OF THE GAME
There are two separate scores to be played for—trick and honour scores. The trick score is credited to the side that wins more than six tricks; the honour score to the side that holds the majority of the trump honours. The object of the game is to score more points than your adversaries, tricks and honours included. This is best done by winning a rubber.
THE GAME
The game consists of thirty or more trick points. All points in excess of thirty are counted by the side winning them; but only one game can be won in a deal. Honours are a separate score and do not count toward winning the game.
THE RUBBER
The rubber is the best of three games. If the first two games are won by the same partners the third is not played. One hundred points are added to the total score of the side winning the rubber.
DECLARING THE TRUMP
The hand may be played either without a trump, or a trump suit may be selected.
The dealer has the option of making a declaration or of passing that privilege to his partner. If the dealer passes the make, his partner must announce the trump. A trump once made cannot be changed at any time during the deal.
TABLE OF TRICK VALUES
(For each trick over six.)
| When | ♠ | are trumps each trick counts | 2 |
| When | ♣ | are trumps each trick counts | 4 |
| When | ♦ | are trumps each trick counts | 6 |
| When | ♥ | are trumps each trick counts | 8 |
| When there are |
no | trumps each trick counts | 12 |
DOUBLING
After the trump has been declared each adversary, in turn, may increase the value of the tricks by doubling.
The leader—the player at the left of the dealer—has the first right to double. If the leader does not wish to double his partner may then do so.
REDOUBLING
If either the leader or his partner has doubled the trump, the dealer or his partner may re-double, the player who has made the trump having the first right. This process may continue indefinitely. Doubling or redoubling does not affect the value of the honours.
THE DUMMY
When the value of each trick has been determined, and after a card has been led, the dealer's partner places his hand face upward on the table—the trump suit at his right—and the dealer plays both hands. The dealer's partner—the dummy—is not allowed to suggest, to touch or to play a card except at the dealer's bidding. It is the dummy's right, should the dealer refuse to follow in any suit, to endeavour to prevent a revoke. (See Conversation of the Game.)
THE PLAY
In the play of the cards the ace is high and deuce low. You must follow suit, but if you have no card of the suit led, you may either trump or discard. At no-trump the best card of the suit led wins the trick.
THE CONVERSATION OF THE GAME
In order to avoid giving partner information as to the character of one's hand, both the conversation of the game and its order should be strictly adhered to. To find that the wrong person has announced the trump, or that a player has doubled out of turn, or that one has led without asking permission, is most irritating to the other players, and a severe penalty may often be exacted for such a mistake. The dealer may either declare the trump or say, "I pass." If the dealer passes, his partner must announce the trump. The leader may either double or say, "May I Lead, Partner?" this indicates that he does not want to double, but wishes to give his partner an opportunity to do so. The leader's partner either says "No, I double," or "lead, please."
The conversation is indicated in the following diagram.
| "May I lead? or "I double." |
"Spades," or "I make it Spades." |
||
| Y Dummy |
|||
| A Leader | B | "No, I double," or "Play, please." |
|
| Dealer Z |
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| "I make it Hearts," or "I pass." |
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When the trump has been doubled the maker says, "I redouble," or "I am satisfied." If the maker is satisfied his partner says, "I redouble," or "I am satisfied." In many clubs the conversation is somewhat changed and abbreviated. "Pass." "Hearts." "I double." "I go over." "I redouble" or "I go back." "Enough," or a rap on the table to signify satisfaction.
TO PREVENT A REVOKE
If your partner refuses to follow suit, always ask, "Have you no (hearts), Partner?" An error may then be rectified, but only before the trick has been turned and quitted or before another card has been led.
SCORING
The score consists of two separate counts: trick score and honour score. The trick score is made by the side winning more than six tricks in a hand. The honour score, by the partners who hold the majority of the trump honours. With a declared trump the honours are A K Q J and 10. At no-trump only the Aces count as honours. Doubling does not increase the honour score.
TABLE SHOWING VALUE OF HONOURS
| AT NO-TRUMP | ||||
| 3 ACES | count | 30 | ||
| 4 ACES | " | 40 | ||
| 4 ACES in one hand | " | 100 | ||
| WHEN TRUMPS ARE | ♠ | ♣ | ♦ | ♥ |
| 3 Honours count | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 |
| 4 Honours count | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 |
| 5 Honours count | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 |
| 4 Honours in one hand count | 16 | 32 | 48 | 64 |
| 4 Honours in one hand, 5th | ||||
| in the partner's, count | 18 | 36 | 54 | 72 |
| 5 HONOURS in one hand count | 20 | 40 | 60 | 80 |
A Little Slam, winning twelve of the thirteen tricks, adds 20 points to the honour score.
A Grand Slam, winning all thirteen tricks, adds 40 points to the honour score.
Chicane, a hand which is without a trump, adds the value of three honours to the honour score.
Double Chicane, a player and partner having no trumps, adds the value of four honours to the honour score.
THE METHOD OF SCORING
| We. | They. | ||
| Rubber. | 100 64 |
H o n o u r s |
8 |
| 4 | 40 | ||
| 30 | 16 | ||
| 24 | |||
| 1st Game. | 18 12 |
16 |
|
| 2d Game. | 60 | ||
| Rubber. | 8 40 |
T r i c k s |
8 |
| Total. | 300 | 148 | |
| 300 148 |
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| ---- 152 points won. |
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After the rubber has been won the honour score and the trick score of each side are added, and the leaser total deducted from the greater.
THE SCORE
There is no part of the game of Bridge to which I would more urgently request the attention of the player than to a careful consideration of the state of the score. It is useless to attempt to play good Bridge without a knowledge of the score. If you blindly follow rules for making, doubling, and playing, without knowing exactly how many points you require to win the game as well as the number needed by your adversaries, you will needlessly lose many rubbers.
Before you declare the trump look at the score to determine the number of points you must make in order to win the game.
Know the score when you contemplate doubling.
Never lead without knowing how many tricks you must make in order to SAVE the game.
When you are the dealer outline your play to win the game; and if you find it impossible to win the game be sure to SAVE it.
THE DECLARATION
While a few tricks may be dropped in the play of a hand, an unsound make may result in the loss of several hundred points. The importance, both of making the trump to the score and of considering the probability of securing an honour score, cannot be too deeply impressed on the player's mind. This, more than any part of the game, requires the exercise of sound judgment. The good maker has an enormous advantage over the weak one.
Try to select the trump that will win the greatest number of points with a strong hand, and the one that will lose the fewest possible number with a weak hand. Be liberal and bold when behind in the game and conservative and timid when ahead.
In suggesting rules for the make this difficulty must be faced: the exercise of the best judgment in the world will not enable one to select the successful trump EVERY time; and players are apt to forget the many times a particular make has won, and to be impressed by the one time the rule failed them.
Follow consistently the laws for the make with a certainty that in the large majority of cases they will prove successful; and digress from these laws only when the score warrants.
NO-TRUMP DECLARATION BY THE DEALER
Provided the hand contain no large honour score in hearts or diamonds, it is evident that the no-trump declaration is more likely than any other to result in the gain of a large score; the dealer should, therefore, first consider his chances of winning at no-trump. There is a large percentage in favour of the success of an original no-trump make. The dealer can see and combine his own with the dummy hand; while his adversary makes the initial lead in the dark. The dealer can play false cards; while the adversaries cannot afford to deceive each other. In short the dealer plays the hand with an exact knowledge of the cards that are held against him, and can take advantage of any error made, or any information given by the adversaries. As tricks are won by small suit cards in every no-trump hand, there is no method of estimating how many tricks your hand may be worth. The dealer, in declaring no-trump, may assume that his partner's hand will contain an average amount of strength. If the dealer is weak in one suit he is justified in counting on his partner's hand for some protection in that suit. The dealer should not declare no-trump when he is reasonably sure of winning the game or rubber with a trump suit; neither should the dealer declare no-trump without an ace in his hand—unless the score is very desperate and then only when his hand is exceptionally strong.
RULES FOR THE NO-TRUMP DECLARATION BY THE DEALER
| Holding— | 4 Aces. 3 Aces. 2 Aces and one other guarded suit. 1 Ace and three other guarded suits. 1 long established black suit (A K Q x x x [A]) and one other Ace. |
[A] "x" signifies small cards.
GUARDED SUITS
The following may be called guarded suits:
| K Q x | K J x | K x | Q J x | Q x x |
WEAK NO-TRUMP MAKES TO THE SCORE
If the score warrants the dealer in taking a chance at a weak make, it is safer to gamble at no-trump than at a weak red declaration. At no-trump the dealer's partner has a wider field for assistance, as any one good suit will help.
On the rubber game, with the score very much against him, the dealer should declare no-trump.
| Holding— | 2 Aces and a guarded Jack. 2 Aces, one suit being A K. 1 Ace, a guarded K or Q and a K Q suit. 1 Ace and two guarded suits (K or Q). 1 long established black suit and a guarded King. |
HEARTS
In considering a heart make, the dealer should be influenced by the general strength of his hand and by the number of honours he holds in the trump suit. Hearts should always be declared with four or five honours in the hand irrespective of the strength of other suits; the honour score will probably more than compensate for a possible loss of trick points. A heart declaration with less than two honours is not advisable—unless the hand contain great length in the trump suit or great strength in the other suits—as the honour scores made against the hand will usually exceed its trick value.
HEARTS IN PREFERENCE TO NO-TRUMP