ABOUT BRIDGE

In bridge, players sit around a table at seats named after the four primary compass directions: North, South, East, and West. North and South are a partnership competing against East and West, who form another partnership.

What makes bridge unique is the way in which the declarer (the person who is trying to make the contract) plays not only his own hand but his partner's hand (dummy), which is face up on the table for all to see. If this seems to provide the defenders with an advantage, consider what it means. Each of them can see the dummy and his own hand, but neither has the ability to see his partner's hand. Meanwhile, declarer can see both his own hand and his partner's hand. The advantage is, in the end, slightly with the declarer.

A bridge hand consists of thirteen cards. The auction—the means by which partner's share information with one another in an attempt to find a good contract—is the first of two parts of the game. Each player in turn either gives information about his hand or passes, and when there is one round in which all players pass, the the last partnership to have entered a bid other than a double is said to have bought the contract. All bids contain both a level between 1 and 7 and a denomination: clubs (C), diamonds (D), hearts (H), spades (S), or no trump (NT).

Once the auction is complete, the defender to the left of the declarer plays the first card, and play continues clockwise around the table. The trick is completed with one card from each hand. The most powerful card played in a trick wins. In a suit contract, each player must, if possible, play a card in the same suit as the card that was led. Otherwise, he may play any card he wishes, even a trump.The highest card in the suit led wins the trick unless trump was played, and then the highest trump wins the trick. The player whose card won the last trick plays the first card in the next trick, and play continues until all thirteen tricks are played. In a NT contract, the play is the same except that there is no suit more powerful than any other, so there is no way to win with a trump.

Many people coming to bridge will have played similar card games with trumps or tricks, and possibly both. Many of the same strategies for those games apply to bridge, but it is the sytematic forms of communication that provide bridge with much of its unique allure.