The basic rules of bridge fit in four steps. Four players in two partnerships are dealt 13 cards each. They bid in turn for a contract, which names a trump suit, or notrump, and a number of tricks. The side that wins the auction then tries to take that many of the 13 tricks, and everyone must follow suit when they can. Finally the hand is scored: the declaring side scores if it makes its contract, and the defenders score if it fails. The rules below fill in the detail a beginner needs at the table.
How a hand of bridge works, step by step#
- Deal. Each player gets 13 cards, dealt face down one at a time, clockwise. In a club the cards come already dealt in a board, which also shows who is dealer and who is vulnerable.
- Auction. The dealer calls first and the calls go clockwise. Each call is a pass, a bid, a double or a redouble. A bid names a number of tricks above six and a strain: 2 hearts is a promise to take eight tricks with hearts as trumps. The auction ends when a bid is followed by three passes, and the last bid is the contract.
- Declarer and dummy. Of the side that won the auction, the player who first named the strain of the contract is the declarer. If you open 1 heart and your partner ends the auction in 4 hearts, you are declarer, because you named hearts first. Declarer's partner is the dummy.
- Play. The player on declarer's left leads to the first trick. Then the dummy's hand is laid face up and declarer plays both hands. Everyone follows suit if they can. The highest trump, or else the highest card of the suit led, wins, and the winner leads to the next trick.
- Score. After 13 tricks, count the tricks the declaring side won. If it made the contract it scores trick points and bonuses. If not, the defenders score for each trick it fell short.
The rules of bridge at a glance#
| Question | Rule |
|---|---|
| How many players? | Four, in two partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other, North and South against East and West. |
| How many cards? | One 52-card deck, 13 cards to each player. Ace is high, two is low. |
| Who calls first? | The dealer, then each player in turn clockwise. |
| How do suits rank in the bidding? | Clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, then notrump as the highest. |
| What does a bid promise? | Six tricks plus the number bid. A bid of 3 hearts promises nine tricks. |
| When does the auction end? | When a bid is followed by three passes. If all four players pass, the hand is not played. |
| Who is declarer? | The player of the winning side who first named the strain of the contract. |
| Who leads first? | The player on the declarer's left. Then the dummy goes face up. |
| Must you follow suit? | Yes, whenever you can. If you cannot, play any card, a trump or a discard. |
| Which card wins a trick? | The highest trump, or if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led. |
| What is a game? | A contract worth 100 trick points or more: 3 notrump, 4 hearts, 4 spades, 5 clubs or 5 diamonds. |
| How many points to open? | Usually 12 high card points or more. See the Rule of 20 below. |
The official Laws of Duplicate Bridge contain 93 laws, and nobody expects a beginner to know them. If you would like to see the rules in action first, How to Play Bridge follows one hand step by step.
Rules of the auction#
- The dealer calls first, then clockwise. Every player must make a call in turn. In duplicate a call out of turn brings the director, who applies the penalty set by the laws, so wait for the player on your right.
- Each bid must be higher than the previous one. A higher level always beats a lower one. At the same level the strains rank clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, notrump. A bid that is not high enough is an insufficient bid. In a club game the director is called: the next player may accept it; otherwise it must be replaced, and depending on the replacement your partner may have to pass for the rest of the auction.
- Three passes after a bid end the auction. If nobody bids at all, the hand is passed out and scores zero for both sides.
- You may only double an opponent's bid, and only redouble your own side's doubled bid. A double says you expect the contract to fail, or, by agreement, asks partner to bid. Doubling your partner is not allowed.
- Your bids must mean what your partnership has agreed, and the opponents are entitled to know your agreements. You may use conventions, but in a club game unusual agreements are alerted under the club's alert rules. Read about the common ones in Bridge Conventions Explained.
When to open: 12 points and the Rule of 20#
Most beginners are taught to open the bidding with 12 or more high card points, and if you are not sure what counts, here is how to count your points. A lighter hand with long suits may also open by the Rule of 20: add your high card points to the number of cards in your two longest suits, and open at the one level when the total is 20 or more. A hand with 11 points, six spades and four hearts adds up to 21, so it opens. With 22 or more points the hand is too strong for a one-level opening and starts with 2 clubs; Acol players set the line at 23. Bridge Bidding Basics explains the count in full.
Rules of the play#
- The player to the declarer's left leads first. In most clubs the opening lead is placed face down, so partner can ask questions about the auction, and then turned up. After that, whoever wins a trick leads to the next one, and declarer must lead from the hand, their own or the dummy, that won the last trick.
- Follow suit if you can. Failing to follow suit when you hold a card of that suit is a revoke. In duplicate the penalty is usually one or two tricks transferred to the other side, so pay attention.
- If you cannot follow suit, play anything. You may discard from another suit or, when there is a trump suit, play a trump to win the trick.
- The dummy plays no part in decisions. Once the opening lead is faced, the dummy lays the hand face up and only plays the card the declarer names. The dummy may not suggest plays or look at the defenders' hands, but may try to stop the declarer from revoking.
- Play cards face up in front of you and turn them over when the trick is complete. In duplicate you keep your own cards, pointing each card toward your partner when your side won the trick and toward the opponents when they won it, so the deal can be returned to the board for the next table.
Bridge rules for the dummy#
The dummy may keep count of the tricks, play the cards declarer names, and ask declarer "no hearts, partner?" when declarer fails to follow suit. The dummy may not suggest a play, comment on the hand, look at a defender's cards or call attention to an irregularity until the play is over.
Rules of the room#
- No talking about the hand while it is being played or bid. Comments, sighs and hesitations pass information to partner, and the director may adjust the score if partner acts on them. Discuss the hand after it is over.
- Call the director, do not argue. In a club game, any irregularity is settled by the director. Calling the director is normal procedure, not an accusation. At a table with robots most of these problems never come up, because a robot never bids or leads out of turn.
Rules of scoring#
Only tricks above the first six count toward the contract. In clubs and diamonds each is worth 20 points, in hearts and spades 30. In notrump the first is worth 40 and each later one 30. A contract worth 100 trick points or more is a game: 3 notrump, 4 hearts, 4 spades or 5 of a minor. Anything lower is a part score. Bonuses are added on top of the trick score, as the table shows.
| Result | Not vulnerable | Vulnerable |
|---|---|---|
| Part score bonus (under 100 trick points) | 50 | 50 |
| Game bonus (100 or more trick points) | 300 | 500 |
| Small slam bonus (12 tricks bid and made) | 500 | 750 |
| Grand slam bonus (13 tricks bid and made) | 1000 | 1500 |
| Making a doubled contract | Trick score doubled, plus 50 | Trick score doubled, plus 50 |
| Making a redoubled contract | Trick score times four, plus 100 | Trick score times four, plus 100 |
| Each overtrick, doubled | 100 | 200 |
| Each overtrick, redoubled | 200 | 400 |
| Each undertrick, not doubled | 50 | 100 |
| Undertricks doubled: first | 100 | 200 |
| Undertricks doubled: second and third, each | 200 | 300 |
| Undertricks doubled: fourth and each later one | 300 | 300 |
| Undertricks redoubled | Twice the doubled values | Twice the doubled values |
A few examples, all scored as in a club game. You bid 4 hearts not vulnerable and take ten tricks: four tricks at 30 make 120 trick points, a game, so you add 300 and score 420. You bid 2 spades and take nine tricks: 60 for the contract, 30 for the overtrick and 50 for the part score, 140 in all. You bid 3 notrump vulnerable and take nine: 40, 30 and 30 make 100, a game, so you score 100 plus 500, which is 600.
Doubles change the picture quickly. You bid 2 spades, the opponents double, and you take eight tricks. The trick score doubles from 60 to 120, which is a game, so you add the 300 game bonus and 50 for making a doubled contract: 470 not vulnerable, 670 vulnerable. Go down two in a doubled 4 spades instead and the opponents score 100 plus 200, which is 300, when you are not vulnerable, or 200 plus 300, which is 500, when you are. Down four doubled and not vulnerable costs 100, 200, 200 and 300, a total of 800.
Overtricks score the same as contract tricks when the contract is not doubled. A slam bonus comes on top of the game bonus. The table is the duplicate version. Home games often play rubber bridge, which adds a rubber bonus and points for honors instead of the part score and game bonuses (see the table below). Online tables work all of this out for you. How clubs compare these scores across tables is in What Is Duplicate Bridge, and the point counts behind the bids are in Bridge Bidding Basics.
Rubber bridge scoring#
| Rubber bridge bonus | Points |
|---|---|
| Winning the rubber two games to none | 700 |
| Winning the rubber two games to one | 500 |
| Four of the five trump honors in one hand | 100 |
| All five trump honors, or all four aces in notrump, in one hand | 150 |
In rubber bridge a side that has won one game becomes vulnerable, so vulnerability changes during the rubber. In duplicate it is printed on each board instead, as What Is Duplicate Bridge shows board by board.
Duplicate and rubber bridge: what changes#
| Duplicate (clubs and online tournaments) | Rubber (home games) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who deals | Hands come in a board and are played again at other tables | Players shuffle and deal each hand |
| Vulnerability | Printed on each board | You become vulnerable after winning a game |
| Game and part score | 300 or 500 for a game, 50 for a part score, scored on every hand | Part scores add up toward game; 700 or 500 for winning the rubber |
| Honors | Not scored | 100 or 150 for holding top trump honors or all four aces in notrump |
| Your result | Compared with everyone else who played the same cards | Added up over the rubber |
The rules of the auction and the play are the same in both. What Is Duplicate Bridge explains how the comparison works.
Duplicate bridge rules#
Club and tournament bridge follow a few extra rules on top of the ones above. Each deal is kept in a board, a tray that also shows the dealer and the vulnerability, and players return their cards to it after the hand. The same deals are played at every table, so your score on each board is compared with the other pairs who held the same cards, rather than added up as in a rubber. The World Bridge Federation publishes the Laws of Duplicate Bridge, which national bodies such as the ACBL adopt, and a director applies them at the table. What Is Duplicate Bridge covers boards, movements and matchpoint scoring in full.
Two things that are not rules but feel like them#
Bidding boxes. In clubs, calls are made silently by placing a card from a bidding box on the table. After a jump bid the next player is expected to pause for about ten seconds, and some clubs ask the jumper to show a "Stop" card first. Online tables replace the box with buttons, so nothing to learn there.
Convention cards. Duplicate partnerships fill in a card that lists their agreements, and the opponents may look at it. Robots publish theirs too. The Shark robots publish their SAYC, Beginner SAYC and 2/1 cards on the Shark robot convention card.
Common mistakes beginners make#
- Revoking. Look through your whole hand before you decide you have no card of the suit led.
- Bidding without counting. Count your points before every call, because each bid promises tricks.
- Miscounting a suit. Sort your cards by suit and count each one when you pick up the hand.
- Playing dummy's cards yourself. As the dummy, wait for the declarer to name each card.
- Telling partner too much. A sigh, a pause or a comment passes information. Keep a steady pace and talk after the hand.
- Playing to trick one without a plan. As declarer, count your sure winners first and decide where the rest will come from.
- Leading from the wrong hand. As declarer, the next lead comes from whichever hand won the last trick, yours or the dummy's.
- Forgetting the contract. If you lose track during the play, you may ask at your turn what the contract is and whether it was doubled.
Most of these fade after a few weeks of regular play. If you want a structure for that time, here is a four-week plan for your first month.
Can you play bridge with two or three players?#
The standard game needs four players, two against two. Variants for fewer people exist, such as three-handed or cutthroat bridge and Honeymoon Bridge for two, but none has one official set of rules, and each changes the dealing or who plays the dummy. If you are short of players, the simpler route is a table with robots in the empty seats, which plays a normal hand under the normal rules. Play Bridge 4 Hands shows how that works.
Practice the rules where mistakes are free#
The best place to make your first revoke is a table where nothing is at stake. Shark Bridge Game runs on iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows 11 and Android, and it is free to install and try. The robots play Standard American or 2/1 Game Force, so you can practice a standard North American system, and VIP unlocks full access. Play Bridge 4 Hands shows how a solo table works. If you want a guided start, the Recommended Teachers directory lists instructors who run online beginner classes, and our guide on how to choose a bridge teacher helps you pick one.