What Is Duplicate Bridge? How It Works, How It Is Scored and Where to Play

In a home game, the pair dealt the best cards usually wins. Duplicate bridge fixes that. The same deals are played at every table, and your result on each deal is compared with the results of everyone else who held the same cards. Good cards no longer help you, because the pair at the next table had the same good cards. Clubs and tournaments use it, and so does every ACBL-sanctioned online game.

Boards and movements#

Each deal lives in a board: a tray with four pockets marked North, South, East and West, plus the dealer and the vulnerability. Players take their 13 cards from the pocket, bid and play, and after each trick keep their own cards in front of them rather than throwing them into the middle. At the end of the hand, the cards go back into the pockets unchanged, and the board moves on to the next table.

A movement decides who plays which boards against whom. In the common Mitchell movement, North-South pairs stay put while East-West pairs and the boards move in opposite directions, so every pair plays every board once. Online, the software handles all of this and you simply see the next board.

Matchpoint scoring for pairs#

In a pairs game, your raw score on a board (say plus 420 for making 4 spades) is compared with every other North-South score on that board. You receive one matchpoint for each pair you beat and half a matchpoint for each pair you tie. The matchpoints are added across all boards and expressed as a percentage. Fifty percent is average. The strategy this produces is distinctive: overtricks and small extra scores matter as much as making the contract, because beating the other tables by 30 points is worth as much as beating them by 500.

IMP scoring for teams#

In a team game, two teams of four sit at two tables. Your North-South pair plays a set of boards against their East-West pair, while your East-West pair plays the same boards against their North-South pair. The two scores on each board are added (one will be positive and one negative) and the difference is converted into International Match Points using a fixed scale. A difference of 20 points is 1 IMP; a difference of 420 points is 10 IMPs; the scale tops out at 24 IMPs. Under IMPs, making your contract matters far more than overtricks, so the bidding is bolder and the play safer.

Masterpoints#

In North America, the American Contract Bridge League awards Masterpoints for good finishes in sanctioned games. They accumulate for life and mark your progress through ranks such as Junior Master, Life Master and beyond. Online robot games sanctioned by the ACBL award Masterpoints too. Online Bridge Club runs them daily: Game Day is an 18 or 12 board event scored across the day, and Insta-Game gives you a 12 board game with results after every board.

Duplicate etiquette that differs from kitchen bridge#

• Cards are not gathered into the trick. Each player keeps their own cards, turned to point at the winning side.
• Calls are made with bidding boxes, or with buttons online, never spoken.
• Conventions are alerted, and the opponents may ask about any agreement at their turn.
• The director settles every irregularity. Calling the director is routine.
• Nobody discusses a board until the whole session is over, because another table may still have to play it.

Duplicate in a lesson#

Teachers like duplicate because it lets a whole class play the same deal and then compare. In Teacher's Console a teacher can run a short duplicate game inside a lesson and go through the traveller with the class; the manual Lesson in a Duplicate Game, Duplicate Game in a Lesson shows the setup step by step.

Your first duplicate game#

Play a few robot duplicate games first. Shark Bridge Game lets you practise the duplicate procedure without a director watching, and the ACBL robot games on Online Bridge Club are a low-pressure way to earn your first Masterpoints. When you move to a club, tell the director you are new. Most clubs seat beginners with a friendly pair on purpose. If you are still learning the game itself, Bridge Rules for Beginners covers the table procedures.