Beginners’ Bridge Blog | How To Play Bridge

The Rule of 20

The Rule of 20 is used in just one situation – when deciding if your hand is suitable for opening the bidding. As a general rule, a hand should contain 12 or more high card points (HCP) if you are going to open the bidding. Sometimes, though, you might want to open the bidding with a hand that contains fewer points. This is when you use The Rule of 20 – its purpose is to decide if a hand with fewer than 12 points is suitable for opening.

Using The Rule of 20

Start by adding up your high card

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Slam Bidding

What is a Slam?

There are two types of slam – a small slam and a grand slam.

A small slam means you bid for and win 12 out of the 13 available tricks.

A grand slam means you bid for and win all 13 tricks.

Why Bid For a Slam?

You might be wondering why you would risk bidding for a small or grand slam when you could bid for fewer tricks and be certain of winning.

The answer is points. If you bid for and win a small slam, or a grand slam you will win a greater

Continue reading Slam Bidding Simplified

The Losing Trick Count

What is the Losing Trick Count?

It is a more accurate way of valuing an unbalanced hand when you know you have an eight card fit. Without using this method you will probably have used shortage points when valuing a hand with a known eight card fit. To do this you count five for a void, 3 for a singleton in a suit and 1 for a doubleton suit. However, this is not the most accurate method of valuing an unabalanced hand and most bridge players use the Losing Trick Count instead.

Why Should You Use it?

It makes it

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Bridge Holidays 2012 - For Beginners and Improvers

Last year, I added a selection of bridge holidays for beginners. It proved to be a popular post, so here is an updated list of bridge holidays for beginner’s and improvers.

HF Holidays are offering two breaks for beginners. One in February 2012 and one in October 2012. Both are for four nights.

Urchfont Manor have a beginners bridge weekend in January 2012. They also have a weekend for improvers in April 2012.

If you fancy a week in the sun and can get together a group of 4 – 10 players you can

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Rule of 11

At first glance, this rule sounds rather complicated! Don’t worry, if you are the defending partnership it’s just a useful little technique to help you decide which card to play in the opening round of a game.

There are several “rules” that the opener can use to help decide which card to play when opening the first round in a game of bridge. The Rule of 11 is used by the third player (the opener’s partner) to help him/her decide which card to play.

When To Use The Rule Of 11

It is usually used when the game is being

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Duplicate Bridge Scoring

Learning how to score at bridge makes it easier to understand the bridge bidding system. Once you know how to score you will understand why it is better to play in hearts/spades/NT than diamonds or clubs and why players will continue bidding to the 4, 5, 6 or even 7 level instead of stopping at the 3 or 4 level.

Let’s start with the absolute basics.

No points are scored for the first 6 tricks. A contract for 1 of a suit (or 1NT) means you think you will make 7 tricks (6 + 1 bid). A contract for 4

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bridge hands to play

If you are learning to play bridge it is helpful to find some bridge hands to play online.

At No Fear Bridge you will find hundreds of bridge hands to play, covering a wide range of topics.

Some hands allow you to play the whole hand and then show you what you have scored. You are then given advice on the best way to play the hand.

Some hands are set up as tutorials where you choose which card to play, or which bid to make and you are then given feedback on wrong answers.

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The Opening Lead

I recently downloaded some software that allows me to make videos of my computer screen. I’ve used it to make a short video to show you one of the quizzes on making the opening lead at bridge.

This is the Beginner’s leads training quiz. Each time you take the quiz you are given a set of ten questions. When you answer you will see an explanation of why your chosen card is right, wrong or maybe just not “the best”.

At the end of the quiz you are given the option to start again with the same questions or

Continue reading The Opening Lead – Video

The Opening Lead

Last night I was having a tutorial on how to decide on the opening lead. (Isn’t Skype wonderful! You can talk to each other via Skype whilst screen sharing so I could see my friend’s screen as she was teaching me.)

In case you hadn’t realised, my friend Leigh Harding runs No Fear Bridge and she’s teaching me how to play bridge. I’ve got to the stage where we can have a game of bridge online playing against a couple of robots.

Opening Lead in a Trumps Contract

Last night we were looking at how to decide on

Continue reading The Opening Lead

Bridge Bidding Boxes

Most bridge players use bidding boxes. They can be used at a bridge club or competition, or used if you are playing a friendly game of bridge in your own home.

Why Are They Used?

Bidding boxes are used to avoid confusion when a bid is made. There is no need for the player to speak his/her bid as the cards are laid on the table for everyone to see . This avoids any confusion caused by a player mishearing a bid.

In a busy club situation bidding boxes mean

Continue reading Bridge Bidding Boxes

How To Play Bridge

The Rule of 20

Using The Rule of 20

Slam Bidding

What is a Slam?

Why Bid For a Slam?

The Losing Trick Count

What is the Losing Trick Count?

Bridge Holidays 2012 - For Beginners and Improvers

Rule of 11

When To Use The Rule Of 11

Duplicate Bridge Scoring

bridge hands to play

The Opening Lead

The Opening Lead

Opening Lead in a Trumps Contract

Bridge Bidding Boxes

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