Software
Besides Windows
Useful information
Prepared games
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Bridge - Beginner 2
What to know to continue your initiation to bridge
- You must know the card play techniques described on the Beginner 1 page.
- You must know the principle of bidding in bridge, where each player, when it is his turn to speak, can declare a contract made of a level from 1 to 7, followed either by NT or a trump suit (♠, ♥, ♦, ♣). If you are not sure of your knowledge about this topic, read the The bidding section of the rules of the game.
- You must be have more or less understood the principle of minibridge, where the bidding is simplified to quickly allow you to play. Under certain conditions, one player per team gets what has been called the bidding slip, which gives him information about his partner's hand. If you are not sure of your knowledge about this topic, read the Minibridge section of the rules of the game.
The bidding slip and its tooltip
- You must be have more or less understood the principle of honor points (H points), which consists in assigning points to the four highest cards: Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2 and Jack = 1. By adding up his H points, a player can fairly well evaluate the strength of his hand.
- In minibridge, the bidding slip informs the player about his partner's H points. The player therefore knows the total H points of his team. By transferring this total to the decision table (known to all bridge players), he can very easily know which contract level is recommended to him.
- The bidding slip also informs the player about the distribution of his partner's suit. He then can easily find in his line a suit of at least 8 cards, the minimum recommended to play a suit contract. And without a good trump suit, the player will declare a NT contract.
- All the information necessary to easily make a bid (the reminder of the H points, the decision table, etc.) will be displayed on the screen as follows:
All the information to find the final contract in one go
- In the prepared games accessible below, a short comment on a yellow background will appear at the end of each deal, so that you can verify that you have bid the right contract and found the right line of play.
Introduction to the bidding in minibridge
Bidding in minibridge: a NT contract
Games of 4 deals
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Indications
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BIDMIN_NT1
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Here, you have 12 H points and + and are entitled to the bidding slip. Find the right contract for your team, and declare it.
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BIDMIN_NT2
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Now, you have less than 12 H. You cannot open the bidding and must therefore pass. Your partner will speak.
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BIDMIN_NT3
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A mix of situations where you have to either pass or bid a contract in NT.
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Click a game, then Open or Open with
Bidding in minibridge: a suit contract
Games of 4 deals
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Indications
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BIDMIN_SUIT1
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Here, you have 12 H points and + and are entitled to the bidding slip. Find a trump suit in your line and carefully count your team's HD points.
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BIDMIN_SUIT2
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Now, you have less than 12 H, and you must pass. It is your partner who declares the contract, but it is up to you to make it!
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BIDMIN_SUIT3
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A mix of situations where you have to either pass or bid a suit contract.
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Click a game, then Open or Open with
Understanding the scoring in bridge
Each card game has its own scoring rules. And even if a program on the computer is responsible for calculating the points scored, it is important to know a little about how each team scores points. Because the scoring influences the bidding and card play strategies. Depending on what we can win or lose, the risks we take will be different.
The basic rules of the scoring in bridge
Declarer makes his contract
- Only the declarer's team scores points.
- The points scored vary according to the suit of the contract:
- ♣ and ♦ (the minors) are worth 20 points.
- ♥ and ♠ (the majors) are worth 30 points.
- NT is worth 40 points for the 1st, 30 points for the following ones.
- The declarer's team first scores points according to the contract MADE:
- 1NT = scores 40 points, 3♦ = scores 60 points, 4♥ = scores 120 points, etc.
- 1NT +1 scores 70 points, 3♦ +1 scores 80 points, 4♥ +1 scores 150 points, etc.
- 1NT +2 scores 100 points, 3♦ +2 scores 100 points, 4♥ +2 scores 180 points, etc.
- To these points of contract made is added a bonus according to the contract BID:
- 50 bonus points for a partscore contract (the contract bid is worth less than 100 points).
- 300 bonus points for a game contract (the contract bid is worth 100 points or more).
The game bonus increases to 500 points if the team is vulnerable (see further on).
Declarer goes down
- Only the defense team scores points.
- The defense team scores 50 points per undertrick.
- 1 undertrick scores 50 points, 2 undertricks 100 points, 3 undertricks 150 points, etc.
The points per undertrick are doubled if the declarer's team is vulnerable (see further on).
The importance of bidding game
We see here that it is necessary to understand well the scoring to make the right bids. Because the game bonus is very high, and therefore a team should always strive to bid game if it can. If it cannot, it will try to stop at the lowest partscore contract. The games to investigate in priority are:
- The game in major with 4♥ or 4♠ (fairly low level, presence of a trump suit).
- The game in No Trump with 3NT (more risky but only 9 tricks to make).
- The game in minor with 5♣ or 5♦ (as a last resort because of the high level).
The notion of game (in bridge) comes from rubber bridge, a type of bridge that people like to play with the family or friends. The winning team is then the first to win 2 games of at least 100 points (which is called "winning a rubber"). In this scoring mode, only the contracts bid and made count for the game, which causes teams to bid, if they can, game contracts like the ones listed above. In addition, as a team having already won a game tended to block the match by making overbids that could only go down, bridge players introduced the notion of vulnerability. A team that has already won a game is said to be vulnerable, and the points it loses when going down are doubled. It then becomes more cautious when making overbids, and this prevents the game from going on endlessly.
In bridge tournaments, where the same deals are played by different teams, the principle of two games of 100 points can no longer apply. But bridge players probably wanted to keep the strategies linked to the game and the vulnerability, because they kept these two notions in the tournament scoring described above. During a tournament, the boards containing the deals to be played are provided so that the position of the dealer and the situation of vulnerability (None, NS, EW or All) are equally distributed.
Practicing the bidding in minibridge
What to know before practicing
- Look out for the bidding slip to the right of South's hand. If you are entitled to it, it is you who have all the information to bid, and who must declare the final contract. If the slip is not displayed, it means that you have less than 12 H and that you must pass.
- If your partner gets the bidding slip, it is him who declares the final contract. You should not overbid because you do not have the same information as him. His bid will be displayed with a small orange square, to remind you that he has received the bidding slip.
- Trust the decision table, and apply yourself to declaring the contract that is recommended for your team's total points. The indicated point ranges have been scientifically established by bridge champions. They do not always guarantee the success of the recommended contract, but they correspond to a contract that can be made in the vast majority of cases.
- Always keep in mind the goal of bidding game if your team's points allow it. Investigate in order:
- 4♥ or 4♠ (from 27 HD and a major trump suit of at least 8 cards).
- 3NT (from 25 H, without a major trump suit and even with 8 cards in minor).
- 5♣ or 5♦ (from 30 HD and a minor trump suit of at least 9 cards).
- And if your team's points exceed 30, count them again carefully because slam is never far away! In addition to the game bonus, bid and made slams are worth many points:
- Small slam (6 level, 12 tricks): 500 (non vulnerable) or 750 (vulnerable).
- Grand slam (7 level, 13 tricks): 1000 (non vulnerable) or 1500 (vulnerable).
- The prepared games are never counted in your statistics. You can therefore play them and replay them without fear of altering your statistical results.
- At the end of each deal, you can replay the deal by the Replay deal normally button of the primary toolbar.
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Replay deal normally button or shortcut F3.
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- At the end of each prepared games, you can replay the game or only certain deals, using the Return to the prepared game button (bottom right of the screen).
Practice games
Games of 8 deals
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Indications
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BIDMIN_PRACT1
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A mix of suit or NT contracts, most often in offense. It's up to you or your partner to bid the right final contract, and of course, it's up to you to make it!
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BIDMIN_PRACT2
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BIDMIN_PRACT3
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Click a game, then Open or Open with
Settings for practicing random games
If you want to practice random games with the same settings as the previous prepared games, this is very easy. You just have to start the game below (even without necessarily playing it to the end). Just starting this game will change your rule preferences to get the correct settings.
Beware, if you only want to test these settings while keeping your old preferences, you must first change the current user using the File / Choose user menu (shortcut Ctrl+U). Select a new user (2, 3, etc.) and name it Basic Minibridge (for example). Then, return to this page and start the setting game. Once done, you can play random games of the level described here, while keeping the preferences of your user N°1.
To ensure the correct settings
Next page:
Direct link to this page, that you are free to use:
https://vincent-brevart.fr/en/pre/bridge/prepared-games-bridge-beginner2.html
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