Bridge guides and conventions
Contract bridge is a deep game with a steep first hour, and most of what is written about it assumes you are already past that hour. These guides do not. They start from what a bid means and what a card does, they use worked hands rather than abstractions, and every convention is explained by what problem it was invented to solve rather than as a rule to memorise.
You can try any of it immediately. A table deals you three robot opponents on demand, so there is no waiting for a fourth and no club night to turn up to — and every board you play is kept, so you can replay a hand trick by trick afterwards and see where the auction went wrong. More about free bridge online here.
Learning bridge
Start here if bridge is new, or if the words at the table are the part that is hard.
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How to play bridge
Learn contract bridge from scratch: the deal, the auction, the play of the hand, and how scoring works. No partner and no club membership needed.
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Minibridge
Minibridge drops the auction so you can start playing cards on day one. How the declarer is chosen, how to pick the contract, and when to move on.
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Valuing a bridge hand
Point count is where hand evaluation starts, not where it ends. Shape, fit and the auction all change what a hand is worth — here is how to judge it.
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Bridge scoring
Reach 100 trick points and you get the game bonus. The tables, the penalties, and why IMPs and matchpoints are different games.
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A glossary of bridge terms
Ruff, finesse, vulnerable, squeeze, LHO. Every bridge term a new player runs into at the table, defined in one sentence and shown in context.
Bidding and conventions
The auction is where most hands are won and lost. Ranges and rules first, then the conventions worth agreeing.
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A bridge bidding cheat sheet
Opening bids, responses, rebids and the common conventions on one page. The point counts and the ranges you need at the table, without the theory around them.
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Bridge conventions, and which ones are worth learning first
A convention is an agreed meaning for a bid that does not mean what it says. Here are the ones worth learning first, and the order to learn them in.
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Stayman
How to use Stayman to find a 4-4 major fit after partner opens 1NT: when to bid 2♣, what each answer means, and the hands where Stayman is the wrong call.
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Jacoby transfers
Transfer bids after 1NT make the strong hand declare, so the lead comes up to it. How 2♦ and 2♥ work, what to bid next, and when opener super-accepts.
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Takeout doubles
A double of a low-level suit bid asks partner to bid, not to defend. What it promises, why answering is compulsory, and the hands that overcall instead.
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Negative doubles
When an opponent overcalls, a double by responder is for takeout rather than penalties. What it promises, how high to play it, and what opener does next.
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Michaels and the unusual notrump
Two ways to show a two-suited hand over an opponent's opening in one call. What each shows, how partner answers, and why the range has a hole in it.
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Cappelletti
Cappelletti is a way into the auction after an opponent opens 1NT. What each overcall shows, how partner answers, and how it compares with the alternatives.
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Lebensohl
When an opponent overcalls partner's 1NT, 2NT becomes a puppet to 3♣. How the slow and fast routes separate weak hands from game forces.
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Preempts
A preempt trades your own accuracy for the opponents'. When to open three of a suit, what the rule of 2 and 3 is really for, and how partner should respond.
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Weak two bids
A six-card suit and 5-10 points. What a weak two promises, the hands that should not open one, and how partner asks with 2NT.
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Jacoby 2NT
Jacoby 2NT shows a game-forcing raise with four-card support for partner's major. How to bid it, how opener answers, and how the partnership finds a slam.
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Splinter bids
A double jump in a new suit shows a game-forcing raise and a singleton there. Why shortage decides more slams than point count ever will.
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Bergen raises
Bergen raises show trump length before strength, so nine trumps reach the three level at once. The four responses, and what they give away.
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Drury
Drury lets a passed hand show a limit raise without pushing past two of the major. How 2♣ works, what opener rebids, and why Reverse Drury became standard.
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Reverses
A second suit above your first forces partner to the three level, so it promises 17 or more. How to spot one, and what to bid without the values.
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New minor forcing
After a 1NT rebid, bidding the unbid minor asks opener to describe three-card major support and extra values. How to use it, and what opener must answer.
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Fourth suit forcing
With three suits bid, the fourth becomes a question rather than a suit. What it asks, what opener must answer, and how it differs from new minor forcing.
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Blackwood, and Roman Key Card
4NT asks for aces, but counting aces is not knowing you have the right ones. How Blackwood works, what key cards add, and when not to ask at all.
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Two over one game forcing
A two-level response in a new suit commits the partnership to game. What that buys, what the forcing notrump costs, and how a two over one auction develops.
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Acol
Four-card majors and a weak notrump. What Acol does differently from Standard American, and what changes about your rebids if you switch.
Playing the cards
The other half of bridge. Declarer play and defence — the part no amount of bidding theory rescues you from.
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Planning the play
The pause before trick one is worth more than any technique. Count winners in notrump, losers in a suit, and decide where the missing tricks come from.
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The finesse
A finesse is a coin flip, and most contracts contain something better. How it works, the varieties worth knowing, and the five times you should not take one.
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Opening leads
The only card played completely blind, and the one most likely to decide the contract. What to lead against notrump, against a suit, and which card to choose.
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Defensive signals
Defenders cannot speak, so everything travels in spot cards. The three signals, what each one asks, and how partner tells which of them you just gave.
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Counting the hand
The highest-value skill at the table and the one most players never start. How to count one suit, where the information comes from, and what to do with it.
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Endplays
Strip a hand of its safe exits, hand an opponent the lead, and they must give you the trick you could not win yourself. How elimination and throw-in work.
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Defensive card play
Second hand low, third hand high, and when to cover an honour. The rules that make defence automatic, and the positions where each one is wrong.
Where to play
Getting a game, practising alone, what the online formats actually give you, and what a club night is like.
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Four-handed bridge, and playing all four hands yourself
Bridge needs four players. Here is what that means, why solo bridge sites deal you three robots, and when playing all four hands yourself is worth doing.
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Just Play Bridge
Just Play Bridge deals you one seat and three robots, free and without an account. What it does well, what it does not keep, and where else to play it.
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What BBO is
BBO is Bridge Base Online, the largest online bridge site. What the name means, what GIB is, and where people look when they want something else.
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Your first bridge club
What actually happens at a duplicate session, the three things that stop people going, the etiquette in five lines, and how to find a club near you.
How to use these
If you have never played, start with how to play bridge and keep the glossary open beside it — most of what makes the game feel impenetrable at first is vocabulary rather than difficulty. If you can already play a hand but the auction still feels like guesswork, the bidding cheat sheet is the fastest thing here: correct opening bids and rebids are worth more than any convention.
Only then go to the conventions, and go to them one at a time. Every convention costs you the natural meaning of a bid, and a partnership playing five of them fluently will beat one playing twenty approximately. Learn one, play fifty hands with it, and add the next only when the first has stopped needing thought.