Learning bridge
Bridge scoring
Bridge scoring looks arbitrary until you notice it is built around one number. Reach 100 trick points and you get a large bonus, and every bidding decision in the game is downstream of that.
Why 3NT and 4♥ exist
The cheapest routes to 100 are the reason those contracts get bid so often:
- 3NT — 40 + 30 + 30 = 100. Nine tricks.
- 4♥ or 4♠ — 4 × 30 = 120. Ten tricks.
- 5♣ or 5♦ — 5 × 20 = 100. Eleven tricks.
Nine tricks against eleven for the same bonus is why a minor-suit game is a last resort, and why partnerships hunt for a major fit before settling for notrump.
Bonuses
- Partscore — 50
- Game, not vulnerable — 300
- Game, vulnerable — 500
- Small slam (twelve tricks) — 500 not vulnerable, 750 vulnerable
- Grand slam (all thirteen) — 1000 not vulnerable, 1500 vulnerable
- Making a doubled contract — 50 on top, and 100 if redoubled
The vulnerable game bonus is why vulnerability changes so much. The same contract is worth 200 more, and the penalties for failing rise to match.
Penalties
When declarer fails, the defenders score per undertrick:
- Undoubled — 50 each not vulnerable, 100 each vulnerable.
- Doubled, not vulnerable — 100, then 300, then 500, then 800, rising by 300 thereafter.
- Doubled, vulnerable — 200, then 500, then 800, rising by 300 thereafter.
- Redoubled — double the doubled figures.
Those numbers are the whole arithmetic behind the rule of 2 and 3: a sacrifice is worth it while the penalty stays below the game you prevented, and stops being worth it the moment it does not.
Four ways of counting it up
Total points
The raw score, added up, with nothing compared against anybody. Simple, and what most casual and solo play uses — including the robot formats.
It rewards bidding and making. A part-score is worth having and an overtrick is worth almost nothing.
IMPs
Your score on a board is compared with another table's, and the difference is converted on a compressed scale — International Match Points. Used in team play.
The compression is the point: a single disaster costs a few IMPs rather than the match. So you bid the safe game, take the safe line, and ignore overtricks.
Matchpoints
You are ranked against everybody else who played the same board. Beat their score and you get a point; only the ranking matters, not the margin.
That makes every trick equal. One overtrick is worth exactly as much as a slam bonus, which is why matchpoint bridge is played so aggressively.
Rubber
The original form. Games accumulate towards a rubber — best of three, and partscores carry over between deals. Still played socially, rarely in clubs.
The scoring decides how you bid
This is the part worth taking away. The same thirteen cards are bid differently depending on how they will be counted.
- At IMPs, bid the vulnerable game on anything close — 500 is a lot to leave behind. Take the safe line, always.
- At matchpoints, that overtrick is the board. Play notrump over a major-suit partscore, and take the finesse that gains a trick.
- At total points, just bid and make things. Nothing is being compared, so there is no reason to stretch.
A player who does not know which they are playing is guessing at the wrong game. Ask before the first board.