Learning bridge
Bridge scoring
Bridge scoring awards trick points for each trick bid and made, and a large game bonus for reaching 100 of them in one contract. This page has the scoring tables, the penalties, and how IMPs and matchpoints change the way you bid.
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.
A minor-suit game needs eleven tricks for the same bonus 3NT gets for nine, so it's a last resort. Partnerships look for a major fit first, then 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
Vulnerable, the same game is worth 200 more, and the penalties for going down are bigger too.
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.
These penalties are behind the rule of 2 and 3: a sacrifice pays as long as the penalty is smaller than the value of the opponents' game.
Four ways of counting it up
Total points
Your raw score, added up and not compared with anyone else's. Casual and solo play often uses it, 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 scale is compressed: an overtrick is worth at most 1 IMP, while a missed vulnerable game can cost 10 or more. So bid the close games, take the safe line, and don't risk the contract for an overtrick.
Matchpoints
You're ranked against everybody else who played the same board. Beat their score and you get a point. Only the ranking matters, and the margin doesn't count.
Beating the other tables by an overtrick earns as much as beating them by a slam bonus, so every trick is worth fighting for.
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
The same thirteen cards are bid differently depending on how they'll be counted.
- At IMPs, bid the vulnerable game whenever it's close, because the 500 bonus is a lot to give up. In the play, take the safe line.
- At matchpoints, an overtrick can decide the board. Prefer notrump to a major-suit partscore, and take the finesse that could gain a trick.
- At total points, bid what you can make. Nothing is being compared, so there's no reason to stretch.
If you don't know which scoring you're playing, ask before the first board.