Lesson 1 INTRODUCTION Surendra Mehta January 2007 BRIDGE

Lesson 1 - INTRODUCTION Surendra Mehta January 2007

BRIDGE • Rolls Royce of all card Games – Omar Sharif • In these introductory lessons, I will be following ‘Bridge for Beginners’ by Mohamed Zia (Chapters 1 & 2) • Types of Bridge games – two main types – contract and duplicate • Swiss Pairs, teams, etc • Initial training for rubber bridge; also Assume zero knowledge of bridge Surendra Mehta, January 2007 2

Satyo (Chokdi) - Similarity and differences • • Four players Partners Clockwise Who calls the trumps Do not make tricks all in one go Who deals – one card at a time Dummy Try and make more tricks Surendra Mehta, January 2007 3

Some Bridge terms • North, East, South, West. • Trumps • Declarer, respondent, dummy, dealer, opener, over-caller • Singleton, void, doubleton • Contract • Grand slam, small slam • Vulnerable • Finesse • Majors/minors • Double/redouble • Response, Re-Bid Surendra Mehta, January 2007 4

The System • • Acol & variations Weak No Trump Weak Twos Multi Diamond Five-card major Artificial Club Strong No trump Surendra Mehta, January 2007 5

Brief Description of the game (1) • 4 players – N, E, S, W • Jokers removed; shuffle & deal one at a time • Bidding (auction) – dealer starts bidding • Contract – 1 of a suit (7 tricks required); 3 of a suit (9 tricks required) – i. e. 6 + the level bid • Failure to make required number of tricks – penalty points • Extra tricks - bonus Surendra Mehta, January 2007 6

Brief Description of the game (2) • What are tricks? • The cards and points value – – Ace King Queen Jack 4 3 2 1 points point • Distribution points – Void – Singleton – Doubleton Surendra Mehta, January 2007 3 points 2 points 1 point 7

Bidding Ladder • • • Clubs Diamonds Hearts Spades No trumps Surendra Mehta, January 2007 minor – 20 points per trick major – 30 points per trick 40 for the first trick and 30 subsequently 8

Zones • 3 No trumps (9 tricks) • 4 H or S (10 tricks) • 5 C or D (11 tricks) – 25 to 26 pts - 28 -29 points • Small Slam (12 tricks) • Grand Slam (13 tricks) - 33 pts (Bonus) - 37 pts (Bonus) • ASSUMPTION – Average distribution Surendra Mehta, January 2007 9

Bidding • • • Dealer starts Ranking (C, D, H, S, NT) Description of hand (shape and strength) Three successive no bids (or passes) Double/redouble count as bid Listen carefully to partner’s and opponents bidding (form a picture of combined hand) – Bridge is a partnership game – you are not on your own. Surendra Mehta, January 2007 10

Scoring • Above the line/below the line • Points below the line count towards game • 100 points (or more) required below the line for a game • Points for penalties and bonuses go above the line • ‘Rubber’ is best of 3 games • Virgin rubber (700 points); 3 game rubber (500 point) Surendra Mehta, January 2007 11

Next week’s lesson • One level opening bids and responses to 1 NT • Read chapters 3– 5 in Zia’s book if you want to get most out of next week’s lesson. Surendra Mehta, January 2007 12