Introduction

How It Works

Bidding proceeds as per normal. There is no doubling or re-doubling. The last bidder becomes the declarer and will choose a partner by naming a card he does not hold. The person holding that card becomes the declarer's partner, but this is not disclosed.

The declarer leads the first card and play proceeds as per normal. The play ends when either the contract is made or the contract is defeated. There is no notion of overtricks or undertricks, and there is no dummy.

The only interesting part of the game is trying to guess who is the declarer's partner. Everything else is just pure guesswork as there is very little to deduce on. Also, whether you win or lose is totally dependent on whether you have good cards or not, and whether you have the luck to pick a partner with good cards. Thus, the skill level required is very low.

Low Skill Level

A 7 4
A K 10 2
A K 9 7
A K

And your friend John picks up:

K Q J 10 9 8
5
-
Q J 10 9 4 2

Then, there is absolutely no need for you to bid. You just wait for someone else to bid and then to choose you as their partner. Most people would choose an Ace, so there's a very high chance you'd be their partner.

Supposing John decides to bid Spades, and he wins the contract at the two level. He chooses "Ace of Spades" to be the partner. Not only do both of you clearly win eight tricks (which is what is required for the two level), but both of you win all 13 tricks! Unfortunately, the bidding will never get to the seven level because no one will ever bid that high.

So the other two people with the lousier cards are always doomed to lose, just because they hold lousy cards.

A Better Bridge

Olympic Sport?

The Technical Differences

• Partnership. The partners are fixed before the games begin. Partners always sit opposite each other. Thus, there is the opportunity to develop complex bidding systems which describe your bridge hand to your partner. It helps if you know your partner well as his character will influence his bidding decisions.

  In the deal given above, you and John should have no problems in reaching a 7 contract, which would never be possible nor desirable in "floating" bridge.

• Bidding. So why go to a 7 contract if a 1 contract will do? After all, it is easier to make the 1.

  The answer is in the scoring. If I bid 1 but make 6 overtricks (making 7), I get only 7 * 30 + 50 bonus points = 260 points. If I bid 7 and make the contract, I get at least 7 * 30 + (300 + 1000) bonus points = 1510 points. Big difference right?

  There are bonuses for other levels too, so even a 4 contract with 3 overtricks (making 7) will get 7 * 30 + 300 bonus points = 510 points. Much better than the miserable 260 points in the first case.

  So the idea is that if you have good cards, you need to bid at a higher level to obtain the bonuses. Bid it if you have it.

• Dummy. After the bidding is over, the person on the declarer's left plays the first card, after which the declarer's partner (called the dummy) lays down all his cards. From now onwards, the dummy takes no further part in the play, and the declarer does all the playing and planning for the partnership.

  Some may say that it is no fun for the dummy, since he does not participate in the play. I initially thought so too. But then I realised that "This concept of exposing one of the hands for all to see is the hallmark of bridge. It adds an element of skill that would never be possible with all four hands hidden, yet there is more than enough mystery about the unseen hands to make the play challenging." (Quoted from Richard Pavlicek on his website.)

• Fairness. To minimize the element of luck, Duplicate Contract Bridge is played at competitions. In a nutshell, the cards are not shuffled after each deal. Rather, the cards are kept in boards which keep the original deal, and these boards are passed around for other people to play. Your score is not the raw score obtained from whether you make the contract or are defeated, but rather your score is compared to the other partnerships who play the exact same cards as you. If you beat their score, you get points.

  So it does not matter how good or lousy your cards are. But what matters is that you must maximise your good or lousy cards to make sure you play better than other partnerships with the same good or lousy cards. Fair, right?

• Planning. Since everyone can see the dummy's cards, everyone can do planning. The declarer will plan how best he can make the contract and score a few overtricks if possible. The defenders will plan how they can utilize the weaknesses in the dummy's hand and deduce the weaknesses in the declarer's hand, in order to defeat the contract by as many undertricks as possible. This is just not possible in "floating" bridge.

• Reach. There is no book nor article on the Internet (except this one) regarding "floating" bridge. But there are thousands of books on Contract Bridge, not to mention websites. Need I say more?

• And More... There is much more that I missed out. But I hope this short survey has given you a better idea of what Contract Bridge is like and why it is such a fascinating game.

Why Wait?

Please feel free to send me e-mail for any queries or comments.

Check out my "Contract Bridge Links" at my home page below for some links for beginners who want to learn Contract Bridge.

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