Card play can be endlessly fascinating, but for me, it is the bidding that makes bridge truly unique. The bidding is all about communication with your partner in a language that you and your partner get to create, and it provides endless opportunities for creativity, daring and deception!

The language of bidding is all based on the 38 legal calls: 35 bids ranging from 1♣  to 7NT, pass, double and redouble. (When you are first starting, I recommend that you ignore double and redouble.)

Bids have a nominal meaning that is an offer to make a certain number of tricks with a designated trump suit or without a trump suit. And the last bid in an auction really has to mean that, because it is what determines what the contract is and what the trump suit is, if any. Earlier bids in the auction, however, can mean whatever you and your partner have agreed that they mean!

When you are first learning to play, you will want to start with a simple bidding "system" that lets you and your partner get to a reasonable contract most of the time. As you gain more experience, you may want to add some other fancier bids that will help your side to have more extensive communication that will be helpful in certain specific situations.

Also, I recommend that you start out using a "cheat sheet" that tells you the meanings of the bids that you and your partner will make. You wouldn't be permitted to do this in a typical tournament, but everyone starts out this way and even highly experienced players often agree that it's OK to consult notes when playing games for fun or when practicing.

At the start, the simpler the better, and I suggest you might start with something like the Williams College Bridge Club's Cheat Sheet. There's actually a huge amount of information packed into one page here. It's worth starting by reading the fine print at the bottom, that will help you understand the philosophy and goals of the bidding and that defines some key terms, such as "major suit" for hearts or spades and "minor suit" for clubs or diamonds, and "support," which means you have 3 or more cards in a suit that partner has shown. Just above the fine print, in the box on the lower right, are some rules for counting high card points (as well as some points you will learn to add when you have very few cards in one or more of the suits), the hierarchy for legal bids, and a guide as to how many points it typically takes to reach certain trick goals). The rest of the sheet has the meanings of bids. With these rules, you will be able to bid most deals with a pretty impressive degree of accuracy!

A few comments about the Williams College Cheat Sheet

In responding to 1 of a major (1♥ or 1♠ ), I recommend you raise 3 levels, by bidding 4♥ or 4♠ rather than making a "jump shift." That's a concept you'll meet later, and even then, you won't want to do it exactly as they've described.

In responding to 1 no trump or 2 no trump, you may notice that there's something called a "Jacoby Transfer." I recommend you actually *not* use these bids at first. If you have 5 hearts or 5 spades and 8 or more points, just bid the suit you have, so 2♥ or 2♠ after your partner opens 1 no trump or 3♥ or3♠ after your partner opens 2 no trump. The opening bidder will then know what you have and can decide whether to try for game (see that box on the lower right) and whether or not to have a trump suit. (With 3 or more cards in the suit that responder showed, opener will know that the side has 8 total and that usually makes for a good trump suit!) You can add the special meaning responses to no trump opening bids later on, and I'll actually recommend that you do things slightly differently that the way they recommend here.

Adding some more complexity

When you want to add more detail and some more bids with special meanings, you can go with something like the No Fear Bridge Cheat Sheet, but there's really no reason to rush in to things. Do what you're comfortable with and what you find fun. You can have a great game with a very simple bidding system. Once you start to get the hang of things, if you like complexity, go for it, but it is by no means necessary for fun or for success.