MINIBRIDGE

HIGH CARD POINTS (HCPs)

Ace       =      4

King      =      3

Queen   =      2

Jack      =      1

10 High Card Points in each suit

40 High Card Points in a pack

10 High Card Points for an Average Hand

RANK                     

No Trumps

HIGHEST

Spades            ♠

Hearts             ♥

LOWEST

MINIBRIDGE

Dealer is the first to announce

High Card Points.

This continues in a clockwise direction.

The pair with the most HCPs in total

will play the hand.

The player with the most HCPs in that partnership will be the

OPENER.

Opener’s partner is the

RESPONDER.

Opener will then propose a suit and responder will either agree or make a different proposal.

Opener may agree responder’s suit, propose a different suit or propose No Trumps.

This continues until they agree.

The player who first mentioned No Trumps or the agreed suit will become

DECLARER.

Declarer now decides what the target or CONTRACT

is to be in the agreed suit or in No trumps.

Declarer’s partner is called

DUMMY.

The other partnership is the

DEFENCE.

MINIBRIDGE

The player on Declarer’s left makes the

OPENING LEAD.

Dummy now places her/his cards face up on the table.

Declarer looks at both hands and PLANS how to make the contract AND THEN how many

EXTRA TRICKS he/she will try to make.

Declarer then chooses which card is played from Dummy.

All players must FOLLOW SUIT if they can.

If you cannot follow suit, you may

DISCARD

any card from any suit OR

TRUMP

The highest card of the suit led wins the trick unless a trump is played instead; in that case the highest trump of the four cards wins.

If the contract is No Trumps, the highest card of the suit led wins.

The winner of the trick then leads any card of their choice to start the next trick.

MINIBRIDGE

First Revision

How many High Card Points do you hold in these hands?

♠ AK98       ♠ KQJ9      ♠ 975         ♠ 764

♥ 9765       ♥ AJ7         ♥ AQJ        ♥ AJ9

♦ AQJ         ♦ AKJ         ♦ KQJ         ♦ Q

♣ KQ          ♣ AQJ        ♣ KJT9      ♣ AKJT86

_______        ________      ________      _________

_______        ________      ________      _________

What is declarer’s partner known as?____________________________

Who announces their HCPs first ?________________________________

Who makes the opening lead?____________________________________

If you cannot follow suit, what do you do?_______________________

What is the second highest suit?_________________________________

What are HCPs?___________________________________________________

MINIBRIDGE

Guidance for declarer:

Look for the suit that has the most trumps in it between the two hands. Do not choose a trump suit unless you have at least 8 cards between the two hands, this is known as a FIT.

If you do not have a fit, then play in No Trumps.

If you do play in a suit contract, trumps are all about control.

Try to DRAW the opponents’ TRUMPS.

Count the trumps that have gone.

Having drawn trumps, then go to your second best suit.

Guidance for the defence:

Work together

Do not just lead your Aces, that helps declarer.

Only play a card when it is your turn to do so.

Take account of what you heard during the auction.

Remember all 52 cards are in circulation.

Guidance for dummy:

Be quiet.

Do not interfere.

If declarer calls for a card, play it. Do not question declarer’s motive for playing that card.

Take the opportunity to observe the opposition.

If partner makes a mistake, you must refrain from making any comment. This is why you are known as the Dummy!

However, if partner tries to play from the wrong hand you may correct. If partner fails to follow suit, you may check that partner has none of the suit led.

MINIBRIDGE

Aiming to make a contract

Now we will start to set a target of a minimum number of tricks that you have to make to claim your CONTRACT. This is determined by the number of HCPs that you have between your two hands. Declarer tries to make the contract, the defence tries to stop her/him.

*There is no need to set a higher target unless you have 33+ points.

¹Frequently 3NT (fewer tricks to get!) is possible and scores the same².

² See P12 next booklet!

Now you have a challenge.

Your first priority is to make your contract.

A secondary consideration is OVERTRICKS to go for.

Sometimes it is impossible to make your contract despite the number of HCPs that you hold. It can happen that you cannot even make 9 tricks when you hold 31 HCPs.

MINIBRIDGE

PLAY OF THE HAND

When your Left hand opponent (LHO) makes the opening lead, you have to make a plan. The aim is primarily to make your contract and secondly to make as many tricks as possible. Let us look at a hand that contains only five cards in each hand.

NORTH

                                ♠ AK

                                ♥ KQJ

          WEST                                 EAST

                                ♠ 32

                                ♥ 432

                                SOUTH

All the Clubs and Diamonds have gone. But one of the defenders has the Ace of Hearts. West leads a Spade and you play the Ace or King (remember they are both equal).

What do you play next?

You must play a Heart to remove the Ace and then you enjoy the rest of the tricks.

If you win the first trick with your top Spade and then play another top Spade, you will have lost control. When you then play a Heart, whoever wins with the Ace may have one or two Spades left and, of course, you win no more tricks.

MINIBRIDGE

DEFENDING

The first thing you have to do when you are defending is to make the “Opening Lead”.

This could set the whole tone of the hand.

Your first inclination so far has probably been to play your Aces and then see what happens. Let us look at part of a hand (which has been reduced to 5 cards as with the declarer example above).

NORTH

                                 ♠ 965

                                ♥ 74

               ♠ K83                       ♠ Q74

WEST      ♥ 86                         ♥ A3    EAST

                                ♠ A2

                                 ♥ KQJ

                                 SOUTH

You are South and it is you to play. Look what happens if you play your Ace: it allows West to make the King and East to make the Queen.

Now try playing a Heart. (Remember they are of equivalent power if you hold them all in your hand.)

Watch how you now win 3 tricks.

You would have won only 2 if you had led the Ace first.

Over the coming weeks we will see how to build tricks, sometimes slowly, to gain in the long run.

A hand of bridge is 13 tricks, not just the Aces in your hand.

When you have completed Lesson 1 contact https://www.bridgewebs.com/firstclassbridge/ for your complimentary copy of Lesson 2

When you have completed Lesson 2 contact https://www.bridgewebs.com/firstclassbridge/ for your complimentary copy of Lesson 3