Beginners Bridge | How to Play Bridge | Learn to Play Bridge

Bridge is a simple game to learn but takes many years to master. Some basic information for bridge beginners: - Bridge is played by four players divided into two pairs who sit opposite each other. - Bridge is played with a standard deck of 52 cards, divided into four groups or suits – the highest ranking being spades, then hearts, then spades, then finally the lowest ranking suit is clubs. - Each of these suits has thirteen cards, the highest being the Ace, then the King, the Queen, the Jack then the Ten down to the two. - The bridge game is divided into three phases – the Auction (or bidding process), the Play and finally the Scoring. Beginner Bridge players will learn that bridge is a trick taking game, meaning each player takes a turn to play one card at time, and the highest ranking card takes the trick. During the auction, each side bids how many tricks their side will take. Whoever bids for the most tricks becomes known as the declaring side. During the second phase, the play phase, the declaring side must make however many tricks they bid for in the bidding phase – if they do, they will be rewarded with points. If they do not, they will be penalised and lose points. The second phase of play, the play phase begins by one of the players playing any card they like. The play then continues around the table in a clockwise formation until each player has played one card to that trick. Whoever plays the highest card to that tricks is deemed to have “won” the trick and gets to play the first card to the second trick. Beginning bridge players must learn about card play and its corollary, defense, to become good bridge players. Beginning bridge players must also learn to atune their mind in order to remember the cards that have already been played – so they can work out and establish which cards are yet to be played. Remember – you only ever see your own thirteen cards and this skill of memory takes some time to develop. Beginners usually enjoy learning bridge as they find many aspects of the game enjoyable – the strategies, the mathematics, the skills developed.