Things You'll Need:
- Appropriate software for playing bridge online
- Membership in a bridge club or league
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Step 1
Brush up on your bridge skills by joining a local bridge club. You can find links to bridge clubs in your area by visiting the American Contract Bridge League website (see Resources below). Select your state or country to see a list of bridge clubs and their meeting addresses.
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Step 2
Polish your online bridge skills by logging on to an Internet bridge club. You can find online bridge games on sites such as Yahoo! games as well as through pay-to-play services (see Resources below). Many of these may require additional software, so be sure you have a compatible computer system before signing up.
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Step 3
Find a tournament in your area through your local bridge club. You may need to participate in tournaments at the local level before you may advance to the national or even international level. Tournaments such as the USBF's annual tournament are conducted to select bridge players who will participate in International Bridge tournaments throughout the world.
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Step 4
Familiarize yourself with the American Contract Bridge League Tournament rules. As of 1998, the ACBL requires all sanctioned tournaments to be conducted using bidding boxes and may also require bidding screens, which prevent communication between teammates.
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Step 5
Plan to play to your greatest ability. Remember that it is not just your success that you are playing for, but that of your partner.
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Step 6
Play in online bridge tournaments to get a better idea of what tournament play may be like before entering a tournament. Bridge tournaments are hosted online by a number of websites, many of which award cash prizes.
