Rules for the American Contract Bridge League
Bridge is an offshoot of whist, a card game dating back to 16th century Britain, and contemporary contract bridge can be traced to Harold Vanderbilt's innovation of its scoring system in the 1920s. The American Contract Bridge League was founded in 1937 to promote the game and currently sanctions three types of tournaments: sectionals, regionals and North American Bridge Championships. ACBL rules help the organization govern game play and rankings in a fair and consistent manner.
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Dealing
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Bridge is played with two pairs of partners. The jokers are removed from the deck before play, then each player draws a card to determine who deals first. Cards are dealt clockwise, face down until each player has 13 cards.
Bidding
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Bidding progresses in accordance with the hierarchy of the card suits. Clubs are lowest, followed by diamonds, hearts and spades. If one player bids one heart, the next player would have to make a larger bid according to suit hierarchy, such as one spade or two clubs, or he can pass. The bidding specifies how many tricks the partnership must take to win the hand and also determines whether there will be a trump suit for the hand. A trump suit is a suit designated by the winning bidder that takes precedence over all other suits for taking tricks. The trick is the group of four cards left on the table after each player has taken his turn. Bidding ends when three subsequent players pass and the final bid becomes the contract.
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Taking Tricks
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Play begins with a player laying one of his cards face up on the table. Each of the other players must follow suit if they're capable of doing so. If no trump has been declared for the hand, the highest card in the suit of the first card played takes the trick. If a trump suit has been declared, each player still must follow suit when able, but may play a trump card if she can't follow suit. The highest-valued trump card played then takes the trick.
Scoring
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Partners are awarded points for each trick taken after the sixth trick won. When clubs or diamonds are the trump suit, each trick is worth 20 points, while tricks taken while hearts or spades are the trump suit are worth 30 points. When there's no trump suit, 40 points are awarded for the first scoring trick taken, with each subsequent trick worth 30 points. Tournament play requires winning a certain number of rubbers, which are composed of individual games. Games are played to 100 points, and the first pair of partners to win two games out of three wins the rubber.
Masterpoints
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The ACBL ranks league members' sanctioned play performance with Masterpoints. Masterpoint awards are calculated using a complex formula that factors in the level of competition, the type of event and the number of sessions during the event. After the host of an event submits the results to the ACBL, the calculations are performed and the resulting Masterpoints are rewarded to each competitor.
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References
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- Photo Credit playing cards image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com
