How to Bid in Contract Bridge: Bidding Rules for Beginners

Contract bridge is a card game for four players in two partnerships, and every deal starts with an auction called the bidding. The players take turns, starting with the dealer and moving clockwise, to decide how many tricks one side must win and which suit is trumps. On your turn you pass, bid, double or redouble; a bid names a number of tricks and a trump suit (or notrump), and it must be higher than the bid before it. The auction ends when a bid is followed by three passes in a row, and that last bid becomes the contract.

That is the whole mechanism. The rest of bidding (points, conventions, systems) is about using those few calls to tell partner what you hold. This page covers the rules first, then your first real bids, a full deal and a short quiz.

The dealer bids first. In a home or rubber bridge game the dealer is the player who dealt the cards. The deal moves one seat to the left (clockwise) after every hand, so each player gets a turn to start.

In duplicate bridge, the game played at clubs, tournaments and online, the cards come in a board: a tray with four pockets marked North, East, South and West. The board is marked with the dealer and the vulnerability, which tells you which side gets the bigger bonuses and the bigger penalties on that deal. Board 1 has North as dealer, board 2 East, board 3 South and board 4 West, and the cycle starts again with board 5.

After the dealer, the turn goes clockwise, one player at a time. Nobody may skip ahead or bid twice in a row. A player who passed earlier keeps the right to bid if the auction comes back around: a pass is not a promise to stay quiet.

Every bid has two parts: a level from 1 to 7 and a strain, which is one of the four suits or notrump. The level counts tricks above six. The first six tricks are called the book, so a bid of 1♠ promises seven tricks with spades as trumps, and 4♥ promises ten tricks with hearts as trumps.

A notrump contract has no trump suit: the highest card of the suit led wins every trick. A game contract earns a big bonus when it makes, which is why so much of bidding is about one question: do we have enough for game, or do we stop in a partscore?

Each new bid must be higher than the last bid. A bid is higher if it is at a higher level, or at the same level in a higher-ranking strain. The strains rank, from lowest to highest:

clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), spades (♠), notrump (NT)

So the ladder starts 1♣, 1♦, 1♥, 1♠, 1NT, 2♣, 2♦ and goes all the way to 7NT, the highest bid there is. There are 35 bids in all. After an opponent bids 1♠ you may bid 1NT, or any bid at the two level or higher, but not 1♥: hearts rank below spades, so you need 2♥.

Clubs and diamonds are the minor suits. Hearts and spades are the major suits, and they score more: 30 points a trick against 20 for the minors. That is why a game in a major needs only ten tricks (4♥ or 4♠) while a game in a minor needs eleven (5♣ or 5♦). It is also why good players work so hard to find a fit in a major.

On your turn you make exactly one call:

• Pass. You do not want to bid now.
• Bid. A level and a strain, higher than the last bid.
• Double (X). You may double only the last bid, only if an opponent made it, and only if it is not doubled already. A double raises the score on the contract: the defenders collect more if it fails, and declarer collects more if it makes.
• Redouble (XX). You may redouble only when an opponent has doubled your side's bid, before anyone bids again. It raises the score once more.

Any new bid cancels a double or redouble that came before it, and the auction goes on as normal.

The laws only say what a double does to the score. Partnerships agree what a double means, and most doubles in modern bridge do not ask to defend at all. A takeout double of an opening bid says "I have opening values and support for the other suits: partner, pick one." Which doubles are for penalty and which are for takeout is one of the first things you agree with a partner.

The auction ends when a bid, double or redouble is followed by three passes in a row. The last bid is the contract, with any double or redouble on it. If all four players pass at the start, the deal is passed out: nobody scores, and in a home game the cards are dealt again.

Who plays the hand? Declarer is the player on the winning side who first named the strain of the final contract. That is often, but not always, the player who made the last bid.

North made the raise, but South mentioned hearts first, so South plays 4♥. The player on declarer's left (West here) makes the opening lead. Then declarer's partner lays the whole hand face up on the table as dummy, and declarer plays both hands. For the play itself, see how to play bridge.

The auction rules above come from the Laws of Duplicate Bridge, written by the World Bridge Federation and used, with small local regulations, by the ACBL in North America and the EBU in England. A few table rules matter from your first session:

1. Make your calls the same way every time. Most clubs use a bidding box: you place a card with your call on the table. Online you click it. At a kitchen table you say it plainly: "one heart", "pass", "double".
2. No signals by manner. A long pause, a sigh or a loud "double" tells partner something the call itself does not. Partner must not use that information, and the laws treat it seriously.
3. Your agreements are not secret. The opponents may ask what partner's call means. You explain your agreement ("we play that as a weak hand with six spades"), not what you guess partner holds. Bids with an artificial meaning are alerted, by the method your club or event uses.
4. If someone bids out of turn, or makes a bid that is too low, call the director. At a club or a tournament the director applies the law. Some of the fixes limit what the offender's partner may bid later, so do not sort it out yourselves.

At home you can relax the procedure, but keep rule 2: bidding works only when the calls are the only thing you use.

The rules tell you what you may bid. Hand value tells you what you should bid. Nearly every player starts with high card points (HCP): ace = 4, king = 3, queen = 2, jack = 1. The deck holds 40 HCP, so an average hand has 10.

The numbers that matter are the combined points of your side, yours plus partner's:

Shape adds value too: a long suit wins tricks with small cards, and a short suit lets you ruff. Many players add 1 point for each card over four in a long suit. The full method is in our page on high card points.

The first player to bid anything other than pass is the opener. In 2/1 Game Force and Standard American, the systems most players learn first in North America and online (BridgeDummy uses 2/1 by default), the main openings are:

A balanced hand has no singleton or void and at most one doubleton: shapes 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2 and 5-3-3-2. The full chart, with every exception, is in bridge opening bids.

When partner opens, you are the responder. Your first job is to keep the auction going with about 6 points or more, because partner may have up to 21 and game can be on even when you are weak. Then choose the bid that tells partner most:

• Support for partner's major (three or more cards): raise it. A single raise shows about 6-10 points, a jump raise more.
• A suit of your own: a new suit is forcing, which means partner must bid again. You can show your suit without fear of being left in it. In 2/1, a new suit at the two level over 1♥ or 1♠ (for example 1♠ - 2♣) also promises game values.
• No fit and no suit to show cheaply: 1NT. Over a minor opening it shows about 6-10 points; over 1♥ or 1♠, 2/1 players treat it as forcing for one round with about 6-12 (some pairs play it semi-forcing).

After the first two bids the auction gets easier, because one player can usually see the combined strength. That player becomes the captain and places the contract. The details, with a chart for every opening, are in responding to opening bids.

Many auctions are not quiet. When an opponent opens, you can still enter the auction:

• An overcall names your own suit. At the one level it shows a good five-card suit and about 8-16 HCP.
• A takeout double shows opening values, shortness in their suit and support for the others.
• Pass is right more often than beginners think, especially when you hold length in the suit they opened.

When both sides bid, the question changes from "how high can we go?" to "who should play this, and at what level?" That is the subject of competitive bidding in bridge.

Here is a full deal from start to finish. You are South and the dealer, so you bid first. No one is vulnerable.

Follow the conversation one call at a time:

1. South, 1♠. You hold 13 HCP and five spades: ♠A Q 10 7 4 ♥K 6 2 ♦8 5 ♣K J 3. That is an opening hand, and with a five-card major you open the major.
2. West, pass. West has 10 HCP and no good suit to show.
3. North, 3♠. North holds 10 HCP and four spades. A jump to 3♠ is a limit raise: about 10-12 points in support and at least three trumps (many pairs promise four). It asks: "partner, with a little extra, bid game." North's singleton club adds value, and some players would bid game at once. The limit raise is the simple choice.
4. East, pass.
5. South, 4♠. You have 13, partner has about 10-12. That adds up to 23-25, and your fifth spade and the ♣K J make it worth a try. You accept.
6. Pass, pass, pass. The auction ends. You named spades first, so you are declarer in 4♠.

Double dummy, with every card in view, 4♠ makes exactly ten tricks: +420 not vulnerable. 3NT would take only eight tricks, because the opponents have too many clubs and diamonds to cash. This is the most common lesson in bidding: with an eight-card major fit, play in the major.

The rules of the auction are the same everywhere. What changes from table to table is the bidding system: the set of agreements a partnership uses about what each bid means. Two pairs can make the same bid of 1♣ with very different hands: see what a 1♣ opening means in all five systems.

• Standard American and its written-down form, SAYC, are natural systems with five-card majors and a 15-17 1NT. They are the usual start in North America.
• 2/1 Game Force is the same base with one big change: a new suit at the two level in reply to 1♥ or 1♠ commits the side to game. It is the most common system among North American tournament players.
• Acol, the classic British system, uses four-card majors and a weak 1NT of 12-14.
• Precision and Polish Club use a forcing 1♣ opening that covers strong hands (and in Polish Club, some weak balanced hands too).

You do not need a system to start. Learn the rules and the basic ranges, then play what your partner and your club play. For a side-by-side view of the main systems, read bridge bidding systems compared.

• Bidding a lower suit at the same level. After 1♠, 1♥ is not allowed. Count the ladder: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, notrump.
• Passing partner's new suit. A new suit by responder is forcing. Opener must bid again, even with a minimum.
• Bidding your points twice. Once you have shown your strength, do not show it again on the next round. Partner already counted it.
• Forgetting who is declarer. It is the first player of the side to name the final strain, not the last bidder.
• Ignoring the opponents' bids. Their calls tell you where the high cards are. A king in a suit bid on your right sits over the ace and is worth more; a king in a suit bid on your left is worth less.
• Guessing instead of agreeing. With a new partner, settle at least the 1NT range, five-card or four-card majors, and what your doubles mean.

Bidding gets easy the same way a language does: by using it on many hands. Three good ways to start:

1. Bid real deals against robots. In BridgeDummy's Bidding Room you bid random deals with EPBot robots in the system you choose: 2/1 Game Force, SAYC, Acol, Precision or Polish Club. You can bid alone or with a friend as your partner. It is the fastest way to learn what a system's bids mean, because you see them used on real hands.
2. Solve bidding puzzles. The bidding puzzles put you in South's seat at one decision. The hidden hands are dealt hundreds to thousands of times to fit the auction, every option is solved double dummy, and your call gets 1 to 5 stars. You learn which choices win over many deals, not just on one lucky layout.
3. Learn the play first, if you are brand new. MiniBridge skips the auction: the side with more points plays the hand. It teaches tricks, trumps and dummy before you add bidding on top.

If you want a structured path, our free bridge lessons for beginners take you from your first trick to your first slam, one short lesson at a time.