1Quick start

Bridge is a trick-taking game for four players in two partnerships. You sit south and play with Cheng Yi, who sits north, against the two Teslas in the west and the east. Every board has two parts: first the auction, in which the players bid for the contract, then the play of thirteen tricks.

1. Thirteen cards are dealt to every player. Count your points: an ace is 4, a king 3, a queen 2 and a jack 1.
2. In the auction you and your partner describe your hands with bids. The last bid becomes the contract.
3. The partner of the declarer becomes the dummy. Those cards lie face up on the table and the declarer plays them.
4. You must follow suit when you can. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, unless a trump is played.
5. The declaring side scores when it takes the tricks it bid for. Otherwise the defenders score.

2Table and partners

Bidding and play go clockwise: south, west, north, east. Every board has a number. The number decides who deals and which side is vulnerable. A vulnerable side scores more for a game and loses more when it goes down.

3The auction

The dealer calls first. A bid names a number of tricks above six and a strain: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades or sans atout. One spade promises seven tricks with spades as trumps. Every bid must be higher than the one before. The strains rank from low to high as clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades and sans atout.

Instead of bidding you may pass. You may double a bid of the opponents, and you may redouble when the opponents double your bid. The auction ends after three passes in a row. If all four players pass at the start, the board is passed out and nobody scores.

The declarer is the player of the winning side who first named the strain of the contract. In the room every call stands in the bidding table. Click a call to read what it means in the system.

4Opening bids

A balanced hand has no singleton or void and at most one doubleton. With 11 points you may open when your points plus the lengths of your two longest suits make 20 or more.

5Responding

• With fewer than 6 points you pass.
• With support for partner's major you raise: to two with 6 to 9 points, to three with 10 to 12 points, and to game with 13 to 15 points.
• A new suit at the one level shows 6 or more points and four or more cards. It is forcing.
• A new suit at the two level shows 10 or more points.
• One sans atout shows 6 to 10 points without a fit and without a suit to bid at the one level.
• Two sans atout shows 11 to 12 points and a balanced hand. Three sans atout shows 13 to 15 points.

The opener then describes the hand further: a raise of partner's suit, a second suit, a rebid of the own suit or a bid in sans atout. Two partners together look for a fit of eight or more cards and decide between part score, game and slam.

6After 1SA and 2SA

Stayman: two clubs over one sans atout asks the opener for a four-card major. The opener answers two diamonds without one, two hearts with four hearts, and two spades with four spades.

Jacoby transfers: two diamonds shows five or more hearts and asks the opener to bid two hearts. Two hearts shows five or more spades and asks for two spades. This way the strong hand becomes the declarer and stays hidden.

Over two sans atout the same bids are made one level higher. Four sans atout directly over sans atout invites a slam in sans atout.

7When the opponents bid

• An overcall at the one level shows 8 to 16 points and a good five-card suit. At the two level it shows 10 or more points and usually six cards.
• A takeout double (informatiedoublet) shows an opening hand that is short in the opponents' suit with support for the other suits. Partner must bid.
• A one sans atout overcall shows 15 to 18 points, a balanced hand and a stopper in the opponents' suit.
• A negative double (negatief doublet) after partner's opening and an overcall shows 6 or more points and four cards in the unbid major.
• A jump overcall is weak: 6 to 10 points and a good six-card suit.

8Slam and Blackwood

A small slam is a contract for twelve tricks, a grand slam for all thirteen. You need about 33 points together for a small slam and about 37 for a grand slam.

Blackwood: four sans atout asks partner for aces. Five clubs shows none or four, five diamonds one, five hearts two and five spades three. If two aces are missing you stop at the five level. After four sans atout, five sans atout asks for kings in the same way.

9The play

The player on the declarer's left makes the opening lead. Then the dummy lays down its cards, face up and sorted by suit, with the trumps first. In this room the dummy of north, west or east stands on a slanted lectern turned towards you, a row per suit. When you are the dummy, your cards lie on the felt in front of you. The declarer plays the dummy's cards as well as their own.

When you are the declarer you click your own cards when your hand is on turn, and the dummy's cards on its lectern when the dummy is on turn. When Cheng Yi is the declarer your cards become the dummy and she plays them.

Classic guidelines for the defence: lead the top of a sequence, lead fourth best from your longest suit against sans atout, play low as second hand, play high as third hand, and cover an honour with an honour.

10Scoring

The games are three sans atout, four hearts, four spades, five clubs and five diamonds. A double doubles the trick points and makes going down much more expensive.

This room plays a team match. Every board is also played at the other table by four computer players with exactly the same cards. The difference between the two scores is converted into IMPs (international match points), from 0 for a small difference up to 24 for a very large one. A guest match has 4 boards. Members play the full match of 16 boards.

11The computer players

Cheng Yi and the Teslas bid with the same system as described in this handbook, and their bids are explained in the bidding table. In the play they follow the classic guidelines in the first tricks. From the moment seven tricks or fewer are left, they think ahead: they deal the unseen cards many times in ways that match the bidding and the play so far, solve every deal exactly, and choose the card that works best on average.

12Using the room

• Drag to look around, use the mouse wheel to lean in, and double-click to look straight at the table again.
• Every player's thirteen cards stand in a card holder on the rail in front of them, sorted by suit. Yours face you; the cards you may play rise out of the holder and light up.
• Every call is placed as a bidding card on a small brass ledge in front of the player who made it. The ledges are cleared when the play begins.
• The green IC button beside it switches on the interactive course. Cheng Yi then explains every call and every card in a panel on the left. Before your turn she lights up the call she would make in your bidding box, or the card she would play in your hand. When you declare she counts your sure winners or losers for a plan. The panel also has five practice deals, each with one lesson: 1SA and 3SA, Stayman, the finesse, ruffing in the short hand and the opening lead.
• The blue AI button on the right of the C opens a conversation with Cheng Yi. Ask her anything about the board in play: what to bid, which card to play, what a call means or how to make the contract. She sees only what you see: your cards, the auction, the dummy and the tricks played. Asking questions is for members.
• The golden C button in the middle of the bottom bar opens the bridge course. It has thirteen modules, each with short lessons and a test of eight questions. Six correct answers earn the certificate of that module. With all thirteen certificates you can play the Grote Bridgespel, and winning it earns your bridge diploma. Signed-in players keep their certificates on their account.
• The Bidding button shows the auction of the current board with the meaning of every call.
• The Scorecard shows every board, the result at the other table and the IMPs.
• Members can ask for a tip: what the system would bid, or what the engine would play.

13Glossary