Читать книгу The Times Beginner’s Guide to Bridge - Andrew Robson - Страница 26

The bidding starts with the dealer, who decides whether to ‘open the bidding’. If he has an average or worse-than-average hand, he says ‘no bid’ or ‘pass’. If he has a better-than-average hand (12 points is a good guide), he opens the bidding by stating his preferred suit as trumps – choosing one of his longest suits.

In (a), the dealer says ‘Pass’ as he has only ten points (an average point score as there are 40 points in the pack divided between four players).

In (b), the dealer has 14 points – enough to open the bidding. He has more spades than any other suit, and would like spades to be trumps, so he opens ‘One spade’ (see p. 21, ‘Making a bid at the One level’).

Once the dealer has bid (or passed), the bidding moves to the next player in clockwise rotation. If the dealer has passed, the second bidder now follows the same process as the dealer: with less than 12 points, he passes, with 12 or more he opens ‘One…’ followed by the name of his longest suit. The third and fourth bidders similarly need 12 points to open the bidding. Occasionally, when the high cards are evenly distributed, none of the four players will hold 12 or more points. The deal is then ‘thrown in’, and the next player in clockwise rotation deals with the other pack.

Making a bid at the One level

The number in a bid is the number of tricks to be won above six tricks. There are 13 tricks in each deal, of which a partnership entering the bidding is expected to make at least six (just under half). When making a bid at the One level, e.g. ‘One spade’ if spades is your preferred trump suit, this means you are contracting to make one trick on top of the six, i.e. seven tricks, with the nominated suit as trumps (spades in this example). Bidding usually opens at the One level, but see p. 146 for cases where you open above the One level.