Bridge for Beginners

Someone at the table says, "We need a fourth," and you freeze: you have never played contract bridge, and everything you have heard about it sounds like a foreign language. Good news: you can learn it one small, friendly step at a time, and you can start by simply playing cards. Bridge for Beginners takes the gentlest route into the game. You start with play, not bidding: tricks, trumps, following suit and the dummy, so you can enjoy a full hand from the first chapters. Only then does the bidding arrive, in small stages with one standard modern system, every new term explained the first time it appears and every example shown as a clear hand diagram. This is a patient first book for adults, not a rule dump and not an expert system manual, and it is not a book about spades, hearts or any other card game: it is built around learning to bid, play and defend as a partnership. Inside, you'll learn: How tricks, following suit, trumps, declarer and dummy work, with a whole hand played from start to finish How to count points and read the shape of a hand in seconds How an auction runs, how to open the bidding, respond, rebid and reach game Stayman, transfers and the ace-asking bid as your first extra tools How to plan the play as declarer: counting winners, drawing trumps, ruffing and a basic finesse How to defend, with opening-lead guidelines and simple rules of thumb How the score is worked out, including part-scores, games, slams and penalties What to expect at a club, in a duplicate session or online, and the table manners that make you a welcome partner Practice hands with answers close every chapter, and a pocket Quick Reference, a glossary and a blank scoresheet sit at the back. Pull up a chair, deal a hand, and find out why people love this game for a lifetime.

Imad Muratspahic is an independent author of practical how-to guides, technical handbooks, history and fiction. The books aim to be clear, honest and useful from the first page.