Date Edited: 12/09/2025

Tips for Beginners

  • Major Suits:

    • Spades
    • Hearts

  • Recommended Points to go to Game:

    • 25-26+ points
    • Usually for contracts: 3NT, 4(Spades), 4(Hearts), 5(Diamonds), 5(Clubs)
  • NT hands (Example/Explanation)
    • For NT hands, make sure always to count your “winners.” What do we mean by this? Count all of the tricks that you can win with the dummy hand and your hand alone.
    • What if after counting my “winners,” I don’t have enough tricks to make my contract? Well, that is where your planning starts. Usually, with a 1NT hand, we have at least 17-20 points. Let’s say we have 2 Aces and 3 kings. 2 of your kings are in a different suit from your aces. This means that they are “potential winners,” which means you can potentially win tricks with them in the later game.

NT Contract Guide

  • (1) count winners (2) count potential winners (3) plan out your game and bait out the higher cards to let your potential winners become “winners.” (4) Got all of your winners? Cash them in for some tricks and wreck the opposing pair!
  • It’s important to note that it is recommended to play your longest and strongest suit first before playing other suits in NT. It is also not recommended to play a lone ace at the very start of the play because you get rid of your only stopper.
  • Suit Contract (Example/Explanation)
    • For Suit Hands, you want to have at least 8 cards in the suit that you are bidding. This way, you have an easier time getting rid of your opponent’s “trump.” What is trump? Trump is represented as the winning contract that isn’t “no trumpt (NT).” So if the contract was 2 Hearts, the trump will be hearts. The reason you want to get rid of your opponent’s trump is that the trump is the highest value card, or in other words, the suit can beat “anything.”
    • When starting the play, the very first thing you want to do in order to make your contract is to get rid of your opponent’s trump by playing your trump. Here’s an example: Let’s say my dummy hand has 4 heart cards. My hand has 5 heart cards. The contract we bid was 3(Hearts). Here are the Heart cards that we have together: A, K, Q, J, 10, 7, 4, 3, 2. Because each suit has 13 cards and we have 9 of the heart cards, we play the Ace of hearts to make our opponent play 2 heart cards total. 13-9 = 4 heart cards; this is how many hearts our opponent has in total. 4 - 2 = 2 heart cards; this is how many hearts they have left after playing the Ace of hearts.

Suit Contract Guide

  • (1) When bidding, make sure that you have 8 cards in the suit you bid (you and your partners’ decks). (2) Remember to get rid of your opponent’s suit. (3) Once your opponents are out of trump, start playing other suits. (4) You should have around 1-4 Trump cards saved up for the later game.

Other Tips

X in bids mean 1-7, X in cards means 1-9. Basically, a variable in math

  • Preempt Bidding: Bidding at the 2X, 3X, or even 4X to indicate to your partner that you have 6+ cards in a suit. This doesn’t necessarily mean Strong hand. This bid may also be used to mess up your opponents’ bidding as going to the 2X level instantly or 3X level will disrupt their communication.
  • Meta Strat: Bidding higher than opponent on purpose even if you go down, knowing that your opponent can make a really high bid (likely game). This is also risky because your opponent may double you. This is usually recommended if you are in a tournament and wanna lose fewer points and gain a higher accuracy percentage.
  • Takeout Double: Doubling to indicate to your partner that you have 12+ points.
    • This bid has a different meaning than just doubling normally. Usually, people takeout double as their opening bid right after their opponent made it difficult for them to bid.
    • You could also double, but it is quite uncommon unless you are absolutely sure that your opponent will not make their contract
    • You may also redouble; redoubling will gain you even more points if you make your contract. However, it’s also really risky because you may also lose a ton of points.
  • Leading: During play, if you are a defender and you’re leading, here are some sequences to look out for: (Q,J,10,X), (K,Q,X), (A,K,X), (J,10,9,X)
    • If you have any of these sequences and you’re defending, lead with the highest card in the sequence you have.
    • Don’t know what to lead? Don’t have the sequences above? Lead the fourth card in your longest suit.
    • Usually, do not lead a lone ace because you don’t get value out of it from winning over the non-high cards
  • Strategic Counting: Through opponent’s bids, you can count and estimate how many points each person at the table has.
    • For example: One might bid 1(spade) which means they have 12 points at least. If you bid 1NT, saying you have 15-17 points, and your partner bids 2NT, your partner has at least 6-10 points. This means you can assume that: You have: 15-17 pts, Partner: 6 pts at least, Opponent: 12 pts at least, we now know that our Opponent 2: around 7 points. This is because there are a total of 40 points in each deck.
  • Responder Bids: Responding to bids is one of the most important components in the game because it generally tells your partner what type of hand you have. The most common number of points you need to respond is 6-10. Even 5 is not enough to respond because if your partner only has 12 points, then together, you will have 17 points. There are 40 points total, meaning you will be at a 23-point disadvantage. The responder’s bid will generally always lead up to the determination of the bid.
    • Must respond to these bids unless you have 0 points: 2(clubs), 2(NT)
    • If you have 12 points and you’re responding to your partner’s 1X, make sure to always calculate how many points you have in total first. In this case, I have 12 points; let’s say my partner bid 1(heart), they also have at least 12 points, meaning 24 total points. This is almost reaching game bidding, which is 25-26+ points.
    • Responding is key to indicate what you have, even passing is helpful information, telling your partner that you have less than 6 points to prevent them from overbidding.