Auction
Only one side can choose the trump suit. The way bridge decides who gets to choose is with an auction. In bridge we aren᾿t bidding with money. Instead we commit to take a minimum number of tricks. Rather than bidding tricks first and choosing a trump suit second, the choice of suit and number of tricks must be made together. You can also choose not to have a trump suit, this is called notrump, and is abbreviated NT.
Here is the table of all possible bids:
| (+6) | ♣ | ♦ | ♥ | ♠ | NT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1♣ | 1♦ | 1♥ | 1♠ | 1NT |
| 2 | 2♣ | 2♦ | 2♥ | 2♠ | 2NT |
| 3 | 3♣ | 3♦ | 3♥ | 3♠ | 3NT |
| 4 | 4♣ | 4♦ | 4♥ | 4♠ | 4NT |
| 5 | 5♣ | 5♦ | 5♥ | 5♠ | 5NT |
| 6 | 6♣ | 6♦ | 6♥ | 6♠ | 6NT |
| 7 | 7♣ | 7♦ | 7♥ | 7♠ | 7NT |
Each bid is a number 1-7 and a suit (or No Trump). The number is a number of tricks. Your side commits to take that many tricks plus an additional six. The last bid wins the auction. The suit (if any) of the last bid is trump. That side must take at least the specified number of tricks.
Why six? Because you are committing to take more tricks than the opponents. There are 13 tricks. If your side takes 7 and their side takes 6, you have beaten them by one trick. If you take 8, they have 5. We don᾿t count this as winning by 3, because it is one trick harder than winning 7 to 6. A bid of 4 commits your side to take 10 tricks. A bid of 6 commits your side to take all but one of the tricks. A bid of 7 is for all of the tricks.
In a real-life auction, you must outbid the current bid. In bridge, you also must outbid the current bid. You can do this in two ways, you can bid to take more tricks than the current bid: For example, 2♣ over 1♠. Or, you can bid the same number of tricks in a higher ranking suit. For example 2♠ over 2♣. Clubs is the lowest ranking suit, Spades is the highest. Notrump ranks higher than spades. The bids in the table above are in rank order. Allowing bids for the same number of tricks with a higher ranking suit allows for a lot more possible auctions.
In addition to bidding, at your turn you may also pass. Passing isn᾿t permanent. If you get another chance to bid, you can bid something.
The auction ends if anyone has bid and there are 3 passes in a row, or if no one bids on their first turn. Another way to think of this is that it ends if there are 3 passes in a row, but there᾿s an exception if the 3 passes were the first 3 players. The 4th player also gets a chance to bid.
There are 2 other things you can do, which you should ignore for now. If the last non-pass was a bid by an opponent, then you can double. If the last non-pass was a double by an opponent, you can redouble. Doubling and redoubling don᾿t change the number of tricks that must be taken, only the points for success and failure.
Dealer gets the first opportunity to bid. The auction then proceeds to the left.
| North | East | South | West |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 1 ♠ | pass |
| 2 ♥ | pass | 4 ♥ | pass |
| pass | pass | — | — |
Here North and South are the only ones that bid, East and West passed throughout.
| North | East | South | West |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | pass | 2 ♦ |
| 2 ♠ | pass | 3 ♠ | pass |
| pass | pass | — | — |
Here you can see North bid 2♠ over 2♦. South raised this to 3♠ and everyone passed. A raise is when a player bids the same as their partner᾿s previous bid, but with more tricks.
Auction results
After 3 passes, the auction is over. The winning side gets the trump they last bid. One person on the winning side is the declarer, and the other person is the dummy. The person who bid the suit first is the declarer, not the person who made the last bid. The other two players are defenders. The defender to the left of the declarer gets to lead to the first trick. Dummy puts down their hand after the first card is played. The final bid becomes the contract. Declarer must take the number (+6) of tricks that their side bid. If declarer succeeds at doing this, their side gets points, if not, the defenders get points.
| North | East | South | West |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | — | 1 ♠ |
| 2 ♣ | pass | 2 ♥ | 2 ♠ |
| 3 ♥ | pass | pass | pass |
In this auction, North bid last, but South bid ♥s first. South is declarer. North is dummy. East and West are defenders. West gets to lead for the first trick.