Bridge Scoring Example 4
| Deal | North-South | East-West | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trick Score | Bonus | Defeat | Trick Score | Bonus | Defeat | |
| 1 4♥ W | 120 | |||||
| 2 5♥X W | 500 | |||||
| 3 4♦X E | 800 | |||||
| 4 5♣X W | 200 | |||||
| 5 4♠ E | 120 | 60 | ||||
| 6 | ||||||
| North-South Total | East-West Total | |||||
| 1500 | 300 | |||||
| End of Match Bonus: 700 for 2-0, 500 for 2-1 | ||||||
| 700 | ||||||
| NS Grand Total | 1500 | EW Grand Total | 1000 | |||
For hand 1, West is declarer at 4♥. He takes 10 tricks. East-West get 120 (30 × 4) trick points for making their contract. They get no bonus points. They complete the game in one hand, so a thick line is drawn. East-West are now vulnerable.
East and West decide that with their one game, they are going to try and outbid North and South so that they get the rubber bonus, and North-South don't. We'll see shortly how that works out for them.
For hand 2, West is declarer again, this time at 5♥ doubled. West bid 5♥ over what would have been South's 4♠ contract. South doubled. West takes 9 tricks. North-South get 500 points (200 + 300) for defeating a vulnerable doubled contract by two tricks.
For hand 3, East is declarer at 4♦. He overcalled 2♦ over North's 1NT bid, and then bid 4♦ over what would have been North's 3NT contract. East takes 7 tricks, 3 short of the ten that he bid. North-South get 800 points. 200 for the first undertrick, and 300 each for the second and third.
For hand 4, West is declarer at 5♣ doubled. West, with 8 clubs, headed by the AKQ competes to 5♣ over what would have been South's 4♠ contract. South doubles. This time West takes 10 tricks, only one trick short. North-South get 200 points for the single doubled undertick.
For hand 5, East-West finally get what they want. East is declarer at 4♠ and even takes 6 tricks. 120 (30 x 4) points for the trick score. 60 (30 × 2) bonus points for the two overtricks.
East-West now have two games, and they have done what they set out to do: They won the rubber bonus and held on to their one game to zero lead until they clinched the second game. But let's take a look at the totals. East-West get the rubber bonus: 700 points. They get 180 and 120 for the two contracts that they made. Their total is 1000 points exactly.
North-South only get the points that they earned by defeating East-West at three different doubled contracts: 500, 800, and 200. A total of 1500.
North-South Win!
It is normal for the team that wins the rubber bonus to win the rubber. It is a large number. But it isn't so big that it should be chased with abandon. As the example above shows, even the 700 point bonus is smaller than the price of going down 3 tricks at a doubled contract when vulnerable (800). North-South won the rubber without making any contracts.