Bridge: play your first Minibridge deal

Minibridge teaches bridge card play before bidding. Partners sit opposite. For this deal, agree on no trumps and a seven-trick target, a simplified practice choice. A trick is four cards, one from each hand. Play without money stakes; finish and count all 13 tricks.

Deal and choose declarer

Deal clockwise, one card at a time, until everyone holds 13. Keep hands private and sort by suit. Cards rank ace, king, queen, jack, ten down to two. Beginning with the dealer and going clockwise, announce only high-card points: ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1; other cards 0. The four hands contain 40 points altogether.

Add each partnership’s points. The higher total becomes the declaring side; redeal on a 20–20 tie. Within that side, the player with more points is declarer. If they tie, the one who announced first declares. Their partner is dummy and lays their cards face up in suit columns. See the English Bridge Union steps.

Declarer normally chooses a contract after seeing dummy, including whether there are trumps. Here, announce the agreed no-trump, seven-trick target. High-card points choose the declaring side; they are not tricks won.

Play and count all 13 tricks

The opponent to declarer’s left leads first. Play clockwise. Each hand must follow the led suit if it can; otherwise it may discard any card. With no trumps, the highest card of the led suit wins. An off-suit ace cannot win that trick. The winner leads next, even if that hand is dummy. Declarer chooses cards for their own hand and dummy’s on the proper turns; dummy’s player follows those choices without giving advice.

Let everyone see the four cards before each person turns their own played card face down in a row. Keep it upright for a trick won by their partnership and sideways for one lost. After 13 tricks, count how many the declaring side won and whether it reached seven. That is a practice tally, not full bridge scoring.

Move the dealer clockwise for another deal. Later, use the ACBL learning guide for contract choice, scoring and bidding. Without a group, use the No Fear Bridge lessons while arranging one.