Bridge Card Game

This is a declared Standard American subset, not complete SAYC, 2/1 or tournament partnership software. The same interpretation table supplies computer agreements and call explanations. Human calls remain legal when they depart from the table; unsupported continuations have no additional agreement and are read naturally. Opponents’ bids or doubles cancel the noncompetitive conventions below. A pass after a forcing suggestion is legal, but may disappoint partner.

Responding and finding game

A new suit at the one level shows four cards and 6+ HCP; at the two level, 10+ and four cards, or five hearts over 1♠. Both ask partner to bid once more. A 1NT response shows 6–10. A major raise needs three trumps: simple raise with 6–9 support points, a three-level limit raise with 10–12, game with 13+. Minor raises need five clubs or four diamonds. Natural 2NT over a minor shows balanced 13–15 and forces to game; over a major it is a natural 11–12 invitation here, not Jacoby 2NT. Later continuations use natural fits, strength estimates and conservative sign-offs. The computer does not implement a complete tournament rebid tree.

Standard adds one length point per card beyond four. After finding a fit, it uses shortness instead: void 5, singleton 3, doubleton 1, outside trumps. Around 25 combined points suggests game; a major fit is preferable to notrump. These are estimates, not a promise that a contract makes.

Stayman and Jacoby transfers

After an uncontested 1NT or 2NT, the cheapest club response asks for a four-card major. Here it promises a major and invitational values: 8+ over 1NT, 4+ over 2NT. Opener replies in hearts first with both majors, spades with four spades only, diamonds with neither. The cheapest diamond response transfers to hearts; hearts transfers to spades, showing five cards. Opener accepts, or jumps one level with a maximum and four-card support. Responder then signs off, invites, or places game. These agreements also apply after the strong 2♣–2♦–2NT rebid.

Competitive calls

Simple overcalls show five cards and about 8–17 HCP, with 10+ at the two level. Weak jump overcalls show six cards and 5–10. A 1NT overcall shows balanced 15–18 with a stopper. Takeout doubles at the one or two level show opening values and support for unbid suits, or a strong hand. Partner chooses a natural suit: cheapest with 0–8, jump with 9–11, game with 12+. Negative doubles apply after partner’s opening and a suit overcall through 2♠: four cards in the unbid major(s), with at least 6 HCP at the one level or 8 at the two level. Other doubles are explained as penalty doubles, but the current computer policy does not initiate them.

Blackwood and limits

With a suit fit agreed, 4NT asks for aces: 5♣ zero or four, 5♦ one, 5♥ two, 5♠ three. After accounting for all four aces, 5NT asks for kings by the same pattern at the six level. Without an agreed suit, 4NT is a quantitative notrump invitation. The computer makes conservative slam decisions from its strength estimate and these answers; it does not solve the deal during bidding.

Not played: 2/1 game force, Jacoby 2NT, splinters, Roman Key Card, Gerber, Michaels, Unusual NT, Lebensohl, fourth-suit forcing, new minor forcing, Drury, Bergen, Texas, feature-asking 2NT after a weak two, or a special defence to 1NT. A human can legally make such a call, but computer partner will not infer that convention.

Sources for the base approach: ACBL’s SAYC booklet. The modifications and omissions above define this table.

Only bid-and-made contract tricks score below the line: clubs and diamonds 20 each; hearts and spades 30; notrump 40 for the first and 30 thereafter. Double multiplies these by two; Redouble by four. A contract failing by any number scores no contract or overtrick points.

Rubber

Accumulate 100 below the line to win a game. Both sides’ current partscores then close; earned trick points remain in the total. A side that has won a game becomes vulnerable. The second game wins the rubber, adding 700 if opponents won no game or 500 if they won one. The higher cumulative total wins the match, which can differ from the side that completed the rubber. Equal totals draw.

Honours are automatic, from one original hand: four of the five trump honours (A K Q J 10) earn 100; all five earn 150. At notrump, all four aces in one hand earn 150. Partners cannot combine cards for honours. Defenders may earn them even when declarer makes.

Chicago

Four played deals. Vulnerability is nobody on deal one, the dealer’s side on deals two and three, both sides on deal four. This table uses duplicate-style immediate bonuses: +50 for a made partscore, or +300 not vulnerable / +500 vulnerable for a made game. No partscore carry-over, honours or rubber bonus. A passed-out deal does not advance the count or dealer. Higher total after deal four wins. Other Chicago tables may carry partscores; that version is not selected here.

Base rules: ACBL Laws of Rubber Bridge. The selected Chicago bonus treatment is stated above; the ACBL appendix also describes carry-forward Chicago.

Learn one set of agreements

Keep explanations on while learning. HCP is arithmetic, not a guarantee of tricks. A five-card suit may grow winners; three-card support for partner’s five-card major can make an eight-card fit. Read a call’s meaning before confirming, and use the auction review to understand what your partner expected. Suggested bidding makes the practice record assisted.

Count before touching dummy

At notrump count sure winners and decide which suit can supply the rest. In a trump contract, count likely losers and useful ruffs in dummy. Leading toward an ace–queen may let the queen win when the missing king is favourably placed. Drawing trumps helps stop enemy ruffs, but can spend the trumps dummy needs for your own ruffs.

Choose the computer level

Easy uses HCP without distribution adjustments, sometimes passes instead of bidding, leads randomly and mixes simple low-winning play with random legal cards. It never initiates a slam. Standard uses the printed bidding agreements, length/support points, top-of-sequence and fourth-best leads, second hand low, third hand high, returns partner’s suit and tries simple public-dummy finesses. It has no complete plan for every hand.

Expert uses Standard’s bidding. For card play, it samples unseen hands while retaining exact counts, played cards and shown voids. Auction HCP and shape expectations are soft preferences because people can deviate. It compares fixed-size batches of legal heuristic continuations, keeping Standard’s choice unless another improves the sample estimate by at least a tenth of a trick. These are not exact double-dummy solutions, certified strength or a uniform statistical posterior. No planned squeezes or deceptive signalling. Computation runs in a background worker; a failure uses Standard. All computers, including your partner, use the selected level.

Keep the record honest

Practice hints, automatic suggested calls, takeover, guided play and Undo mark assisted play. Explanations and HCP alone do not. Undo is personal practice only, ends when another seat acts, and is blocked after the opening lead reveals dummy.