Within the game of Bridge itself there are only 15 words that can be used for bidding :-
The Words of Bridge
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX and SEVEN
CLUBS, DIAMONDS, HEARTS, SPADES and NO TRUMPS
PASS, DOUBLE and REDOUBLE
There are 35 distinct bids between 1 CLUB and 7 NT
The Bidding Ladder
Within the “Levels” of 1 to 7 , there is a SUIT ranking of
♣️ Clubs ,♦️Diamonds , ♥️ Hearts , ♠️ Spades and then NT No Trumps
1♦️ is higher than 1♣️ and so on to 1NT
So if the opposition have bid 1♥️ and you wish to bid in Clubs you can not bid 1♣️ , as it’s lower than 1♥️ , you must then “jump” a level and bid 2♣️
Bridge is an easy game. However, there are numbers of “new words” that newbies need to understand.
Bridge is Easy ….. there’s just a lot of it
GJS
So … what is Bridge
Bridge is a PARTNERSHIP game , where my partner and I compete against the “opposition”
The aim of the game is to win TRICKS
A partnership’s CONTRACT is to make a stated number of tricks, if this if achieved then the CONTRACT is said to be “MADE”
One of the partners who have won the auction becomes the DECLARER and the other is the DUMMY
The other partnership becomes the DEFENDERS.Their objective is to DEFEAT the CONTRACT
Frequently both partnerships NORTH/SOUTH and EAST/WEST compete to win the contract
This is done by means of an AUCTION
The AUCTION is undertaken by BIDDING. The partnership that bids the highest, up the Bridge Ladder, becomes the declaring side. Sometimes only one side bids (uncontested) in order to get the best possible contract
If both partners have bid the same suit or NT then the first player who bid the suit becomes DECLARER