Contract Bridge IS regular Bridge. Harold Vanderbilt proposed changes to the then prevalent Auction Bridge in 1925, and his definition was significant enough to warrant a new name. 'Contract Bridge' was appropriate because Vanderbilt's system included rewards for declaring higher level contracts (bids that won the auction) at risk of failure. This new system swept the country and became the only game in town, as far as Bridge goes. There are several forms: rubber, duplicate, Chicago, party, Swiss teams, etc. etc. but they are all based on Vanderbilt's rules without a lot of change.

When playing Rubber Bridge, anyone can declare honors!

Any player at the table can collect 150 scoring points for having the ace, king, queen, jack and 10 of the trump suit. For having any four of those cards, you get 100 points. They must all be in one player's hand.

You collect 100 points for having the four aces in a no-trump contract.

As you can imagine, it would be very unusual for a defender to have those cards!

Contract Bridge can be scored in several different ways. You can only declare honors in Rubber Bridge. Honors are not credited in Duplicate Bridge or Chicago or Party Bridge scoring. The game's the same - only the style of scoring is different.

Unfortunately, the yarborough hand must be played. Even though you have no card higher than a nine, there is nothing in the Laws of Bridge that allows you to throw in your hand.

Rather, the rare occurrence of a yarborough hand is an opportunity for a side bet, of which the traditional odds are 1000 to one.

However, since you have no high cards, there is a good chance that your partner has a good hand. Do whatever you can to support your partner.

In rubber bridge honors may be declared immediately after the auction at the beginning of play, however to avoid revealing where the strength is, it is permissible to wait until the end of play. To avoid getting into dispute resolution procedures as laid out in the American Contract Bridge Law 78, honors should be declared prior to the agreement of the score and the mixing of the cards.

Yes, "Benjamin Twos" is the name of the method where a 2C opener shows an unbalanced 19-21 point hand. Partner responds 2D with all hands of less than 8 points. If she has 8+HCP, she bids a 5+ suit, or 2NT.

A bridge is a structure standing over a river, lake, etc. Its purpose it to get cars, people, etc. across the water.

A bridge is also a musical term, similar in nature to the structure mentioned above, but is a small piece of music the joins one song to another song. A musical artist will play a one song and when that song is done, they will play a "bridge" or short piece of music that quickly and seamlessly turns into another song.

The most important thing to consider when making an opening bid in Bridge is your high card points (popularly known as HCP). To make an opening bid, one should have at least 12 HCP.

weak oppening, 6-9 in white and 8-11 in red.

The weak two bid is a preemptive bid, a trouble maker. You use it to make it difficult for your opponents to reach a satisfactory bid. You may go down but it's worth it.

When you are not strong enough to open the bidding but you have a six card suit, you can consider opening with a bid of two in that suit. Many players do it with 5 to 11 high card points with at least two face cards in the long suit. Most of the points should be in the long suit.

You can also make a 'weak two' overcall when the opponents open the bidding. 'Weak Two' bids are only for spades, hearts and diamonds. When you and your partner agree to play 'Weak Twos' it is understood that the 'Strong Two Club' opening bid is used to show a strong hand.

In short, make a forcing bid!

Depending on system, opener may have many possible ranges of points and you need to make a bid that is both forcing and continues the bidding conversation to get to the best contract.

If opener bids 1 of a suit, this can typically have a fairly wide range (unless playing some form of big club system). So if as responder you have an opening hand, you might belong in game or slam.

Some examples: Assume opener bids 1 of a suit (natural)

a) bid 1 of a suit (higher ranking than opener's of course). This is 100% forcing for at least 1 round

b) bid 2 of a suit (lower ranking than opener's...e.g. over 1H bid 2C). In Standard American bidding this is 100% forcing for 1 round and shows at least an invitational hand. In 2/1 this is forcing to game (unless you have specific agreements about ways to stop in certain situations)

c) make a forcing raise (e.g. Jacoby forcing raise of 1 of a major is to bid 2NT)

d) jump straight to game (e.g. over 1D, bid 3NT if you do not have 4 of either major suit but have them stopped). Opener is not barred from continuing if they have a big hand.

The USA has won more contract bridge world championships than any other country.

However, the question is complicated. There are many bridge competitions listed as "world events." At each, there may be many categories of competition: both pairs and team competitions comprised of open, women's, mixed, senior and youth trophies. The World Bridge Federation (WBF) hosts the World Bridge Series Championships (WBSC), the most prestigious world championship events. Contested every four years since 1962, the WBSC now determines 13 world champions by nationality in the above-listed categories.

The Bermuda Cup, awarded to the winning open team, is the oldest, most frequently contested, and most widely acknowledged, WBF world championship. The Bermuda Cup has been contested 40 times since its inaugural year of 1950 (the Bermuda Cup became part of the WBSC in 1962). The USA has won the Bermuda Cup 18 times, followed by Italy (14), the Netherlands and France (2 each) and Great Britain, Norway, Brazil and Iceland (1 each).

To play bridge, you need a sturdy table, a deck of cards and a writing utensil and paper to keep score. You also need a total of four people to play.

In most Standard systems, 2C opening promises either: 20 High Card Points, 3 Losers (missing A, K, Q) or less, or 8.5 Quick Tricks in your hand.

The only system in which this is different is the one where a 1C Opening is the big hand (generally 16+ HCP) and therefore 2C shows 11-15 and either 6 clubs or 5 clubs and 4 of a major. The most common system utilizing this treatment is Precision, which is usually not seen until mildly advanced duplicate/competitive play.

Goren bridge counting system

One can purchase the game Bridge It on the Auran website. However, on the Chronic Logic website one has the option to purchase the download version or to pay more and purchase the CD version.

IMP stands for International Match Point, and is a form of scoring used in most tournament bridge events. IMP scoring heavily rewards game bids (3NT, 4♥/♤, 5♧/◇), and defeating the opponents' contracts. Making one overtrick more than the opponents is far less significant than in duplicate bridge, the form of scoring which dominates club-level games.