Lesson 15 - Scoring - 60 mins
Hey. You're on the final chapter now. Very well done.
In bridge, you want to score more points than your opponents.
There are slightly different ways of scoring depending on which version of bridge you are playing. For the purpose of this site, I am teaching you to score in rubber bridge.
Rubber bridge is most often played for fun but it is also played by amateur gamblers where a penny a point tends to add some risk.
Rubber bridge involves skill but there is also a fair amount of luck depending on how the cards are dealt. In my experience, luck usually evens itself out over the course of a session. If not, you may just be unlucky.
The scorer
There is almost always one among you who will thrive on scoring. Please, let them. What I show you below is how you should score. It is a little complicated. Some people like complicated. 1 in 4 is a pretty good guess. Let them shine.
Rubbers
Rubber bridge is scored in rubbers. A rubber is a session made up of a number of hands. To win a rubber, you need to win 2 games before your opponent. Winning the rubber earns you a very valuable points bonus but does not guarantee that you will score more points than your opponents in the rubber.
At the end of the rubber, all the points are added together along with the rubber bonus. The winner of the rubber is the pair scoring the most points.
A bridge session can be made up of just one rubber or the best of 9 rubbers or any 'best of' you care to choose or you might like to impose a time limit. A bridge rubber will take between 10 minutes and an hour to play.
Helpcard
Phew! Hang on a minute, what was that?
Don't worry there is a helpcard which you should print off and carry with you when you play. You don't need to remember everything; just the principles. There are also some examples shortly.
Rubber bridge is scored on a piece of paper with columns labelled 'We' and 'They' or 'Us' and 'Them' or anything you prefer and can get away with. A horizontal line is drawn just above the middle of the sheet to divide it into 'above the line' and 'below the line'.
Only tricks bid for and made are scored below the line and count towards game. For instance you bid 1 spade (7 tricks) and make 7 tricks.
Over-tricks, under-tricks, bonuses and penalties are all scored above the line. More about these shortly.
Once 100 points has been made under the line, that is game and a line is drawn under that game, ready for scoring the next game. Remember if you win 2 games before your opponents you win the rubber.
Contract made
You get points when you make a contract. Suits are valued differently as below:
No trumps 1st trick = 40 points, subsequent tricks = 30 points each
Hearts and spades = 30 points per trick
Clubs and diamonds = 20 points per trick
It pays to win a contract in a higher valued suit. Usually.
Points are scored over the line for any overtricks. An overtrick is a trick made over what you bid - example to follow
Even if you never aim to be the scorer, please try and memorise the above.
Example 1: you bid 2 clubs (8 tricks) and make 9 tricks. You have made your contract and 1 overtrick. Your score is 40 points below the line and 20 points above.
You now have 40 points which count towards a game. Use this to your advantage.
Example 2:
Lets say that you and partner think you can make 3 hearts in the next hand. After scoring 40 points below the line in your last hand, you now only need to bid 2 hearts to guarantee you winning the game. That means instead of trying to make 9 tricks, you only need to make 8 tricks.
Statistics show that this is a big advantage for you. If you think you can make 9 tricks but 8 is enough, then stop the bidding there. It is then up to your opponents to decide if they will allow you to stop there or if they dare bid higher.
2 hearts = 60 points. Add that to the 40 points already under the line, then that is 100 points and game.
If you make your contract of 2 hearts with no overtricks then 60 points is inserted under the line and underneath the previous score.
As 'We' have now reached 100 points the game is ours and so on to the next - a line is drawn underneath and a new game begins. Hence the saying, 'draw a line under it and move on'.
Doubling
If a contract is doubled, the points are also doubled. You also get a rather cute 50 point 'insult' bonus above the line. You can even redouble in bridge which scores twice the points of a doubled contract.
Remember there is a helpcard which you should carry with you when you play. You don't need to remember how many points 'this is' or 'that', you need only learn the principles now.
Example 3: You bid 3 no trumps and your opponents double you. You make exactly 3 no trumps = 100 points below the line. As they have doubled you, you now get 200 points below the line and 50 points insult bonus above the line.
If you don't make your contract
If you don't make your contract, in other words you make under the amount of tricks bid - undertricks - your opponents score penalty points above the line for defeating you.
Half the fun in bridge is defeating your opponent's contract. In rubber bridge it is not unusual for one big defeat of a contract to make a huge difference to the overall score. In gambling games, reputation and money can fly out the window.
As you can see from the table below, the penalty points for not making a contract are much higher if you have already won a game and are vulnerable.
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Undertricks
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1 down
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2 down
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3 down
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subsequent undertricks
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not vulnerable
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50
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100
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150
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50 per trick
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vulnerable
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100
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200
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300
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100 per trick
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doubled not vulnerable
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100
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300
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500
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200 per trick
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doubled vulnerable
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200
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500
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800
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300 per trick
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Vulnerable
A side scoring a game is said to be 'vulnerable'. They are vulnerable to losing a lot of points quickly. Being vulnerable increases penalties for that side. It also increases bonuses as you will shortly see. It should also make future bidding a little more cautious. At the start of a new rubber, each side is considered not vulnerable until they win a game.
Example 4: You start a new rubber and in the first hand you bid 4 spades (10 tricks) and are doubled. You only make 8 tricks. This means you are 2 down, or you have made 2 undertricks.
In this example, you are not yet vulnerable so the scorer should look along the 'doubled not vulnerable' row and then down the '2 down' column. In this case, your penalty is 300 points.
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For a redoubled contract the penalties are doubled - in this case the penalty would be 600 points. At a penny a point, this could prove an expensive session
Bonuses
Bonuses can be made in a variety of ways and will add a lot of points to your overall score. They do not count towards game so they should be scored above the line.
If you win a rubber you get the following:
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Rubber Bonuses
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Points
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|---|
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Winning a rubber 2-0
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700
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Winning a rubber 2-1
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500
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Overtricks are also treated as bonus points:
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Overtricks
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Not vulnerable
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Vulnerable
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|---|
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Undoubled
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Trick value
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Trick value
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Doubled
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100
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200
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Making a slam is extremely valuable and eagerly sought after by 'get rich quick' bridge players :
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Slam Bonuses
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not vulnerable
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vulnerable
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Small Slam (12 tricks)
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500
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750
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Grand Slam (13 tricks)
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1000
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1500
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Holding the top cards, which in bridge are called honours is also worthy of a bonus:
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Honours
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Points
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|---|
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Holding 4 aces in no trumps
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150
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Holding 5 top trumps (A,K,Q,J,10)
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150
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Holding 4 out of 5 top trumps
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100
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Well, that's it really. You should feel really proud of yourself if you have made it this far.
Try the scoring quiz to see just how much you have learnt and please let me know how you fared.
Scoring quiz
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Copyright © August 2013 Rols Sperling
All rights reserved. Please e-mail Rols if you want to use any of the materials on this site.
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