The Game of Bridge
The ebb and flow of laughter and silence fills the room as
four old friends gather to engage in a round of Bridge
playing. For the beginner, Bridge can be complicated, but
with time, effort, and a good teacher, even the novice can
become proficient.
Composed of two main parts, bidding and playing, Bridge
requires the player's undivided attention. The dealer deals
the entire deck of playing cards evenly between the for
players, with each person receiving thirteen cards. In the
bidding portion of the game, the four suits of cards in the
deck are ranked highest to lowest as follows:
spades, hearts, diamonds, and finally clubs. However,
during play all the suits of cards are considered equals,
and they go from highest to lowest from the ace being
high to the two cards being low. The highest number of
tricks wins. A trick is one card played by each player for a
total of four. After the lead player lays down his/her card,
the other players follow suit, if possible. The highest card
within the four "same suit" cards played wins the trick
and picks up all four cards. If a player cannot follow suit,
he/she plays any card, but to make the game more
interesting and challenging, one suit is named a trump suit
which means that if a player plays a card from the trump
suit, it always wins the trick. If two cards from the trump
suit are played, the highest card within the trump suit
wins the trick. Obviously, the team with the most tricks
wins the hand.