Not to give information, or to count the hands, or to remember every card played; but simply and only to win tricks. _=The Principle=_ is to secure for certain cards a trick-taking value which does not naturally belong to them; either by getting higher cards out of the way of lower, or by placing the holder of intermediate cards at a disadvantage with regard to the lead. If any person will take the trouble to deal out four hands, and after turning them face up on the table, count how many tricks each side will probably take with its high cards and trumps, he will find that the total will hardly ever be exactly thirteen tricks. Let us suppose the following to be one of the hands so dealt; Z turning up the ♡6 for trumps:-- [Illustration: ♡Q J 8 ♣6 ♢K J 6 5 3 ♠A 9 8 6 ♡4 3 2 +-------+ ♡A K 10 5 ♣A K Q 8 7 4 3 | Y | ♣J 9 ♢7 |A B| ♢A 8 4 ♠Q 7 | Z | ♠K 5 4 2 +-------+ ♡9 7 6 ♣10 5 2 ♢Q 10 9 2 ♠J 10 3 ] On looking over this hand it would appear that A could only make one trick in Clubs, of which the second round would be trumped. His partner can count on five tricks: the two best and the fourth trumps; the ♢A, and the ♠K; a total of six tricks. On counting the adversaries’ probable tricks, Y should make one of his three trumps, and the ♠A. Diamonds will not go round twice without being trumped, so we cannot count on his ♢K. We cannot see any sure tricks for Z. Where are the five other tricks necessary to bring our total up to thirteen? They must be there, for there are thirteen tricks taken in every hand played. If we play over the hand, we shall find that A-B may make six, seven, nine, or ten tricks, according to their good management, and the good or bad play of their adversaries.
This is called _=Bridge to the Score=_. Four deals is a round, before changing adversaries, and fifty points are added to the score of the side having the greater trick score. Another method is to add fifty points to the side winning a game, if a game is won before moving, and then to add a definite number of points for every trick point that one side may be ahead of the other on unfinished games; or as many points as the higher score below the line. None of these methods have proved attractive enough to be popular, however, although the first is the one commonly adopted for club tournaments, adding fifty points bonus for the higher trick score, regardless of any games or rubbers. All the additions of percentages require special score cards and the services of some alleged expert to run the game, and even then they are not attractive. The problem of duplicate bridge remains as yet unsolved, so far as a popular game is concerned. _=SIX-HAND BRIDGE.=_ This is played by six persons, sitting with two card tables pushed together so as to make one. Each dealer sits at the long end of the table, the two dealers being partners. On each side of one sits a pair of adversaries so that the initial arrangement, if pair A had the deal, would be this:-- [Illustration: B C +-----+-----+ | 5 | 6 | | | | A |1 | 4| A | | | | 2 | 3 | +-----+-----+ B C ] Numbers are placed on the tables to indicate the positions to which the players shall move after each deal.