Keep this safely in your folder so that you can refer back to it.
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I
ask for a contract
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The Honours
The high cards of each suit
are called the honours:
there are five of them which are
the
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Ace
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King
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Queen
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Jack
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Ten
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To know the strength of your hand and to know if you can take lots of tricks we give a value to each of these cards:
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Ace is
worth
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4 points |
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King is
worth
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3 points |
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Queen is
worth
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2 points |
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Jack is
worth
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1 point |
That is a total of 10 points per suit and 40 points for all four suits.
In Bridge the dealer bids first, he counts his points and, if he has at least 12 he says: "I open". If not he says: "I pass".
The first to have 12 points says: "I open". His partner counts his points and says, aloud, the number he has. The opener adds up his side's points, consults the decision table and says:
| "I pass" | if the total is under 20 |
| "I bid a contract of … tricks" | corresponding to the total points of the pair if the total is equal to or higher than 20 |
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I
cash my honours
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Certain tricks are those that one
can take straight away without giving the lead to the opposition.
So you can only count them in a suit where there is an Ace. |
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A 7 3 | Here
you have the four highest honours and the longest hand has four cards;
you have got four certain tricks |
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K Q J 4 |
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A Q 3 | You
still have the four highest honours but only three cards in each hand; two honours fall on each other and you will only make three certain tricks. |
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K J 2 |
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One can establish tricks by giving the opponent his master honours. For that you must possess sufficient equivalent cards |