Making Your Contract
Finished Don't Panic through “Making Your Contract”? Treat this as the LMS version of the same loop, then play the practice hand with hints.
Idea 1: The contract is a target number
When the auction ends at 2♥ and your side bought it, the contract means one thing:
Win at least 8 tricks (6 + 2) with hearts as trumps.
- Take your eight — the contract is made. Extra tricks (overtricks) are a small bonus.
- Fall short — you are down, and the defenders score for each undertrick.
Defenders have a target too. Against 2♥ they need 6 tricks (enough to stop you reaching 8). Defence is a race to a number, not vague resistance.
If you've played 500: bid it, then make it — or be set. Same rhythm.
Idea 2: Pause and count your winners
When dummy comes down, before you touch a card, good declarers do something simple:
Count sure winners in both hands — aces, protected kings, long trump tricks — and compare that count to your target.
- Enough winners? Take them tidily.
- One or two short? The whole hand becomes “where does the extra trick come from?”
You won't always find the answer yet. The habit is the skill: pause, count, aim.
Online, the hint button is at its best here — not just what to play, but often why.
Idea 3: Why players fuss about “game”
Certain bigger contracts, called game, earn a handsome bonus:
- 3NT — 9 tricks, no trumps
- 4♥ or 4♠ — 10 tricks (the major suits)
- 5♣ or 5♦ — 11 tricks (the minor suits)
Rule of thumb: when the partnership holds about 25+ points between the two hands, game is worth chasing. That's why hearts and spades get so much attention — their game is a whole trick cheaper than the minors.
Beyond game live slam (12 tricks) and grand slam (all 13) — thrilling, rare, not homework yet.
Don't memorise scoring tables. Platforms and club scorers do the arithmetic. What matters is the shape: small contracts are safe; game pays a bonus; ~25 combined points is the signpost.
A worked hand (you are South)
Quick check
Tricks, partners and dummy, a coaster-sized points system, the online table, and contracts with a plan. Everything else in bridge is refinement of what you already hold.
What's next in this course: trump suits vs no-trumps in more detail, then hand evaluation (distribution points), majors and minors, and a checkpoint quiz — before you choose Acol or Standard American for the full bidding path.