Bid Whist

Like standard whist, bid whist is played between two team of two players. The basic game play of bid whist is also similar to that for standard whist, with the key difference that players must consider the strength of their hand and bid how many tricks they think that their team will win for each round before play begins.

After the cards are dealt, the players evaluate their hands and bet how many tricks they think they’ll win over the required six. For instance, a player bidding two is actually bidding that his team will win eight tricks. Bidding proceeds clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer’s left, and each player must either bid higher than the previous player’s bid or pass. After four consecutive passes, play begins.

Unlike standard whist, the trump in bid whist is not determined by the last dealt card. Instead, the player who makes the highest bid gets to declare what trump will be for that round of play. That player also has the option of declaring no trump. The highest-bidding player also plays the first lead card.

If the team that won the bidding makes their bid, meaning that they win at least the number of tricks that they predicted, they win a point for each trick above six. A team can win more points than their bid. If they fail to make their bid, the value of their bid is subtracted from their score. For example:

If you make your bid in no trump, your point total is doubled. The game ends when one team either wins by earning 7 points or loses by falling to –7 points.