The following outline merely hits the high spots of the ACBL rules related to conduct at every stage of play. This is a work in progress and all suggestions are welcome. The complete rules are readily available online but they are highly convoluted and very difficult to read and understand, also discussed elsewhere on this site. However, anyone who wants to delve into the gristly details is welcome to do so. Use the Bridge Links on this website or just search “duplicate bridge” and you’re off and running.

1. For all players at all times

a. The overarching rule of duplicate bridge is that there can be no information passed between partners that is not shared with the opponents. There are many bidding and playing conventions through which partners pass information to each other. In every case the opponents must be able to determine the meaning of any action. There are several ways to make that happen, the details of which are beyond the scope of this brief introduction, but it must happen. Private understandings between partners are forbidden and are considered cheating.

b. Be elaborately courteous at all times when you absolutely must speak. However, the most courteous thing you can do is to keep silent.

c. The duplicate bridge table is not the place for idle chit-chat. The bidding boxes remove the need for most speaking and the attendant opportunity to pass information via voice inflection. Ideally, the silence should be broken only rarely, and then only by the occasional need which is directly related to the game. Examples include the bidder’s partner announcing “transfer bid” or “alert”; the opponent whose turn it is to bid asking the bidder’s partner what a particular bid means ( “Is that a weak two or a strong two?”); and correcting the placement of played tricks on the stack by another player. If your need to talk is so compulsive that you can’t completely stifle it, then at least try to avoid long stories told in a voice that carries throughout the room. (If you play in an ACBL tournament you will find that the “silence is golden” rule is pretty strictly enforced; your opponents will call the director and you will be publicly humiliated.)

d. When it’s your turn to act then go ahead and do it. Act in tempo without long pauses. Do not dither, make faces, squirm, sigh, frown, etc. Maintain a passive, neutral countenance, like Phil Ivey on the World Series of Poker. (Repeated several times below for emphasis.)

e. When play commences, do not detach a card from your hand until it is your turn to play and you have decided to play that card. Do not pull up a card, push it back into your hand, and then pull up another card. Nor should you detach a card and then replace it to play another card. Also do not detach your card before it is your turn to play and never rearrange your hand when you are out of a suit. All of these actions provide additional valuable information to your partner. When one separates a card from his or her hand with the evident intent of playing it, then that card is considered played and must be laid on the table. As in most card games, “a card laid is a card played;” no take-backs or do-overs, no “I didn’t turn it completely loose.” That kind of stuff is for kids playing Old Maid or Go Fish, not for adults playing duplicate bridge.

f. Never, ever touch another player’s cards without permission, not for any reason.

2. During the bidding

a. Bid in tempo without long pauses. Pauses tell your partner that you have something to pause about, and your partner is not entitled to that information. Do not dither, make faces, squirm, sigh, frown, etc. Maintain a passive and neutral countenance, like Phil Ivey on the World Series of Poker.

b. Do not speak, aside from limited exceptions specified in the rules, such as saying “skip bid” after laying down the “Stop” bidding card or “alert” when your partner has made an alertable bid. No other words need be or should be spoken, not to your partner, your opponents, or even to yourself.

c. Decide what to bid before you touch the bidding box, then remove your bid from the box and place it on the table in such a way that your complete bidding sequence is visible. Do not fiddle with the box and do not remove a bidding card from the box, even partially, and put it back. Once you pick up a bid from the box, even part way, you are obliged to place it on the table; “a bid laid is a bid played.” As with a card played, no take-backs or do-overs except in the case of an insufficient bid.

3. During all play

a. Try not to drift away mentally. Pay attention to the game, ignoring all distractions.

b. Resist the temptation to check your phone for calls, instagrams, texts, tweets, or whatever else smartphones do these days.

c. Stack tricks taken by your pair with the long axis facing your partner and tricks lost with the long axis facing your opponents, notice that all other players do the same, and politely bring it to their attention if they do not. Be sure to overlap the stacked tricks in such a manner as to preserve the order in which the tricks were played. (It will become critically important if there is a disagreement as to the results at the end of the play of the hand.)

4. During play as declarer

a. As in bidding, act in tempo without long pauses. Do not dither, make faces, sigh, squirm, frown, etc. Long pauses are not likely to clarify your thought processes very much and they slow down the game, thus annoying everyone in the room.

b. Call the play from dummy in a clearly audible voice.

5. During play as dummy

a. Try to remember that one of the common meanings of the word “dumb” is “mute.” The dummy should never speak, aside from a few exceptions like “No diamonds, Partner?” when declarer fails to follow suit.

b. Do not make faces, sigh, squirm, frown, etc. Maintain a passive and neutral countenance.

c. Do nothing to suggest what your partner should play from the board or touch your cards before your partner tells you what card to play.

6. During play as defender Play in tempo without long pauses. As in bidding, pauses tell your partner that you have something to pause about and your partner is not entitled to that information. Do not dither, make faces, squirm, sigh, frown, etc. Maintain a passive and neutral countenance, like Phil Ivey on the World Series of Poker.

7. At the end of the play of a hand

a. We typically start chatting at the end of a hand. However, before we say or do anything else, we must reach agreement among all four players as to the results. Do not touch your stacked tricks until that is accomplished. Disagreements can be resolved only by replicating the play of the hand. The players should reveal one trick at a time under the direction of the declarer, beginning with the first trick, and obtaining agreement as to who took that trick and made the next lead before moving on to the next trick. It cannot be done any other way, and if one or more players have disturbed their stacked tricks then it cannot be done at all. If you choose to resolve it with a shouting match then please take it outside.

b. North should score the hand, either asking for help from one or more players at the table or consulting the back of the card from the bid box if he or she is unsure how to score it (that’s how we learn how to keep score). North should show the result to all of the other players and obtain agreement that it is correct. The correctness of the score is the joint responsibility of all four players, not just North, so don’t just glance at it and agree, even if North is the most experienced player in the room. Even the best of us is human and can err, so look at it and think about it.

c. Do not discuss the hand at the end of play. It slows the game enormously and passes information to pairs who have not yet played the hand.

8. At the end of a round

a. When the last board has been played move on to the next table, following the directions on the guide card or from the director. Some social chat is normal during the change but don’t block the aisles with your visiting; keep moving so as not to prolong the change.

b. On arriving at your next table check the guide card, if there is one, to ensure that you are at the correct table playing the correct boards against the correct opponents. If you don’t know how to do that then learn. Failure to do so is one of the deadly sins of duplicate bridge, as it can ruin or seriously damage the entire game for everyone.

9. Most people who play duplicate bridge do so because they want a well ordered game that produces genuine competition among players who feel the same way. Some may complain that these rules, particularly the no-unnecessary-talking rule, “take all of the fun out of it.” Perhaps those who truly believe that should limit themselves to ordinary rubber (party) bridge.

Disclaimer. This explication of duplicate bridge etiquette was selected and extracted from the ACBL’s text, paraphrased, supplemented, and outlined by this writer. Any errors of content or style belong exclusively to him.