One last question I cannot seem to find a clear answer too (I can bring up the rules, but get baffled by them): how many tricks must a bridge player take to make a contract of four spades?
It is ten because you 'contract' to make more than six tricks. So a successful contract of one of any suit needs seven tricks ("to make the contract"), two needs eight and so on. Someone who contracts to make all 13 tricks, and who makes it, is said to have got a "grand slam", a term later borrowed by some sports
Thank you for the information. I read the rules and just couldn't make head nor tail of it. I guess it's one of those games you have to play a few times in order to grasp the ins-and-outs of it!
True, Dave, and then, at more than ten, you have got overtricks. That's enough confusion for Terry. If you ever learn, don't have an experienced amateur teach you. From the off, they'll be using terms which you don't understand, because they assume everyone knows what a trick or dummy etc is !