Bridge Etiquette and Table Manners

Good bridge etiquette isn’t about being stuffy or formal. It’s about playing fair, keeping the game moving, and not accidentally (or deliberately) giving information you shouldn’t.

Whether you’re playing social bridge at home or competing in a club duplicate game, understanding proper table manners makes you a better partner and a more welcome opponent. Let’s talk about what really matters at the table.

Why Etiquette Actually Matters

Bridge has more rules about conduct than most card games, and there’s a good reason. Unlike poker where reading opponents is part of the game, bridge is supposed to be a contest of card play and bidding judgment. Nothing else.

Your partner should get information only from your bids and plays. Not from how long you took to bid, your facial expressions, or the way you sighed before passing. When you follow proper etiquette, you’re creating a level playing field where skill determines the outcome.

Plus, nobody wants to play with someone who takes forever on every hand, complains constantly, or acts like every mistake is a personal tragedy. Good manners keep the game enjoyable.

Partnership Trust and Fair Play

Your partner trusts you to play straight. That means:

Keep a poker face. Don’t grimace when you see dummy. Don’t smile when you have a great hand. Don’t roll your eyes when partner makes a questionable bid. All of this gives unauthorized information.

Don’t discuss the hand until it’s completely over. “Why didn’t you lead a ♠?” is a question for after the round, not during play. Even neutral-sounding questions can tell partner something they shouldn’t know.

Never openly disagree with partner’s bid or play. You might think partner’s 3NT bid was insane, but saying “I can’t believe you bid game” tells the opponents your side is weak. Keep quiet and play the hand.

The flip side: trust your partner back. Assume they have a reason for their bid, even if it looks weird to you. Sometimes they’re right. Sometimes they’re wrong. You’ll find out after the hand.

Tempo: The Art of Consistent Timing

This is where most etiquette violations happen, usually without anyone meaning to cheat.

Tempo means the pace of your actions. The rule is simple: try to maintain roughly the same timing whether you have a problem or not.

Here’s the issue. Say you’re thinking about bidding 4♥ with a borderline hand. You think for 30 seconds and finally pass. Now your partner knows you had something, even though you didn’t bid. That’s unauthorized information, and partner shouldn’t act on it.

The solution isn’t to bid instantly every time (that’s impossible and suspicious). It’s to:

Take a consistent amount of time. If you normally think for 5 seconds before routine bids, keep doing that. Don’t speed up when you have an obvious pass and then tank when it’s close.

Think when it’s not your turn. Plan ahead. When partner opens 1♥, you should already be thinking about your response before they even finish bidding. That way, when it’s your turn, you’re ready.

Don’t tank then pass. If you genuinely need to think, that’s fine. But if you think for a long time and then pass, your partner should bend over backwards not to act on your hesitation. In duplicate bridge, if partner bids after you tank, opponents can call the director.

Skip the Hollywood dramatics. Some players pause dramatically before doubling, like they’re in a movie. Just bid at normal speed. The drama doesn’t help.

Alerting and Announcing: Playing Fair with Opponents

When you play a convention, opponents deserve to know. This isn’t optional, it’s required.

Alert unusual bids. In most systems, you need to alert any bid that doesn’t mean what opponents would expect. Natural bids (1♥ showing hearts, 2NT showing a balanced 20-21) don’t need alerts. But transfer bids, artificial 2♣ openers, weak two-bids, and most conventional responses do.

Announce specific calls. Some bids get announced instead of alerted. These include:

1NT openers (announce the range: “15 to 17”)
Major suit openings (announce if they might be short: “could be three”)
Transfer bids after they’re completed

Alert for your partner, not yourself. If you bid 2♦ over partner’s 1NT (a transfer to hearts), your partner says “transfer” or taps the alert card. You don’t alert your own bids.

Explain fully when asked. When opponents ask about an alerted bid, give them the full story. Not just “artificial,” but “shows 5+ hearts, 8+ points, game forcing.” They’re entitled to understand what they’re up against.

Don’t fake alerts. Alerting when no alert is needed, or hesitating before you decide whether to alert, can be just as misleading as failing to alert. Know your system and be consistent.

If you forget to alert and realize it later, call the director immediately. Don’t wait until the hand is over.

When and How to Call the Director

The director isn’t the enemy. They’re there to resolve issues and keep the game fair. Don’t be afraid to call them.

Call for rulings, not revenge. If something irregular happens (a bid out of turn, a hesitation problem, a failure to alert), call the director. They’ll sort it out. Don’t try to negotiate with your opponents about what’s fair.

Common reasons to call:

Revoke (someone didn’t follow suit when they could have)
Insufficient bid (partner bids 2♥ over your 2♠)
Bid or play out of turn
Failure to alert a conventional bid
Partner hesitated before passing and now you have a close decision
Cards exposed accidentally
Claim disputes

How to call: Just say “Director, please” at a normal volume. You don’t need to explain the problem to the table first. Let the director hear everyone’s version.

Be honest with the director. If they ask whether you hesitated, tell the truth. If they ask what you were thinking about, tell them. The director can only make fair rulings with accurate information.

Accept the ruling. You can appeal later if you think a ruling was wrong, but at the table, the director’s word is final. Don’t argue.

Avoiding Unauthorized Information

This is the most subtle part of bridge ethics. Unauthorized information (UI) is anything your partner tells you outside the bidding and card play.

Common sources of UI:

Hesitations or breaks in tempo
Facial expressions or body language
Tone of voice when alerting
How partner reaches for a card then changes their mind
The way partner asks a question
Partner’s reaction to opponents’ bids or plays

The rule: If you receive UI from partner, you must “carefully avoid” taking any action that could have been suggested by that information.

Example: You open 1♣, partner responds 1♥, you bid 1♠. Partner thinks for 45 seconds and passes. Now you have a borderline hand where you might compete or pass. The hesitation suggests partner has something, so you’re supposed to take the more cautious action and pass. Even if you think 2♠ is the right bid, partner’s hesitation makes it unethical to bid.

This feels unfair sometimes. You have to give up potentially right actions because your partner broke tempo. But that’s the rule, and it’s what keeps the game honest.

Bridge etiquette varies depending on what kind of game you’re playing.

Social bridge is more relaxed. You can:

Chat between hands
Discuss the hand right after it finishes
Be a bit looser about tempo
Make friendly suggestions to newer players
Take breaks whenever you want

But even in social bridge, you shouldn’t give information during the hand, and you should still play at a reasonable pace.

Duplicate bridge has stricter standards:

No talking except to bid, play, or ask questions
No discussing hands until the round is completely over (boards might still be in play at other tables)
Strict tempo requirements
Proper alerting and announcing required
Director calls expected when issues arise

Club games fall in between. Most club games want you to follow duplicate rules but are more forgiving about minor violations. A good rule: play by duplicate standards until you know the local culture.

Don’t assume everyone at your table has the same expectations. When in doubt, err on the side of stricter etiquette.

Common Etiquette Mistakes

Even experienced players make these errors:

Slow play. Taking 2 minutes on every routine decision is the fastest way to irritate everyone. Think when you need to, but don’t treat every hand like a world championship final.

Table talk. Saying things like “Nice lead, partner” tells partner they led the right suit. “That was unlucky” tells them they played correctly even though it didn’t work. Save all comments for later.

Visible reactions. Gasping when dummy comes down. Shaking your head when partner makes a play. Grinning when you win a trick. All of these can give information.

Post-mortems at the table. The hand just finished and you immediately want to explain why you made that bid. Stop. Wait until you’re away from the table or the round is over. Other players can still hear you.

Criticizing partner. Just don’t. Not during the game, not after, not even nicely. If partner wants feedback, they’ll ask. Otherwise, bite your tongue. This is the fastest way to lose a partner and a friend.

Looking at other tables. Craning your neck to see how other pairs are doing on the same boards is bad form. Play your own game.

Counting someone else’s cards. If you notice an opponent has 14 cards or 12 cards, call the director immediately. Don’t touch their hand or try to fix it yourself.

Good Sportsmanship: Winning and Losing with Grace

The best players know how to handle both triumph and disaster.

When you’re winning:

Don’t gloat or act surprised you’re doing well
Don’t explain to opponents what they should have done
Don’t announce your score to the room
Stay humble; you’ll be on the other side soon enough

When you’re losing:

Don’t complain about bad boards or bad luck
Don’t criticize partner for their mistakes
Don’t make excuses (“I haven’t been sleeping well”)
Play each hand as best you can

When opponents make mistakes:

Accept it gracefully and move on
Don’t point out their errors
Don’t thank them for their mistakes
Just play the next hand

When you make mistakes:

Acknowledge it briefly if needed (“Sorry, partner”)
Don’t dwell on it or keep apologizing
Don’t make excuses
Focus on the next hand

After the game:

Thank your opponents and your partner
If you had a great game, you can mention good hands but don’t rub it in
If you had a terrible game, don’t do a blow-by-blow of everything that went wrong

Bridge is a partnership game, and partnerships work best when both players feel supported. Nobody plays perfectly. Everyone makes mistakes. What separates good partners from bad ones isn’t the quality of their card play, it’s how they handle the inevitable errors.

The Bottom Line

Bridge etiquette boils down to three principles:

Play fair. Don’t give or receive information except through legal bids and plays.
Play efficiently. Keep the game moving at a reasonable pace.
Play graciously. Be the kind of person others want to sit across from.

Follow these rules and you’ll be welcome at any table. Break them and you’ll find partners are hard to come by, no matter how good your card play.

The best part? Once etiquette becomes automatic, you stop thinking about it. You just play bridge the right way, and the game becomes more enjoyable for everyone at the table. That’s when bridge is at its best.