Goal

Bid and achieve maximum points for a given distribution of cards. Players make a series of bids to ascertain what a reasonable target is and how it can be reached. Most importantly it is to socialise and have fun!

Game information

• Two decks
• J,9,A,10,K,Q of each suit
• Total of 6X4X2 = 48 cards
• Number of players: 6
• Cards per player =8

Points and values

• Points: J-3, 9-2, A-1,10-1,Others-0
• Total points = 7 X4 X2 =56
• Values (highest to lowest): J,9,A,10,K,Q
• Trump: Trump suit  has higher value than the rest of the suit

Terms used

• Suit: There are 4 suits Clubs, Diamonds ,Hearts, Spades
• Trick: Trick is a set of 6 cards played, In a game there will be 8 Tricks
• Trump: suit that is decided upon in the last bid. Sometimes there will be no trumps at all
• Ruff: You can play trump when you don’t have a suit being played. Trump supersedes the highest value card of the suit being played. There is no Ruff in case of “No Trump” bids
• NO's(NS) - A bid indicating void of a suit
• No Trumps(NT) – A bid indicating intent to play without trumps
• Double - challenge bid to earn more points
• Redouble - challenge double bid
• PASS-multiple meanings, contextual

Rules and conventions

Bidding is the most interesting aspect of playing 56. In a series of declarations or bids, each player exposes his/her hand with the intent of letting the team mates and opposition know the strengths/weakness of his hand. This information is utilised to make decisions. This can be how to reach a milestone (say 48) or how to overcome your opposition (say Double).

Being such a popular game spanning the whole of Kerala, and all Malayalees globally, there are different variations to bidding. International tournament conventions (ITC) and Kerala tournament conventions (KTC) are attempts bring some sort of discipline to bidding process. It is important to distinguish between rules and conventions. Rules are mandatory while conventions are guidelines.

While conventions lay a framework for bidding, it is up to the player’s imagination, logical thinking and his collaboration as a team that differentiates a player’s calibre. Happy bidding!

Bidding Rules- Common for all conventions

Rules are mandatory principles; have to followed

• Bidding levels are 28,40,48 and 56
• Bidding happens in counter clockwise direction starting with the lead for the round
• Allowed bids are NO's(NS), Pass, No trumps (NT) , suits, Double, Redouble
• Double, Redouble does not increase value
• Pass bid can be with or without adding bid value (Example if current Bid is 32 C, you can Pass, or bid 33 Pass
• Pass with a bid value sets the bid to No trump state ( Example 32 Pass means there is no trump)
• Maximum bid is 56
• Cannot bid on a void suit – Example cannot bid 28 Hearts if Hearts is void
• If all partners pass a bid only options available are pass or self-raise to the current suit.
• Self-raise is allowed to next or higher levels only
• Double is a bid. Does not matter even if it done by the last person from the bidder. This allows further bidding to proceed
• Cannot double a bid from same team
• Bidding finishes when everyone passes or a redouble has happened
• If you pass during your turn, you will get another chance only if someone else bids
• Only bids available after self-raise are double and redouble.

Bidding Rules- KTC Specific

• Lead can start with PASS or a number greater or equal to 28 - Can be PASS,(28 or higher) NS,(28 or higher) NT or (28 or higher) of a suit.
• First PASS bid by lead will not increase Bidding level. in this case ether of Lead's partners must bid 28 or higher.
• Redouble is a considered only as bid.

Bidding Rules- ITC Specific

• Lead should bid at least 28 - Can be (28 or higher) Pass,(28 or higher) NS,(28 or higher) NT or (28 or higher) of a suit.
• Redouble finishes the bidding process

Playing

• Lead (person right to dealer) will start the game.
• If you have a suit being played, you have to play it.
• Trick belongs to the team who plays the most valued card of the given suit
• If two players play the same card of the same suit, first is more valued
• Player who wins the trick have to lead the next trick

Ruffing

• You can Ruff only if you do not have the suit being played.
• You can Ruff only with trump
• In case of a Ruffed trick, player who has Ruffed with highest value trump gets the trick
• There is no Ruffing if the final bid is no trump

Bidding conventions

Conventions are guidelines that help others understand your bid. In the end the goal is to share information about the bids to maximise the final bid. We have tried to capture International and Kerala conventions in a single document.

Straight bid with suit

Increase by X - have next X number of highest of the suit with 4 cards

Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 2	30 Hearts	Has 4 or more Hearts with 2 Jacks of Heart	ITC
Player 3	31 Clubs	Given 1 Jack of Clubs has been bid, has the next highest - other Jack- of Clubs with  4 or more Clubs	ITC
Player 4	33 Hearts	Given 2 Jacks of Hearts has been bid, has two 9s of Hearts with 4 or more Hearts	ITC
Player 5	34 Clubs	Given 2 Jacks of Clubs have been bid, by Payer 1 and player 2, have a 9 of C with 4 or more Cs	ITC

Note that the bids follow a pattern, it is not absolute. It is in the context of what has been revealed about a particular suit. Straight bid by a partner to your suit bid shows very strong support.

Plus bids (ITC only)

Have the next highest of a suit with 2 or more suit length. Applicable only for International tournament conventions

Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 2	Plus Hearts	Has 2 or 3 Hearts with 1 Jack of Hearts	ITC
Player 3	Plus Clubs	Given 1 J of C has been bid, has the next highest - other J- of Clubs with  2 or three Clubs	ITC
Player 4	Plus Hearts	Given 1 Jack of Hearts has been bid, has the next highest - other Jack- of Hearts with  2 or three Hearts	ITC

Plus bid by a partner to your suit bid shows good support but not as strong as straight bid 

Plus X bids (ITC only)

This is an explicit bid. Have exactly next X number of highest of the suit. (ITC)

Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 2	Plus 2 Hearts	Has 2 Jacks of Hearts and nothing else in Hearts	ITC
Player 3	Plus 1 Club	Given 1 J of Clubs has been bid, has exactly 1 Jack of Clubs.	ITC
Player 4	Plus 3 Hearts	Given 2 Jack of Hearts has been bid, has the next 3 highest of Hearts – Meaning Jack, and two 9s-Has exactly 3 Hearts in total	ITC

Reverse bids (ITC only)

Reverse bids on a suit indicate support without having next highest value card of a suit.Reverse bids are not used in KER convention

Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 2	Hearts 29	Strong hearts with no Jacks of Hearts. At least 4 or more Hearts with 9s(not mandatory)	ITC
Player 3	Clubs 30	Given 1 J of Clubs has been bid, has at least 4 Clubs with a 9	ITC

Reverse Plus bids (ITC only)

Reverse plus bids show a weak support. Indicates that the bidder has 2-3 cards of a suit but not next highest value card of a suit.

Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 3	Clubs Plus	Given 1 Jack of Clubs has been bid, has 2-3 Clubs with a 9 (not mandatory)	ITC

Reverse Plus X bids (ITC Only)

This is an explicit bid similar to Plus X bid. Difference being the absence of next highest value card.

Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 3	Clubs Plus 2	Has exactly 2 Clubs card without a Jack	ITC

NS (NO's) bids

NS bid indicate void of a suit. Increasing the bid level by 1 in conjunction with NS denotes the previous suit of previous bid is void. Increasing bid level by 2 along with NS indicates void for the bid before previous bid.

Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 2	29 Hearts	Has 4 or more Hearts with 1 Jacks of Heart	ITC,KTC
Player 3	30 NS	Hearts is void	ITC,KTC
Player 4	31 Diamond	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Diamond	ITC,KTC
Player 5	33 NS	Hearts is void (Note that there is no need to increase by 3. Can’t be NS to NS)	ITC,KTC
Player 6	36 NS	Clubs is void	ITC,KTC

It is a common practice to bid NS in place of NT bid. For example a 48 NS bid or 56 NS bid normally refers to 48 NT or 56 NT. This has nothing to do with void suit. For the sake of clarity, it is advisable to use NT bid if the intent is to play without trumps.

Pass bids

• Pass bids serve multiple purposes
• Pass without increasing value of the bid - pass on the bidding to next player.
• Pass with value increase - provide bid continuity; To make sure that bidding does not stop

Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 2	PASS	Nothing to bid	ITC,KTC
Player 3	PASS	Nothing to bid	ITC,KTC
Player 4	PASS	Nothing to bid	ITC,KTC
Player 5	29 PASS	PASS to give another opportunity to Player1	ITC,KTC
Player 6	PASS	Nothing to bid	ITC,KTC
Player 1	30 Clubs	Happy with Clubs	ITC,KTC

Second or higher round bids

When a partner supports in second or higher round bids, this cannot be taken as a straight support. There are exceptions. See the examples below Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 4	29 Spades		ITC,KTC
Player 1	30 Clubs	Happy with Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 5	31 Clubs	This cannot be considered as a straight support. Player 5 had chance to support in round 1	ITC

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 3	29 Hearts		ITC,KTC
Player 4	30 Spades		ITC,KTC
Player 5	Plus Hearts	Supporting Player3	ITC,KTC
Player 1	32 Clubs	Happy with Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 5	33 Clubs	This is direct support. First round was used to support Player 3	ITC

Correction Bids

Correction bids are used to bring clarity to previous bids.

Examples:

Bidder	Bid	Meaning	Convention
Player 1	28 Clubs	Has 4 or more Clubs with one Jack of Clubs	ITC,KTC
Player 4	29 Spades		ITC,KTC
Player 5	Plus Clubs	Supporting Player 1	ITC,KTC
Player 1	31 Hearts	Announcing another opportunity	ITC,KTC
Player 5	Clubs +1	Clarification bid. Indicates that Player 5 has 3 Clubs cards	ITC,KTC

Special bids

There are some bids which does not fall into any of the categories above.

Bid	Meaning	Convention
28 PASS	Not a good hand. No suit to bid	ITC,KTC
28 NS	Has 2 Jacks	ITC
28 NT	At least 3 Jacks. Good supporting hand	ITC
29 NT (29 NS)	4 Jacks. Very good supporting Hand	ITC
Plus NS	NS to a suit that has not been bid yet	ITC

ITC-KTC Differences

• Lead can start bidding with PASS without increasing bidding level in KTC.
• No reverse or plus bids in KTC.
• Only straight bids starting with a number from 28-56 in KTC.
• No PASS bids with number prefix or suffix (28 PASS,PASS 28) in KTC
• No separate NT bid allowed in KTC.
• NS bid covers both no trump and void in KTC.
• KTC uses correction bids instead of plus bids

KTC specific bids

• Opening PASS bids
• Lead can bid PASS as the first bid. This makes it mandatory for one of the partners to bid if no one else in between has made a bid.
• If Lead makes a PASS bid at the start of the game, bid level does not go up. The next bid starts from 28
• Increase by 1 followed by NS in the next round shows singleton Jack
• Increase by 2 followed by NS in the next round shows singleton shows two and only two of next highest
• NS Followed by bid on the suit shows strong support (round1-P1 28C, P3 NS,Round-2 P3 bids C)
• If there is support, have to do in first opportunity. That is the norm.

Game points

• There are two popular variations for redouble.
• Double of double (4 times)
• Three times the actual points

Bid	Win	Lose	Double	Redouble	Redouble
28-39	1	-2	X 2	X 3	X 4
40-47	2	-3	X 2	X 3	X 4
48-55	3	-4	X 2	X 3	X 4
56	4	-5	X 2	X 3	X 4