Bid Whist
How to Play Bid Whist
Bid Whist is a four-player trick-taking game for two teams. Partners sit across. You deal a 54-card pack — one 52 plus two jokers — 12 each, with a 6-card kitty face-down. You bid a number of books over 6 in uptown (high wins), downtown (low wins), or no trump. Winner takes the kitty, discards 6, names trump, and you play 12 tricks. First side to 7 wins.
This page is kitchen-table Bid Whist. Four people, partners across, paper, 7. Short enough to deal tonight. This is not Spades. Spades deals 13 from a 52, spades are always trump, nil is a bid, and you race to 500 — no kitty, no jokers. This is not Bridge. No dummy, no high-card points, no rubber. Not Pitch (High, Low, Jack, Game, deal 6). Not euchre (24 cards 9–A, 5 tricks, to 10). Not Pinochle (48 doubled 9–A, meld). Not Five Hundred (43-card pack, widow, race to 500). Four people is a tonight pick. Three people: Bid Whist itself is four. Pick cutthroat euchre or 3-hand Five Hundred from tonight.
What you need
- Four players. Partners sit across from each other, never side by side. Bid Whist itself is four.
- One standard 52-card deck plus 2 jokers — big joker and little joker. That is 54. Mark them if they look the same.
- Paper with two running totals. Game is 7.
Sit, pick a dealer, agree on the house
Partners sit across and play as a team. Cut for the first deal, or point at someone. After each hand, the deal moves clockwise.
Say these out loud before the first card:
- 54 cards. 12 each. 6 in the kitty face-down. Big joker is the highest trump. Little joker is second.
- Bid books over 6, 3 through 7, plus a strain. Downtown is lowest, then uptown, then no trump. Must beat the previous bid. Pass is allowed. All pass: throw in and redeal.
- Winner takes the kitty, discards 6 (those are out), names trump if they bid uptown or downtown. Bid winner leads the first trick.
- First to 7. Make the bid: score the books you actually took. Set: opponents score the bid amount. A Boston is all 12 tricks — say it, still 6 books.
Deal 12 each and a 6-card kitty
Shuffle the 54. Deal clockwise until each player has 12. The last 6 sit face-down in the middle. That is the kitty. Nobody looks yet. If someone has 11, you misdealt. Throw it in and deal again.
Left of the dealer speaks first. Look at your 12. Do not touch the kitty until someone wins the bid.
Bid books over 6
A book is a trick after the first 6 your side takes. The first 6 tricks for a side are making book. Each trick after 6 is a book. You bid how many of those extra books your side will take, plus a strain.
Starting left of the dealer, each player may bid or pass. A bid is a number 3 through 7 plus uptown, downtown, or no trump. You must beat the previous bid — a higher number, or the same number in a higher strain. Tonight's strain rank, low to high: downtown < uptown < no trump. So 4 uptown beats 4 downtown. 4 no trump beats 4 uptown. 5 downtown beats any 4.
If everyone passes, throw the hand in and redeal. There is no forced bid tonight.
| Bid | Tricks your side needs |
|---|---|
| 3 | 9 (6 + 3) |
| 4 | 10 (6 + 4) |
| 5 | 11 (6 + 5) |
| 6 | 12 — all of them. That is a Boston. |
| 7 | 13 — only if this table counts the 6 discards as a book. Tonight those are out, so 6 is the practical top. |
Bid what you can see: jokers, long trump, side aces if you are uptown. Downtown wants deuces and holes in the high cards. No trump wants aces and length with no trump to ruff you.
Kitty, discard, name trump
The bid winner picks up the 6-card kitty. You now hold 18. Choose 6 to throw face-down. Those six are out — they are not played, they are not a book tonight. You are back to 12, like everyone else.
Then name the trump suit if you bid uptown or downtown. If you bid no trump, you name no suit. Dump jokers in the six you discard if you can — they cannot win a no-trump trick.
Rank: uptown, downtown, no trump
Uptown trump, high to low: big joker, little joker, then A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 of trump. Off-suit uptown is ace high, 2 low. No bowers.
Downtown trump, high to low: big joker, little joker, then 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A of trump. The 2 is high. The ace is low. Off-suit downtown is also 2-high, ace-low. Jokers still sit on top of trump.
No trump: no trump suit. Highest card of the led suit wins. Ace is high. Jokers cannot win a trick — if one hits the table, it loses. Follow suit if you can.
Play 12 tricks
The bid winner leads the first card tonight. After that, the winner of a trick leads the next. You play until the hands are empty — 12 tricks.
- You must follow suit if you have a card of the suit that was led.
- If you cannot follow, you may trump (when there is trump) or discard any card.
- The highest trump in the trick wins. If nobody played trump, the highest card of the led suit wins — uptown or downtown rank, depending on the bid.
- In no trump, the highest card of the led suit wins. Ace high. Jokers lose.
There is no “spades broken” rule. You may lead trump whenever you want. That is not Spades.
Scoring, in the amount you need tonight
Count tricks for each partnership. The first 6 a side takes are making book. Tricks 7 through 12 are books.
| What happened | Who scores |
|---|---|
| Makers take at least the bid | They score the books they actually took, not just the bid |
| Makers take fewer than the bid (set) | Opponents score the bid amount |
| All 12 tricks (Boston) | Say it. Still 6 books. Score 6 if that made the bid. |
| A side reaches 7 | That side wins the night |
Example: you bid 4 uptown. You need 10 tricks. You take 11. That is 5 books (11 − 6). You score 5 — the books you took, not just the 4 you bid. If you had taken 9, you are set: opponents score 4, the number you bid.
First side to 7 wins. You do not race to 500. That is Spades. You do not play a rubber. That is Bridge.
Walk through one first-night hand
You are South. Partner sits North. East dealt. You speak first.
Your twelve cards:
- Big joker and little joker
- Ace, king, queen, and 10 of hearts
- Ace of spades
- King of diamonds
- 9, 8, 4, and 3 of clubs
Two jokers and four hearts headed by A-K-Q. That is a 4-uptown you can see. You bid 4 uptown. West passes. Partner passes. East passes. You win the bid.
Kitty: A♣, 2♥, 7♥, J♥, 5♦, 3♠. You pick them up. Keep the hearts and the aces. Discard 9♣ 8♣ 4♣ 3♣ 5♦ 3♠. Those six are out. Name hearts trump. Lead the big joker. Your side needs 10 tricks. Take ten and you score at least 4. Take eleven and you score 5. Take nine and you are set: they score 4.
Night-one habits
- Count trump including both jokers. After two tricks, pause and say how many are out.
- Downtown is a different rank. Do not cash an ace downtown and call it a winner.
- No trump: dump jokers in the kitty discard. They cannot win.
- Bid the books you can see. A 7 is rare at this table — 6 is all 12 tricks.
- Four people, partners across. Three people deal cutthroat euchre or 3-hand 500, not a made-up Bid Whist.
You know enough to deal. Keep this page beside the pad. Four people is a tonight pick. There is no Bid Whist trainer on CardPractice — this how-to is the product. Three people: cutthroat euchre or 3-hand Five Hundred. If you wanted 13 each, spades always trump, and a race to 500, that is Spades.