How to Play Bid Whist

Bid Whist is a classic partnership trick-taking card game deeply rooted in African-American culture and social tradition. Played by four players in two fixed partnerships, it combines strategic bidding with trick-taking play across three distinct contract types: uptown, downtown, and no-trump. The game uses a standard 52-card deck plus two jokers (54 cards total) and rewards communication between partners, accurate bidding, and sharp card play. A typical session involves multiple hands played to a target score, making every bid and every trick count.

Players and Partnerships

Bid Whist is played by 4 players seated in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit across from each other at the table. Before the game begins, partners are determined by agreement or by drawing cards. The partnership structure is central to Bid Whist — you and your partner share a single score and must work together to win tricks, even though you cannot show each other your cards.

The Deck and Dealing

Bid Whist uses a standard 52-card deck plus 2 jokers for a total of 54 cards. The two jokers are ranked differently: the Big Joker (sometimes printed in color) outranks the Little Joker (sometimes printed in black and white).

The dealer distributes the entire deck: 12 cards to each player and 6 cards face down to the center of the table, forming the kitty. Cards are typically dealt in groups of three or four. The deal rotates clockwise after each hand.

Bidding

Bidding begins with the player to the dealer's left and proceeds clockwise. Each bid consists of a number and a contract type. The number represents how many books (tricks) above 6 the bidder's team commits to winning, ranging from 3 to 7. Each subsequent bid must be higher than the previous one.

The three contract types, from lowest to highest rank:

• Uptown — Cards rank from high to low in the traditional order: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The trump suit is named by the bid winner.
• Downtown — Cards rank from low to high in reversed order: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K. The Ace is the lowest card. The trump suit is named by the bid winner.
• No-Trump — There is no trump suit. The highest card of the suit led wins each trick. No-trump bids outrank uptown and downtown bids of the same number.

A player who does not wish to bid may pass. Once three consecutive players pass, the highest bidder wins the contract. If all four players pass without bidding, the hand is re-dealt.

Jokers

The two jokers are among the most powerful cards in Bid Whist:

• In uptown or downtown bids — Both jokers belong to the trump suit. The Big Joker is the highest trump, followed by the Little Joker, then the rest of the trump suit in the declared rank order.
• In no-trump bids — Jokers are still the two highest cards in the game. A joker can be played at any time and wins the trick. The Big Joker beats the Little Joker.

Because jokers are always the strongest cards regardless of contract type, holding one or both jokers significantly impacts bidding decisions and trick play.

The Kitty

After bidding concludes, the winning bidder picks up the 6-card kitty and adds those cards to their hand, giving them 18 cards temporarily. The bidder then selects 6 cards to discard face down. These discarded cards count as one book for the bidding team at the end of the hand.

The kitty phase is strategically important. The bidder can strengthen their hand by keeping useful cards from the kitty while discarding weak or off-suit cards. Experienced players use the kitty to void themselves in a suit, creating opportunities to trump in during play.

Trick-Taking Play

The winning bidder names the trump suit (in uptown or downtown contracts) and leads the first trick. Play follows these rules:

• Follow suit — You must play a card of the suit that was led if you have one.
• Trump if void — In uptown or downtown contracts, if you are void in the led suit and hold trump cards, you must play a trump card.
• Any card if void — If you have no cards of the led suit and no trump (or in no-trump contracts), you may play any card.
• Winning a trick — The highest card of the led suit wins unless a trump card is played. The highest trump wins when multiple trumps are played. The trick winner leads the next trick.

Each team collects their won tricks in a single pile. There are 13 tricks in total (12 from play plus the kitty counting as one book for the bidding team).

Scoring

After all 12 tricks are played, each team counts their books (tricks won). The bidding team also counts the kitty discard pile as one book. Only books above 6 matter for scoring:

• Making the bid — If the bidding team wins at least as many books above 6 as they bid, they score 1 point for each book above 6. For example, bidding 4 and winning 10 total books (4 above 6) scores 4 points.
• Getting set — If the bidding team fails to make their bid, they lose points equal to the amount they bid. For example, failing a bid of 5 means losing 5 points. Their score can go negative.
• Opponent scoring — The non-bidding team scores 1 point for each book they win above 6, regardless of whether the bidding team makes their bid.

Some variations award bonus points for no-trump contracts or for winning all 13 books (a Boston). The game is typically played to a target score, commonly 5 or 7 points, though house rules may vary.

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