Gambling terms, explained straight

Card Games

Whist vs bridge

Whist vs bridge compares the classic trick-taking game whist with its later descendant bridge, which introduced bidding and changed how trumps and contracts are set.

Players
Both games use 4 players in fixed partnerships.12
Trump selection
Whist: final card dealt determines trump. Bridge: trump is chosen by the winning bidder.12
Scoring
Whist: 1 point per odd trick over six, first to 5 points wins. Bridge: points depend on contract level and whether it is made.12

Key points

  • Whist is the older game with no bidding; trump is set by the last card dealt.13
  • Bridge adds a bidding phase where players commit to a contract, making it a more strategic game.24
  • Both are four-player partnership trick-taking games using a standard 52-card pack.12

Where this term is used

Sources

  1. Whist en.wikipedia.org Provides the basic rules and scoring for whist.
  2. Contract bridge en.wikipedia.org Provides the basic rules and scoring for contract bridge.
  3. Whist bicyclecards.com Confirms the rules of whist as a plain-trick partnership game.
  4. Bridge: card game rules pagat.com Describes the bidding phase in bridge.

Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.