Beer card
Encyclopedia
The beer card is a slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
term used to describe the 7 of diamonds playing card
Playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
, particularly in trick-taking card games, such as bridge
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
.
If a player wins the last trick of a hand with the 7 of diamonds, his partner must buy him a beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
. It is not considered as part of the rules of these games, merely as an informal side-bet between players.
The additional requirements vary depending whether the beer card trick winner is the declarer or one of the defenders. For the declarer, the requirements are generally that:
- He must make contract,
- He must win last trick with the 7,
- Diamonds must not be trumps (though some people play that only diamond part scores are excluded),
- He must take a justifiable line on the contract to win as many tricks as possible (i.e. not lose tricks to set up the beer or in order to keep the 7 until the last trick),
For a defender, the requirements are generally that:
- Contract must be defeated
- He must win last trick with the beer card
- Diamonds must not be trumps
- He must try to win as many tricks as possible (i.e. not lose tricks to set up the beer or in order to keep the 7 until the last trick)
If the contract is doubled then two beers are earned. If the contract is redoubled then four beers are earned.
Examples
South plays in the inferior contract of three notrump (six diamonds is excellent), against which the opponents cash the first four spade tricks. To maximize the chance of getting a beer, declarer must discard two top diamond honors and a small heart from dummy. If the diamonds do not break 4-0, it is straightforward to cash nine winners, ending with the beer card. If the diamonds don't break, there's a chance that a defender will be pseudosqueezed and choose to discard a diamond. For declarer to discard three diamond honors risks losing the contract unnecessarily, and so forfeits the beer, even if diamonds turn out to break normally.Alternately, if North-South only exclude diamond partials from beer card enforcement, then the declarer in six diamonds can easily beer assuming trumps break. Declarer wins the (say) heart lead in the South hand and cashes one high trump in the North hand. When they break, declarer cashes two more high trumps, exits a spade, uses the rounded-suit entries to ruff two spades in the North hand, and finally trump the losing heart with the beer card. When they do not break, the simplest line (ruff a heart in the South hand) forces declarer to use the beer card while drawing trumps.
| West | North | East | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pass | 1 | |
| 2 | 3 | Pass | 4 |
| Pass | 4NT | Pass | 5 |
| Pass | 7 | Dbl | Pass |
| Pass | Pass |
In theory, South should have interpreted the final double as a Lightner double and removed to seven diamonds. However, given that his priorities placed the probable doubled beer ahead of trusting the opponents, he should still not redouble. Since the opponents were non-vulnerable, it just may have occurred to them to remove to seven hearts. While the sacrifice rates to go down two thousand, there is certainly no hope for even North to score the beer.