Page "Contract bridge" Paragraph 13

A key feature of bridge is the concept of vulnerability.

On each deal, each side is said to be either vulnerable or not vulnerable depending upon whether or not it has previously won a game ; if it has, the side is said to be vulnerable ; if it has not, it is said to be not vulnerable.

The scoring points which are won on a deal when making a contract and the points which are lost when failing to make a contract are significantly increased when a side is vulnerable.

Accordingly, whether one is vulnerable or not can have a major impact on scoring and becomes an important factor in one ’ s bidding and play strategies.