What does buying the contract mean?

[el mister]

That's it! I see the term used from time to time and don't really understand it - what does 'buying the contract' mean?

[han]

It just means your side gets to play it.

[kenrexford]

The term makes particular sense in that contract bridge arose from "auction bridge." Thus, the idea of an auction, which still exists of course, as increasing bids against a product, the contract, leads to the conclusion that the side who offers to pay the most (in the form of a contractual duty to take tricks) has just bought the contract. Strangely, inherent in the concept of bridge, in the idea of an auction, of bidding, and of an ultimate contract, is the idea that there is some hypothetical fifth person at the table, the one who pays you if you complete the contract after making the highest bid during the auction for that right to complete this contract. The terminology is often business-oriented, like penalties for non-completion of the contractual duty and bonuses for special performance.

[awm]

It means that you get to declare, but it's normally applied in the context of a competitive auction (or an auction that one might expect to be competitive).

[P_Marlowe]

One possible scenario:

 

You make a preemptive jump to the 3 level

with the hope to get to play the contract,

and you may or may not hold a weak hand for

the preemptive jump.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe