Contract Bridge

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

Does anyone under 60 play this?

My Mom was in several “Bridge Clubs” and I’ve always heard it is by FAR the hardest card game to get any degree of proficiency at.

I’m not a huge card player (except Gin), but I’ve always kind of wanted to learn, but I can’t stand the smell of talcum powder and White Shoulders perfume.

 

[WildcatfaninOhio]

I tried to get into bridge once. Not a fan.

I prefer to to stick to games I’m good at, like euchre. And games I’m not very good at, but have a **** ton of fun playing…dealer’s choice poker with the guys.

 

[UK_Dallas]

Definitely an old person game. It’s not that hard to learn imo. Harder than spades, etc..

The thing I don’t like about it is you get to see your partners hand and play it if you get the bid. That makes no sense to me.

 

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

I think that is the key element, being able to communicate with your partner by bidding. Granted, it would kind of be boring for the person, not playing their hand.

 

[lex cath]

The only thing I know about bridge is my grandfather told me once the women are horny and drinking so I better learn how to play

 

[rudd1]

-never played, would like to learn time permitting.

-there is a club here in town, meets by the landsdowne post office iirc.

^Irish neighbors dad used to hang/play there when he was in the states.

 

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

It does bring to mind old ladies, but I like challenges, and it’s universally accepted as the most difficult/thinking person’s card game.

 

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

If you ever decide to go, hit me up.

 

[AustinTXCat]

Fun fact: Actor Omar Sharif ranked among the top contract bridge players in the world at one time. He started playing at age 21 after learning from a book left on a movie set.

You might check out Bridge Base Online. Co-worker of mine is a member. It's free. They run daily games.

 

[Lionel_Hutz]

Just joined a bridge club last week. We jump off on Tuesday.....

(thank you Rodney Dangerfield)

 

[CAT Scratch FVR]

There is a documentary, Showtime or Netflix, on cheating at the highest levels by an Israeli team and others. Online community pored over thousands of hours of hands to figure out how they did it. The way they set hands back under the table was the tell.

 

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

Great... You can’t even depend on little old ladies to not cheat at card games now.

 

[vhcat70]

I'm old. You're right, it's an old person's game. Why? Because it's difficult & time consuming to get proficient at & practically no one today under 50 wants to devote the time & effort it takes to become so. So quality players are slowly dying off. Sorta like becoming good at handicapping horse races. Bridge was a much bigger deal (PI) from 1930's to 80's.

It's fairly easy to get the basics & play social bridge that way. But as I said, being proficient - willing to play for $ or being successful at duplicate bridge - winning ACBL points - is another matter. All kinds of classes are given & books written.

I play duplicate bridge - can hardly tolerate social bridge - mainly at the Northern Ky Bridge Club in Erlanger, typically 3x/wk in 3.0 - 3.5 hr sessions. It's part of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). I rate myself as a better than average club player, and average regional tourney player, and have no chance against experts EXCEPT: it's not totally predictable and on occasion average players can upset world grand masters. Masters sometimes play against peons in club games.

The duplicate Bridge Club of Lexington is on Lansdowne Dr & is also part of ACBL. I've played there several times. Nice facility. Clubs charge between $7 (NKBC) & $20 (NYC/Palm Beach)/session to cover facilities, cards, tables, snacks, equipment, & usually the game director's fee. Duplicate bridge has very detailed & rather strict "laws" and the director has to deal with player screwups of all kinds. I'm a just beyond beginner into novice director quality & do it for free.

Social bridge is typically a one table game, meaning you play against the same pair the entire session. Each hand is dealt after shuffling, thus with no control over who gets good cards or not & that thus affects the winner.

In duplicate bridge you can have from 5 to hundreds of opponents depending on the size of the game. In most club games you have between 5 & 10 opponents. All hands are pre-dealt and numbered before the session begins & are placed in 4-slotted "boards". Players have a fixed position - North/South/East/West - & same partner. You remove the cards & bid & play the hand. To keeps cards from being mixed up, you place played cards in front of you & return them to the same board slot when the hand is complete.

For example, if there nine opponents, you typically play three of the boards against each of the nine opponents or 27 boards/hands by EW pairs moving tables & boards moving. In fact, you're not really scoring against the players you play, but against the other players in your same direction as YOU ALL PLAY THE SAME HANDS !! At the end of the game, your score is compared against all the other pairs in your direction, EW or NS, to determine the winner. Also, most sets of hands are computer dealt & printouts are available after the session so you can see how you (typically) screwed up - miss-bid and/or misplayed.

Clearly I enjoy it. While I knew social bridge in my 20's, didn't play much & didn't get into duplicate till near 50. BTW, one of the best 100 or so young duplicate players in the country plays & directs at the Lex club. He's from NKBC & attends UK.

 

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

Damn. Thanks for the input. I wasn’t sure anybody on here would know anything ABOUT Bridge.

I honestly didn’t know about duplicate bridge.

If you’re that advanced as a player, I can understand why you wouldn’t want to play Bridge Club.

I’m not a great card player, but the game has always held a mystique for me. Probably because of the era I grew up in; when Bridge Clubs were the rage (my parents were avid players) and so partly for nostalgia, and partly because I like to learn new things I was thinking about learning.

Thanks again for expanding on it.

 

[HymanKaplan_rivals48997]

Do you ever allow “observers” at Lansdowne?

I wouldn’t want to play in something like that, for fear I’d screw somebody else up(not until I got my sea legs anyway)

 

[vhcat70]

Do you ever allow “observers” at Lansdowne?

I wouldn’t want to play in something like that, for fear I’d screw somebody else up(not until I got my sea legs anyway)

Well, since I'm NKy, not Lex, I'm not "you".

BUT, I'm sure they'd love to have have you. I'd start with the email address:

3517 Lansdowne Drive, Lexington Ky 40517 | Phone: 859-245- 9770 | Email: [email protected]

 

[vhcat70]

Damn. Thanks for the input. I wasn’t sure anybody on here would know anything ABOUT Bridge.

I honestly didn’t know about duplicate bridge.

If you’re that advanced as a player, I can understand why you wouldn’t want to play Bridge Club.

I’m not a great card player, but the game has always held a mystique for me. Probably because of the era I grew up in; when Bridge Clubs were the rage (my parents were avid players) and so partly for nostalgia, and partly because I like to learn new things I was thinking about learning.

Thanks again for expanding on it.

WWII generals loved to play. It's a better "war game" than chess as you don't know all your assets nor the opponents plus you have to communicate.

 

[vhcat70]

There is a documentary, Showtime or Netflix, on cheating at the highest levels by an Israeli team and others. Online community pored over thousands of hours of hands to figure out how they did it. The way they set hands back under the table was the tell.

It's a continuing problem at the highest levels. Money is involved. At lower levels, what's the point? Yes, it can happen but it's pretty rare.

 

[gamecockcat]

Have played casually since I was in my 20s (58 now). Incredibly difficult game to get really good at and very cerebral. Learned from my grandmother who, after just a few cards had been played, would know where all the cards were in the players' hands. Just had the mind and experience to read the hand very quickly.

Great game.

 

[vhcat70]

Have played casually since I was in my 20s (58 now). Incredibly difficult game to get really good at and very cerebral. Learned from my grandmother who, after just a few cards had been played, would know where all the cards were in the players' hands. Just had the mind and experience to read the hand very quickly.

Then your GM was a helluva player. I know of one player in our club that can do that well.

 

[80 Proof]

I was hoping this would be a construction thread.

 

[Tskware]

I played a lot of poker as a younger person, and have played spades a lot. But Bridge is infinitely harder than Spades, sort of like comparing checkers to chess, just not anywhere near the same level. Really good poker players are very tough to beat as well, but intellectually the games are not as tough as Bridge (I never played Bridge for money, was never good enough to even think about it).

My mom taught me to play, but I have not played in years, and have long since forgotten the bidding conventions, which you have to learn to even get started. It is definitely a thinking man's game.