Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards. It is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions of people play bridge worldwide in clubs, tournaments, online and with friends at home, making it one of the world's most popular card games.
For purposes of scoring and reference, each player is identified by one of the points of the compass and thus North and South play against East and West. The game consists of several deals each progressing through four phases: dealing the cards, the auction (also eferred to as bidding), playing the hand, and scoring the results. Dealing the cards and scoring the results are procedural activities while the auction and playing the hand are the two actively competitive phases of the game.
Dealing:
Partnerships are self-determined or by a cut of the cards, the two highest cut playing against the two lowest; the first dealer is the player cutting the highest card. Cards are dealt clockwise, one at a time and face down starting on the dealer's left so that each player receives thirteen cards. In duplicate bridge the dealer is predetermined by the board. The board also contains the four hands which have been dealt and placed in the board prior to commencement of the game; these hands are not redealt over the course of the event.
Auction or Bidding:
The bidding starts with the dealer and rotates around the table clockwise with each player making a call, the purpose being to determine which partnership will contract to take more tricks given a particular trump suit or with notrump, i.e. the strain. The partnership which makes the highest final bid is known as the declaring side and is said to have 'won' the contract. The player on the declaring side who, during the auction, first stated the suit ultimately becoming trumps (or first stated notrump if that is the final strain) is referred to as the declarer.
Playing:
The rules of play are similar to other trick-taking games with the additional feature that the hand of declarer's partner is displayed face up on the table after the opening lead has been made by the member of the defending side to the left of declarer; the displayed hand is referred to as the dummy and is played by
declarer.
Scoring:
After all thirteen tricks have been played, or after a claim has been made and accepted, the hand's score is determined by comparing the actual number of tricks taken by the declaring partnership with that proposed in the contract and awarding points accordingly. The available scoring points for the declaring side are dependent upon both the level and strain of the contract and are awarded to them only when the contract is 'made', i.e. at least the contracted for number of tricks are won by them; failure to do so results in the defending side's receiving points instead, and they are said to have 'defeated' the contract. Individual scores of several hands are accumulated to determine the overall game score.
The most common game variants are rubber bridge and duplicate bridge. In rubber bridge, two partnerships participate in the game at one table and the objective is to score the most points in the play of several hands.
In duplicate bridge, the hands are dealt and played in such a manner that each partnership plays the same set of hands as their East-West or North-South counterparts at other tables and with the scoring based upon relative performance. While both versions involve skill and chance, duplicate bridge has many variants and event types designed to emphasize skill and reduce chance. Organizers of duplicate events may set limits on the nature of the bidding systems that may be used, set the pace and duration of play, and group players of similar interests, skill levels, age, or gender, or combinations thereof. The game variant and associated method of scoring have a significant influence on bidding and card-play strategies. Competitions in duplicate bridge range from small clubs with a handful of tables, to large tournaments such as the World Bridge
Championships where hundreds of tables play the same hands. Bridge organizations may define player eligibility and provide country representation in international play.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_bridge
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
History of Bridge
The history of contract bridge, of the world's most popular partnership card games, may be dated from the early 16th-century invention of trick-taking games such as whist. Bridge departed from whist with the creation of Biritch (or "Russian Whist") in the 19th century, and evolved through the late 19th and early 20th centuries to form the present game.
Origins
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word bridge is the English pronunciation of the game called "biritch". It followed on from whist, which initially was the dominant trick-playing game and enjoyed a loyal following for centuries. The oldest known reference to the rules of the game date from 1886 and call it "Biritch, or Russian Whist". The game featured several significant developments from whist: dealer chose the trump suit, or nominated his partner to do so; there was a call of no trumps (biritch); and the dealer's partner's hand became dummy. There were other similarities to bridge: points were scored above and below the line; game was 3NT, 4♥ and 5♦ (although 8 club tricks and 15 spade tricks were needed!); the score could be doubled and redoubled; and there were slam bonuses.
Despite the popularity of whist, this game, and variants of it, bridge and bridge-whist, became popular in the United States and the UK in the 1890s.
In 1904 auction bridge, known for a time as royal auction bridge, was developed where the players bid in a competitive auction to decide the contract and declarer. The object became to make at least as many tricks as were contracted for and penalties were introduced for failing to do so.
The modern game of contract bridge was the result of innovations to the scoring of auction bridge made by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt and others. The most significant change was that only the tricks contracted for were counted below the line towards game and slam. That made bidding much more challenging and interesting. Another innovation was the concept of vulnerability, a difference in the sizes of penalties incurred by partnerships that have or have not won one game. That discouraged sacrifice bidding to protect the lead in a rubber. Some other scores were adjusted to produce a more balanced game. Vanderbilt set out his rules in 1925, and within a few years contract bridge had so supplanted other forms of the game that "bridge" became synonymous with "contract bridge."
Boom Years
Led by Ely Culbertson, [see Daily Quiddity entry] contract bridge enjoyed a boom in popularity in the USA and the UK in the 1930s.
Recent Developments
In the USA and Australia today, bridge is usually duplicate bridge played at clubs, at tournaments, and online. In the UK, bridge is still widely played in private homes (rubber or chicago) as well as at clubs (duplicate and rubber) and tournaments (duplicate).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_bridge
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Note by the Blog Author
Contract bridge was a popular game before the Second World War and a surprising number of war theorists, war planners, code breakers and spy masters were good bridge players, including Ian Fleming, whose fictional James Bond also plays bridge.
Bridge popularity decreased following the Second World War. The advent of the personal computer and internet revived the game in the 1980s and 1990s. Furthermore, bridge bidding was simplified in a manner that attracted new players. The blog author regards the conventions for bridge bidding, which are still evolving, as a grand slam home run of 20th century logic and game theory.
The proof is in the pudding. Brad Moss, a masterful modern bridge player, is also a hedge fund manager who made a fortune in 2010 – see:
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/07/how-a-bridge-champ-beats-the-market/
For purposes of scoring and reference, each player is identified by one of the points of the compass and thus North and South play against East and West. The game consists of several deals each progressing through four phases: dealing the cards, the auction (also eferred to as bidding), playing the hand, and scoring the results. Dealing the cards and scoring the results are procedural activities while the auction and playing the hand are the two actively competitive phases of the game.
Dealing:
Partnerships are self-determined or by a cut of the cards, the two highest cut playing against the two lowest; the first dealer is the player cutting the highest card. Cards are dealt clockwise, one at a time and face down starting on the dealer's left so that each player receives thirteen cards. In duplicate bridge the dealer is predetermined by the board. The board also contains the four hands which have been dealt and placed in the board prior to commencement of the game; these hands are not redealt over the course of the event.
Auction or Bidding:
The bidding starts with the dealer and rotates around the table clockwise with each player making a call, the purpose being to determine which partnership will contract to take more tricks given a particular trump suit or with notrump, i.e. the strain. The partnership which makes the highest final bid is known as the declaring side and is said to have 'won' the contract. The player on the declaring side who, during the auction, first stated the suit ultimately becoming trumps (or first stated notrump if that is the final strain) is referred to as the declarer.
Playing:
The rules of play are similar to other trick-taking games with the additional feature that the hand of declarer's partner is displayed face up on the table after the opening lead has been made by the member of the defending side to the left of declarer; the displayed hand is referred to as the dummy and is played by
declarer.
Scoring:
After all thirteen tricks have been played, or after a claim has been made and accepted, the hand's score is determined by comparing the actual number of tricks taken by the declaring partnership with that proposed in the contract and awarding points accordingly. The available scoring points for the declaring side are dependent upon both the level and strain of the contract and are awarded to them only when the contract is 'made', i.e. at least the contracted for number of tricks are won by them; failure to do so results in the defending side's receiving points instead, and they are said to have 'defeated' the contract. Individual scores of several hands are accumulated to determine the overall game score.
The most common game variants are rubber bridge and duplicate bridge. In rubber bridge, two partnerships participate in the game at one table and the objective is to score the most points in the play of several hands.
In duplicate bridge, the hands are dealt and played in such a manner that each partnership plays the same set of hands as their East-West or North-South counterparts at other tables and with the scoring based upon relative performance. While both versions involve skill and chance, duplicate bridge has many variants and event types designed to emphasize skill and reduce chance. Organizers of duplicate events may set limits on the nature of the bidding systems that may be used, set the pace and duration of play, and group players of similar interests, skill levels, age, or gender, or combinations thereof. The game variant and associated method of scoring have a significant influence on bidding and card-play strategies. Competitions in duplicate bridge range from small clubs with a handful of tables, to large tournaments such as the World Bridge
Championships where hundreds of tables play the same hands. Bridge organizations may define player eligibility and provide country representation in international play.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_bridge
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
History of Bridge
The history of contract bridge, of the world's most popular partnership card games, may be dated from the early 16th-century invention of trick-taking games such as whist. Bridge departed from whist with the creation of Biritch (or "Russian Whist") in the 19th century, and evolved through the late 19th and early 20th centuries to form the present game.
Origins
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word bridge is the English pronunciation of the game called "biritch". It followed on from whist, which initially was the dominant trick-playing game and enjoyed a loyal following for centuries. The oldest known reference to the rules of the game date from 1886 and call it "Biritch, or Russian Whist". The game featured several significant developments from whist: dealer chose the trump suit, or nominated his partner to do so; there was a call of no trumps (biritch); and the dealer's partner's hand became dummy. There were other similarities to bridge: points were scored above and below the line; game was 3NT, 4♥ and 5♦ (although 8 club tricks and 15 spade tricks were needed!); the score could be doubled and redoubled; and there were slam bonuses.
Despite the popularity of whist, this game, and variants of it, bridge and bridge-whist, became popular in the United States and the UK in the 1890s.
In 1904 auction bridge, known for a time as royal auction bridge, was developed where the players bid in a competitive auction to decide the contract and declarer. The object became to make at least as many tricks as were contracted for and penalties were introduced for failing to do so.
The modern game of contract bridge was the result of innovations to the scoring of auction bridge made by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt and others. The most significant change was that only the tricks contracted for were counted below the line towards game and slam. That made bidding much more challenging and interesting. Another innovation was the concept of vulnerability, a difference in the sizes of penalties incurred by partnerships that have or have not won one game. That discouraged sacrifice bidding to protect the lead in a rubber. Some other scores were adjusted to produce a more balanced game. Vanderbilt set out his rules in 1925, and within a few years contract bridge had so supplanted other forms of the game that "bridge" became synonymous with "contract bridge."
Boom Years
Led by Ely Culbertson, [see Daily Quiddity entry] contract bridge enjoyed a boom in popularity in the USA and the UK in the 1930s.
Recent Developments
In the USA and Australia today, bridge is usually duplicate bridge played at clubs, at tournaments, and online. In the UK, bridge is still widely played in private homes (rubber or chicago) as well as at clubs (duplicate and rubber) and tournaments (duplicate).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_bridge
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Note by the Blog Author
Contract bridge was a popular game before the Second World War and a surprising number of war theorists, war planners, code breakers and spy masters were good bridge players, including Ian Fleming, whose fictional James Bond also plays bridge.
Bridge popularity decreased following the Second World War. The advent of the personal computer and internet revived the game in the 1980s and 1990s. Furthermore, bridge bidding was simplified in a manner that attracted new players. The blog author regards the conventions for bridge bidding, which are still evolving, as a grand slam home run of 20th century logic and game theory.
The proof is in the pudding. Brad Moss, a masterful modern bridge player, is also a hedge fund manager who made a fortune in 2010 – see:
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/07/how-a-bridge-champ-beats-the-market/
No comments:
Post a Comment