Learning to Play Bridge

[beet1e]

I was in need of a change of scene, so attended a four day Bridge course at Bourton-on-the-Water, Glos. Yep, it’s not a game you can learn in an hour or two, and has a very steep learning curve. We had 8 people on the course, with 2 trainers. I made the following observations.

• Despite the fact that our environment was in effect a “training arena”, the trainers went to great lengths to give instruction and helpful advice, instead of whupping our arses to show off their own Bridge playing prowess.
• Most of us had to play slowly at first, and many mistakes were made in the learning process. Despite this, no-one called anyone else a dweeb or a wuss. There was no abuse of any kind, and people remained courteous to eachother.
• There was no ganging up on any individual player, and there were no incidences of one player trying to cover himself in glory by making it on his own. We learned that Bridge is very much a partnership game.
• There was no cheating. No-one tried to see his opponents’ cards, and no-one looked over anyone’s shoulder then to whisper in his opponents’ ears.
• Throughout the course, we were taught that the objective was to win the GAME in a series of individual hands or deals. Thus, no-one sought satisfaction from winning individual tricks, as we all kept the overall objective in mind – winning the hand and making Game.
• Because no-one glorified in winning individual tricks, there was no-one to denounce anyone else as a “strat potato”, “fluffer”, or “dildo worshipper”.
• We were taught strategy, and how to explore our partner’s hand in the bidding process. In doing this, we were able to work out what cards our opponents had. Very much a thinking person’s game.
• If Spades was nominated as the trump suit, no-one was foolish enough to use the Ace of Spades to kill the Two of Diamonds.
• Practice hands were set up by the trainers, but we also had random deals. We did not have players turning the cards face up so they could grab all the Kings and Aces.
• When a hand was dealt, people accepted what they were dealt. The game target in Bridge is in proportion to the strength of the hands dealt. All of us had a crap hand from time to time, but no-one went ”Waaaaaah, all these low cards have so many spots it makes my hand look like a Pizza. Waaaaaaahhhhh, I want a hand with all Aces Kings and Queens”
• No-one ever suggested mixing the best cards from multiple packs so that everyone could have Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks.
• Whenever I made the highest bid such that my partner was “Dummy”, I distinctly remember my partner remaining at the table to help me, instead of going in search of more “fun” at the other table.

And, in the time honoured tradition of saving the best till last:

• Each person had paid approximately £200 for this residential course. But no-one suggested that the rules of play should be modified to suit himself on account of the fact that having paid £200 to be on the course he was entitled to play Bridge any way he liked.

[lazs2]

Is the british bridge better than the American one?
lazs

more guns=less crime depends on whos finger is on the trigger... wouldn't you rather it be yours?

if you would listen to the british home office on american gun rights then you would probly go to a british dentist.

[lord dolf vader]

ohh i get it they just want teeth that work ( unlike alot of lower class people here in the states that get NO dental care whos teeth just rot ) remeber this board is not representative of the average american.

also

livin in south east texas i can think of several good men who would still be here except for guns around when they shouldent have been.

i have a friendwho is a texas ranger he lived across the hall in the fraturnity house . so far he has shot himself twice on accident. damn near shot me also and i consider him a good guy ( with a mistaken belief in safetys). guns are a fickle thing to an adult well educated  well trained man ( didnt say woman) of even temperment. a rifle scares me no more than a pocket knife. anything less than that and its a matter of time.

a whole country full of people without the lifetime of training in arms for hunting/utilitarian use  as ours is becomming and alot of innocent people are gonna die.

And i firmly believe in the right to bear arms ( tho pistols in my mind arent protected by this)

[popeye]

8.5 for the quickest hijack.  5.0 for content.

[texace]

I never understood Bridge, or even how to play the game. I was reading a story in which a woman killed her husband over a Bridge game, and the terms and rules used I couldn't understand.

How the hell do you play Bridge, anyways?

[beet1e]

texace - to try to explain how to play Bridge here would require a post 1000 times longer than my normal post. It's basically a card game with 4 people. Each gets 13 cards dealt out. You have to play the cards in such a way as to win tricks. The pair with the best hands "bid" the number of tricks they think they can win based on the cards they have. They score lots of points if they make it and lose points if they don't.

Lazs - as far as I know, the game is the same. But it's an English game. However, much of the game is focuses on the bidding, and there are many different methods of bidding. The most common one in Britain is ACOL, but there are others. And America has its own bidding system. The American game also has one subtle difference: If your partner makes a mistake which causes you to lose the contract, you get to shoot your partner with a .44 Magnum. Unfortunately, this means that the evening's Bridge session must come to a close, as 4 people are needed for the game to be played.

[midnight Target]

here you go texace

http://www.pagat.com/boston/bridge.html#rubber

[lazs2]

wow vader... if all of us new a few good men who aren't here because of guns then we would have about what.... 600,000,000 homicides in the last ten years or so?  I know of a few good men who are here because there was a gun around.    The guy down the street has fallen off a ladder... cut his fingers off with a skillsaw and... his house just caught on fire last year after he rewired the garage.   Some people huh?   lucky for us that gun owners are more safety consious than most other people with their hobbies/tools whatever.

and beetle.. again.. the American version sounds superior.   Any excuse to get out of a bridge game is good enough for me.
lazs

[BUG_EAF322]

I'm gonna learn that when i make it to 60

[Toad]

Hey, Beet1e! Do you have a book giving the rules of AH?

I have played bridge and actually earned a point in a tourney I think. Way back in my long ago. I had a book on bridge to study prior to that of course. I think it may have been Hoyle's.

So, anyway....... where can I find these rules of AH so I can learn to play the way you want me to play?

I went out on that 10 day hunting trip and never did get a chance to rebut you last in the gun thread.

But I find these continual pleas to "play the right way" are characteristic of those who want to control the way others think and behave. First post of yours that I read was a diatribe about playing AH right. Next thread is the "ban all evil guns and be like us" diatribe. Now you're comparing bridge to  AH? There's a "rolleyes" if ever I saw one.

[beet1e]

Toad!  So glad to have you back! It has been dull without you.

I'm afraid you may have misunderstood my posting. Indeed, I had to double check the forum to which I had posted it. You see, my thread was not about Aces High, but about a recent Bridge course in Glos. It had nothing to do with Aces High, hence my reasons for posting it in the Off Topic Forum.

[Toad]

So you're saying your first post made no direct or indirect comparisons to the way folks play AH?

[beet1e]

Mr. Toad.  

So you're saying your first post made no direct or indirect comparisons to the way folks play AH?

I'm not saying anything. I described my Bridge course. You are free to make your own inferences. I was surprised at your interpretation, in which you thought I was comparing Bridge with Aces High. They are both games, but totally different. In my original post, I made no mention of Aces High, and yet you thought I was making a comparison between the two games. Perhaps it is you who sees some similarity between Aces High and Bridge, based on what I said in my post. And as you said...

Now you're comparing bridge to AH? There's a "rolleyes" if ever I saw one.  

May I ask you what it was, in particular, which made you think I was comparing Bridge with Aces High ???

            :D:p

[bounder]

Beet1e:

Because no-one glorified in winning individual tricks, there was no-one to denounce anyone else as a “strat potato”, “fluffer”, or “dildo worshipper”.

Of course your Bridge post is an implicit comparison to AH. You describe what you did in terms of what didn't happen, and what you describe as not happening is all part of the daily grind on AH (gangbangin, "cheating", whining) so you should really be honest with Mr Toad and admit that you were making a comparison.

Of course if you *really* weren't making a comparison, then your post was a masterwork of freudian slips, reflecting your anxieties and hangups about AH, becuase it sure as hell looks like a comparison to me.

BTW bridge is a great game, second only to Poker.

[beet1e]

Bounder!  Nope. Maybe I spoke in AH parlance, because that's what most people here will understand. Words like Dweeb etc. People don't use that vernacular at a Bridge table, as you and I well know. So you can't expect me to use a different vernacular to describe the abuse that takes place at a Bridge table, because there isn't any abuse to begin with!

Nice post, and thanks for the punt, but I'm sure Mr. Toad is quite capable of looking after himself.