Bridge (the game)

Harriet, I’m sorry you’ve had a bad experience playing bridge. It is one of the few (if not the only) card game where luck isn’t the determining factor. Yes, of course, you can’t do much if you don’t get good cards, but you also can’t win if you don’t make the most of the cards you have.

Contract is the “basic” bridge game, and is played by any group of four people, playing as two teams. It’s a game of communication, done within a set of rules. If there are two or more tables playing, the scores are based on what each pair can make on each deal, and no two deals will be the same throughout the playing time.

In duplicate bridge, the cards are dealt ahead of time and placed into racks (called boards), the hands are kept separate during play, and returned to the board after the hand is played. The boards will be passed around, so that each pair will play the same cards that other pairs have played. This way the scores are a reflection of how one pair does against another playing the same hand.

The rules of bidding and play are the same in each game, the differences are in the scoring and in the fact that pairs are all playing different hands in contract bridge, and playing the same hands in duplicate.

I hope that makes some sense. Again, Harriet, I’m sorry you’ve had less-than-optimum experiences. With your analytical mind, you ought to be a good player. And one learns by playing with people who are better players. We like to help less experienced players gain experience - it‘s the only way to get better. And, otherwise how do we get new players to play with.