Bridge (card game)

“ For the rest of his time the good man played a card game called bridge, so limited and mechanical that anyone nowadays would be able to read out the results and exact probabilities of every deal directly he saw his cards. ”

“ You have got to die, because your bridge has now constituted itself a public danger, and it is only a question of when you will die. You may as well take the few moments that are left you."
I picked up the pack. As he said, I should be able to gain a few moments, and much might happen in a few moments. Somebody might come into the room. It was unusual for the card-room to be deserted at that time of the day.
I began to deal as slowly as I dared, so as to gain all the time I could. I wondered whereabouts in the pack the nine of diamonds would be. At each card I turned I expected it. ”

“ A Score Card, Two new Packs of Cards, and Thou
=With Two Good Players sitting opposite,
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
[Pg 10]
[Pg 11]
The Card no Question makes of ayes or noes,
But High or Low, as suits the Player shows;
=But he who Stands Beside you, Looking On,—
He knows about it all! He Knows!! He Knows!!!
[Pg 12]
[Pg 13]
I sometimes think there's never such Tirade
As where some Bridge Game has been badly Played.
=When Some One thinks you should have made no Trump,
And you have thriftily declared a Spade! ”

“ The beginner marvels at the amount of information obtained by the expert, wondering how it can possibly be secured. To the average person who sits down to watch a game of Bridge there is nothing more demoralising than to see how readily the good player finds out the location of most of the high cards, and, in many cases, even the distribution of the various suits.
Strange as it may seem, writers on Bridge and Whist have, as a rule, devoted little space to this almost inexhaustible subject. A good-sized book could be written entirely on inferences ”

“ When a player spreads out all the cards of an abandoned spade hand, scrutinizes each with an air of anxious concern, and conjectures as to what might have happened had some other declaration been attempted, it tries everybody at the table. What is done with a hand cannot be undone. All time at bridge should be devoted earnestly to what confronts a player, not to what is of the past. [Pg 193]
A penalty of some kind should be exacted from the player who makes a practice of insisting that the dealer has led from the wrong hand. ”

“ Don’t jump at a conclusion which masses the remaining cards of a suit, but count each suit accurately, with a certainty of the particular cards that must be held by the dealer and your partner.
Much of the intellectual enjoyment of Bridge is derived from playing your hand in conjunction with your partner’s. Credit your partner with playing for the common interest of the hands and place absolute confidence in the information he gives you. A trust in your partner’s Bridge ability will overcome many an obstacle in the way of drawing inferences. ”

“ Misery Bridge.—This is a form of bridge adapted for two players. The non-dealer has the dummy, whilst the dealer is allowed to strengthen his hand by discarding four or fewer cards and taking an equal number from the fourth packet dealt; the rest of the cards in that packet are unused and remain unseen. A novel and interesting addition to the game is that the three of clubs (called "Cato") does not rank as a club but can be played to any trick and win it. ”

“ To whomsoever it falls to play the dummy hand there is abundant opportunity to baffle, mislead and confuse the opponents, and still [Pg 176] be playing strictly within the etiquette and the admitted possibilities of bridge. In fact it is only just to one’s partner to exercise one’s best endeavor and employ one’s brightest wits to bring about a brilliant finish. ”

“ The dealer’s play of the twenty-six cards is undoubtedly the most interesting that Bridge offers; the skilful management and keen perception required to combine the two hands against adversaries ready to take advantage of the slightest error, make this part of the game correspondingly difficult. With no partner to mislead, the dealer can use strategy to deceive the opponents, while he gains the same information from each adversary’s play as if he were the partner of both. ”

“ They may answer as a very poor substitute, but a good croquet player would no sooner play with such materials than a billiard player with a slack rope for a cushion or an umbrella for a cue. In many of the scientific “shots” of the game, the player calculates upon the rigidity of the bridges, and an iron bridge, when set in sandy soil, is at best none too rigid; and with loose or springy bridges the game loses much of its attraction to a good player.
THE POST.
The posts should be about 28 inches long, 11⁄2 inches in diameter in the largest part, and pointed so as to be driven into the ground. ”

“ Pitfalls in the form of false leads, false carding and clever underplay should be dug for your adversaries at every opportunity. Whenever they can do the same thing, the adversaries will not scruple to place them for you.
There are hands in bridge which may be said to play themselves. One holding all the winning cards could scarcely be expected to lose. That, however, is purely primary. As the player himself recognizes, it is something that could scarcely have been avoided. ”

“ BRIDGE, a game of cards, developed out of the game of whist. The country of its origin is unknown. A similar game is said to have been played in Denmark in the middle of the 19th century. A game in all respects the same as bridge, except that in "no trumps" each trick counted ten instead of twelve, was played in England about 1884 under the name of Dutch whist. Some connect it with Turkey and Egypt under the name of "Khedive," or with a Russian game called "Yeralash." It was in Turkey that it first won a share of popular favour. ”

“ A little of the combative disposition is a valuable adjunct to good bridge play. Combine that with clever strategy and a most commendable desire to send your adversaries on innumerable wild-goose chases, and there will be no further playing merely for “what the hand deserves.” ”

“ The dealer, in addition to his other calls, may declare "misery" when he has to make less than two tricks.
Draw- or Two-handed Bridge.—This is the best form of bridge for two players. Each player has a dummy, which is placed opposite to him; but the cards are so arranged that they cannot be seen by his opponent, a special stand being required for the purpose. The dealer makes the declaration or passes it to his dummy to make by the same rules as in three-handed or dummy bridge. ”

“ It is a far greater source of enjoyment than lackadaisically wading through deal after deal, stirring only the surface of the shallow water and not venturing into those more fascinating depths where the secrets of bridge await those who will try for them. ”

“ This is a variation of the game by means of a wooden perforated bridge, each arch of which bears a particular number. The bridge is placed close up to the circle, and each player strikes up one ball; he who gets the highest number takes the lead, and plays the nine balls successively. The balls must strike one of the cushions previous to entering the bridge, otherwise the number will be scored to the adversary. The game may be played 30, 60, or 100 up, as may be agreed on. ”

“ Any player during the play of a trick, or after the four cards are played and before they are touched for the purpose of gathering them together, may demand that the cards be placed before their respective players.
If either of the dealer's adversaries, prior to his partner's playing, should call attention to the trick, either by saying it is his, or, without being requested so to do, by naming his card or drawing it toward him, the dealer may require that opponent's partner to play his highest or lowest card of the suit led, or to win or lose the trick. ”

“ The movement, though perfectly simple in theory, is by no means easy to acquire in practice. Indeed, we know no sleight which, as a rule, gives more trouble at the outset; but, after a certain amount of labour with little or no result, the student suddenly acquires the desired knack, and thenceforward finds no difficulty in the matter.
The Bridge.—The object of the bridge is to enable the performer, with ease and certainty, to cut or otherwise divide the pack at a given card. ”

“ Bear in mind that these suggestions are advanced to try to impress all players with the fact that there may be much more in the hand than it seems to deserve, and that “much more” is the real test of skillful bridge. ”

“ The game opens the door to much larger scores than ordinary bridge, and since the end only comes from scores made below the line, there are obvious ways of prolonging it at the cost of scores above the line which involve much more of the gambling element. ”

“ Most Bridge players take means to ascertain the score before announcing a declaration; it is only an occasional game that is lost by a hasty declaration regardless of the state of the score; but in the play of the hand, the score is frequently entirely overlooked. Interested in his scheme of play, the dealer will try for too much or too little, and quite lose sight of what should be his first goal—to win or to save the game. ”

“ Arrangement of the Card-tables—Playing for Prizes—Good and Bad Manners at the Card-table—Why Certain People are not Asked—Duties of Hostess—Card Parties for Charity—Dress and Etiquette of Evening Receptions.
THE extreme popularity of bridge has somewhat lessened since the tango craze invaded society. Card-playing still has many devotees, however, and is likely to have them in the future, as in the past. When not carried on too strenuously, it affords a mild and gentle form of amusement that is especially valuable to elderly persons, or to younger ones of quiet tastes. ”

“ You are standing aloft, balancing yourself upon tiny planks at the steadily advancing end of the bridge, as it forces itself over a stream of formidable width. Overhead, a gigantic, ungainly traveller, equipped with steel derricks at every corner, is advancing foot by foot as the bridge advances foot by foot. Underneath, through the thin network of planks, of girder and of supporting false work, you can see the surface of the river a full hundred feet below. ”

“ There is frequent necessity in the dealer’s play for ridding one hand of high cards in order not to interrupt the lead of smaller cards from the other hand. It is well to look ahead and prepare for this contingency, for often in the middle of a hand you will quite unexpectedly find that unblocking will enable you to make small cards that the adversaries have made good by reckless discarding. ”

“ As near as I can make out, it presupposes that every one who plays bridge knows what he is doing before he does it, which simply means that I have been going along all this time working on exactly the wrong theory. It may incidentally explain why I have never been voted the most popular bridge player in Wimblehurst or presented with a loving cup by admiring members of the Neighborhood Club.
Diametrically opposed to the system of "think-before-you-play," advocated by this expert, my game has been built up purely on intuition. ”

“ An unsuspicious player, being called upon to cut the pack, will undoubtedly lift off the bent half, owing to the division existing between it and the other. Then there is no need of the pass, or anything of the kind. The sharp has 'forced the cut.' Considering how well-known the bridge is, it is extraordinary how often it is successful. [130] The fact is, the players are not looking for it; they assume that they are playing with honest men, and upon that assumption the sharp in great measure relies.
The bridge is specially useful in cases where a confederate is available to cut the cards. ”

“ I have been a great lover of card games all my life; patience in solitude, and cribbage, whist, and bridge have been the almost invariable accompaniments of my evenings spent at home or with my friends. ”

“ Running a Bridge.
III. A player continues to play so long as he makes a point in the game.
1. Making a point is running one or more bridges, striking the turning-post in order, or performing the roquet (except on a booby, or on a ball the second time in one tour without making an intervening step.)
2. A player is allowed but one extra stroke, even though he make roquet and run one or more bridges at one stroke.
3. If a player makes two steps at one stroke, he may take position one mallet’s length or less, in any direction from where the ball rested. ”

“ Auction Bridge Expert
One of the foremost authorities on the game of bridge. He “plays” a game every day in the columns of the Evening Journal and writes with such clarity that experts and novices alike understand. Tens of thousands of bridge fans read his column daily. Thousands of Bridge Games throughout New York and suburbs are played nightly according to Wilbur C. Whitehead’s “Sound Auction Bridge” which appears in the New York Evening Journal. ”

“ All through the long days when the men are off after bird or deer, the women, arrayed in the daintiest of bridge coats or frocks, sit around the card tables playing for stakes that are not always low; and indeed there are many days when even the men themselves forsake the coverts for the card tables. During the last château season, rumours ran concerning eighteen-hour sessions of bridge when mesdames and messieurs did not lay down their cards save for hasty luncheon and dinner. ”