Planning to Visit the Philippines Soon?

There are hundreds of tourists attractions in the Philippines. But as a lover of the Island of Marinduque (Home of the Morions and Heart of the Philippines), I am indeed partial to its beauty, charm and its friendly and hospitable residents. Therefore, help me achieve my dream of seeing this island becomes a world tourist destination, by telling all your friends and relatives about this site. Welcome, to you all, new readers and faithful followers of this site! The photo above is Poctoy White Beach in Torrijos, Marinduque with beautiful and majestic Mt Malindig in the background. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on infringing your copyrights.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Bridge is My Game! What is Yours?


Macrine and I started playing party bridge way back in the 1970's. We started playing party bridge at the SOS Club in Modesto, California. We made a lot of friends this way and had a grand time. When we moved to the Bay Area, we started playing duplicate bridge at the El Cerrito Bridge Club. We played once a week for almost two years and accumulated enough master points to become Junior Masters. We became members of the American Contract Bridge League( ACBL). When we moved to the Washington, DC area we stopped playing either party or duplicate bridge completely. If you are playing bridge now, this posting is not for you. So, I suggest stop reading and just help me by clicking on my ads above. This way you can add groceries to my table, in case I do not receive my SS check next week. Just kidding!
But before you sign out, I have a joke for you. "Having sex is like playing bridge, If you don't have a good partner, you better have a good hand."

If you play cards before and want to know more about bridge continue reading, but do not expect to learn how to play bridge after you read this posting.

There are two types of bridge games -- "party bridge" and duplicate bridge. Both use the same rules for actually playing the game, but the scoring and structure of the two formats are different.

Party bridge is informal and and is usually played in people's homes. A group of four people (two partnerships) -- or several tables of four people each -- play as many hands as they like, at any pace. Each table records its own scores on the hands it plays and may or may not compare its scores with those from other tables.

Duplicate bridge is an organized, more competitive form of the game, usually for larger groups, and is played at a set time and place. It's called duplicate because the exact same hands are played at every table and scores are compared among tables. Each partnership plays several other partnerships, and everyone plays the same number of hands (usually 24-27 hands) in the same time period (3 to 3.5 hours).

History of Bridge:

Contract Bridge was invented in the 1920's and in the following decades it was popularised especially in the USA by Ely Culbertson. Bridge currently occupies a position of great prestige, and is more comprehensively organised than any other card game. There are clubs, tournaments and championships throughout the world.

Rubber Bridge is the basic form of Contract Bridge, played by four players. Informal social bridge games are often played this way, and rubber bridge is also played in clubs for money.

Duplicate Bridge is the game normally played in clubs, tournaments and matches. The game is basically the same but the luck element is reduced by having the same deals replayed by different sets of players. At least eight players are required for this. There are some significant differences in the scoring.

Contract Bridge developed in the 1920's from Auction Bridge, which is different mainly in the scoring. In Auction Bridge, over tricks count towards making game, so it is only necessary to bid high enough to win the contract - there is no incentive to bid all the tricks you can make.

Note: Currently, Macrine and I play bridge on line. We use Hoyle's Card Games,2010
Edition. It is one of the best way to exercise your mind/memory, thus delay the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. The CD cost only $19.99. If you are not comfortable with computers and want to learn this card game, I suggest you take lessons in your local bridge club. The fee is usually very minimal and it is a good way to socialize with others. If you are single, a widow or divorced thus have no partner, do not worry, the club will assign you a partner and hopefully you are compatible. Bridge is a partnership game. It is very, very important that you and your partner are compatible. When, I say you must be compatible, I meant your skill and knowledge of the game is about in the same level. If you are more skillful in the game than your partner, and you are not patient, the game of bridge instead of being fun will be a source of frustration and irritation for you. You will know exactly what I am trying to say, when you start to actually play a bridge game, specially duplicate bridge.

Reference: www.pagat.com

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