Bridge

History

Several card decks comparable with the Whist can be indexed since the beginning of the 16th century. They all are of the sets of liftings, with much of minor variations. The Whist became the play dominating and counted many practitioners during three centuries.

In the years 1890, the possibility for the donor of choosing the Atout became popular with the the United States and the the United Kingdom. The play which resulted from it was called bridge whist . In 1904, set up a phase of bidding to determine which player will indicate the color of asset.

The contemporary play is the result of innovations made by, which borrows many of its ideas elsewhere. He writes the rules for the contract bridge in 1925, and this form quickly becomes dominant. It is also necessary to quote Milton Work (with which one owes the evaluation in points of honor) and Ely Culbertson, with which one must inter alia modifications of the mark for Sans-Atout.

Giorgio Belladonna, deceased in 1995, is still regarded by Europeans as the largest player of all times but the Americans are of a different opinion and prefer one to him as of their, for example Meckwell - which is made up in fact of two people who play in pair successfully since so a long time that their names: Meckstroth and Rodwell did not amalgamate to do any more but one of them - even if, for the general public, Omar Sharif preserves one will have prestigious.

The world success of this Card deck is not contradicted. One counts 106.000 bachelors in France, 160.000 with the the United States. Among the great nations of the bridge, one also finds the the United Kingdom, the Turkey, the China or the Italy. Among the followers of this play, one can quote Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Deng Xiaoping.

Enough complexes, the bridge preserves a rather élitiste image however (at the same time intellectual and social) and gives place to the publication of an abundant technical literature.

Rules of the game

Biddings

Principle

A announces (or declaration ) is a bidding, a Master key, Against ( double English ) or Surcontre ( redoubles ).

A bidding indicates the number of liftings (from 1 to 7) beyond the six first and a denomination (a color or “no trumps”). There are thus 35 possible biddings on the whole.

Significance of the stages of bidding:

stage of 1: (6 + 1) = 7 liftings;
stage of 2: (6 + 2) = 8 liftings;
stage of 3: (6 + 3) = 9 liftings = handle with SA;
stage of 4: (6 + 4) = 10 liftings = handle into major;
stage of 5: (6 + 5) = 11 liftings = handle into minor;
stage of 6: (6 + 6) = 12 liftings = small slam;
stage of 7: (6 + 7) = 13 liftings = Large slam.

The row of the denominations is, in the order ascending:

Clover;
Square;
Heart;
Spade;
No trumps (noted SA, or NT for No Trump in English).

One will thus speak about a contract about 3SA, 4 or 5, for example.

The value of the contract is different according to the selected color of asset. and are the major colors , and are the minor colors .

Opening of the biddings

The donor speaks in first and makes the first advertisement. The advertisements continue in the direction of the needles of a watch until three participants pass consecutively (except in the first turn where everyone is entitled to the word).

Unfolding

To be acceptable, a bidding must imperatively be higher than the preceding one:

To ask for a greater number of liftings.
If the number of liftings is identical, the color must be more “expensive”.

Examples:

2 is higher than 1 (and with any bidding with the stage of 1);
2 is higher than 2, but lower than 2;
the weakest bidding is 1, strongest 7SA.

End

After 3 passes consecutive, the biddings are finished. The closing bid becomes the contract, the line having required it the attacker , and the first player of this line to have named the asset the informant . Its partner will be the died . The unfavourable line becomes the defense or the side .
If the four players pass without making the least bidding, gives it is null, and the charts passed to the following donor. If it is not an official competition, with the agreement of the 4 players, there can be one gives again with the same informant.

Goulash

Partly free, certain players play a pleasant alternative, the Goulash in the event of master key general.

Card deck

A turn of play includes/understands 13 liftings of 4 charts.

The only rule is that to each lifting, each player must provide if it can it a chart of his play - and only one - in the color deposited by the first player. If it is the first to be played, it can put the chart of its choice.

If it does not have any more this color, it must true a chart. If the contract is with the asset, it can cut . To cross is not obligatory. Monter is not obligatory.

After each player played a chart, the highest chart of the required color gains the lifting, if nobody cut in the case of a contract to the asset. The player having played the gaining chart begins the following lifting then.

Hierarchy of the charts

The ace is the strongest chart, followed by the king, the lady, the servant and the 10. These five charts are called honors . Follow then: 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2.

The starts :

The first chart is deposited by the player with the left of the informant. It is starts it. Death then spreads out its charts over the table, the possible asset on its line, in columns arranged according to the order of the charts. It is of use to alternate the red colors and the black colors for comfort. All the players are thus able to see the play of death. In the continuation of the play, the informant plays with his charts like with those of death. When is with death to play, the informant indicates to dead (who is not entitled to any initiative) which chart it must play.

Score and mark

The mark of the bridge is an basic element of the play. It is it, indeed, which sanctions the whole of the decisions taken by the players during one gives and his rich and complex construction their offer of many choices.

Elements of technique

Description of a hand

A certain number of terms are specific to the card decks or the bridge in particular. The hands can be described by the terms below:

many charts in a given color:

baffle: absence of the color;
Singleton : only one chart in the color;
doubleton: exactly two charts in the color;
color énième: $n$ charts in the color.

distribution:

semi-regular hand: hand without baffle, nor Singleton (e.g. 5-4-2-2);
regular hand: semi-regular hand having with more doubleton (4-4-3-2, 4-3-3-3, 5-3-3-2);
tricolor hand: hand having three colors at least fourth (4-4-4-1, 5-4-4-0);
two-tone hand: nontricolor hand having a color at least fifth and a color at least fourth (5-4-2-2, 5-5-2-1, 6-4-2-1, etc);
unicoloured hand: nontwo-tone hand having a color at least sixth.

made: a color at least 8th between the two partners, component thus a good potential asset.

Play of the informant

; Basic techniques for the informant: A player beginning must be familiar of these strategies at the time of the card deck.

basic Hand
cut of the short hand
stamping
establishment of long colors
dead end

; Techniques advanced for the informant: Somebody who plays regularly in tournaments must be familiar with these concepts:

play of safety
leave-to pass
account of hands (reconstitution of the distribution and the honors of the opponents), while drawing left the biddings and the folds
elimination and put in hand
Dead reversed
double cut
avoidance (in the context of a Squeeze or to prevent a resumption of hand at one of the players)
Fine from blow
correction the account (for a squeeze)
blow asset (smothering)

Play of defense

; Techniques of bases for defense:

starts
to cut

; Techniques advanced for defense:

account of hands
starts according to the biddings
indication
uppercut and promotion of asset
to avoid an end of blow or a squeeze (desqueezification)

Systems of bidding and conventions

The combinative richness of the bridge makes it possible to implement, in the respect of the rules, the techniques of transmission of information, as well in the phase of bidding as in that of the card deck. These techniques are conventions established by a preliminary agreement between partners, who will allot to certain types of bidding or certain choices of charts a particular significance.

Conventions of bidding, among which most known are the Stayman, the Blackwood and the Texas lead to the development of a system , true language. Among most known, one can quote the major fifth, the Acol, the SAYC, the family of the clover of force, precision, Polish etc These systems are based all on techniques of evaluation.

The manner of playing the charts can also be the subject of conventions.

Formulas of competition

Like the majority of the card decks, the bridge is a game of chance. Nevertheless, to attenuate the share of the chance and to allow, in competition, with the talent of the players to express itself, the score of each one is compared with that of the others. There exist two principal systems:

the tournament per pairs
the match by four

Tournament per pairs

In a tournament per pairs, the players are not fixed. The players of a line given (generally, East-West), circulate of table in table. At the same time, give them turn in opposite direction. In the final analysis, each gives is played the same number of times, each pair plays all give them and meets all the pairs of the other line. In fact, not always, that depends on the number of tables, but it is the principle.

One compares then the results, line by line: on a side, all the North-South ones, other, all the East-West ones. One classifies them by gives, and by score within the framework of each gives. On each gives, each pair marks two points for each other pair which had a less score, and a point for each other pair which made the same score. These points are added to determine the winners. One can count differently, while allotting for each gives a score equal to 2x ( - ), which returns to same. Let us retain especially that this formula privileges the place on the score.

The final scores are given expressed as a percentage: 100% mean that the pair played all give them strictly better than all the other pairs, while 50% mean that the pair played on average all give them like the others. In practice, the great majority of the pairs finish with a score located between 40 and 60%.

Match by four

In a match by four, two teams of four clash on the same ones give by crossing the lines (North-South of the team cheek against East-West of the team B has, and reciprocally). One compares then, gives by gives, the score of the two teams: one converts the difference in scores between the two teams into “points of match”, or IMP (International Match Points). These points of match are added to determine the gaining team. One will notice the perfect symmetry of the treatment of the two teams.

In this formula, in fact the variations count and the strategy thus differs slightly from that of the tournament per pairs.

The matches by four are used as support with various forms of competitions, of which:

the matches by KB, for example in Coupe de France,
the tournaments out of hens, in which each team faces each of the others,
let us pattons them, in which each team meets a subset of the others, in a way organized to approach as much as possible equity.

The bridge and literature

Detective novels

Agatha Christie, Charts on table , 1936;
Stanislas-Andre Steeman, the assassin lives with the 21 , the Traditional ones of the Mask, 1939

Software Minibridge
of bridge

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