# Can anyone explain bridge to me in a way that makes me want to play? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 12, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372 "2011-10-12T01:00:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/41 "2011-10-16T03:43:17Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Not so. Contract bridge is simply the full name of what is more commonly called bridge. Contract bridge is played in two main forms: rubber bridge and duplicate. Duplicate has several forms, such as pairs or teams of varying sizes, and several types of scoring, such as IMPs, match points or even total point scoring. > > The key point about duplicate is that the result is determined by comparing what you do with other pairs or teams playing the same hands (“duplicated” hands). > > Social bridge is usually rubber bridge. In rubber bridge there is nobody else playing duplicated hands. You play what you are dealt, and hence how good cards you are dealt is a bigger factor. Context, my friend, context. I would have done better to say that social bridge is contract bridge as opposed to using the = sign, but read my next line: > [@Muffin](#): > > Contract bridge = social bridge: a pair of people play against another pair of people, and whoever wins, wins. > > Duplicate bridge is the same thing, only the exact same card hands are played by the various pairs of players (often in a league, in which large rooms are filled with players), and whoever plays a particular hand better than those other players who also played that exact same hand wins. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/42 "2011-10-16T03:47:19Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Context, my friend, context. Read my next line: I read all your post, and saying “contract bridge = social bridge” is simply wrong. Your description of duplicate (contract) bridge is fine and I did not question that. Duplicate is “contract bridge” also. Just ask the ACBL (what does the “C” stand for?). ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/43 "2011-10-16T03:49:29Z")
If anyone is interested to see a little more about how duplicate is scored, [here](http://www.atlantaduplicatebridgeclub.com/scorepost/20111015ana.htm) is a link to results of one session at my club (I didn’t play in the one I have linked). Starting about one third of the way down, you can see records of all the hands played and the scores of all of the pairs playing. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/44 "2011-10-16T03:59:28Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > I read all your post, and saying “contract bridge = social bridge” is simply wrong. Your description of duplicate (contract) bridge is fine and I did not question that. Duplicate is “contract bridge” also. Just ask the ACBL (what does the “C” stand for?). Yes, duplicate bridge is “contract bridge” also. That is the point I was trying to get across when in the next line I said “Duplicate bridge is the same thing ; . . .” I trust that you are concerned wtih semantics, rather that that you actually believe that social bridge is not contract bridge. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/45 "2011-10-16T04:06:10Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Just ask the ACBL (what does the “C” stand for?). Gee, all those years that I was a member of the ACBL, and I never realized what the C stood for. A life wasted. All there is left for me now is to take up Go Fish. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/46 "2011-10-16T04:07:17Z")
Jesus, you’d think this was Star Wars fandom. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/47 "2011-10-16T04:09:00Z")
North pulled the trigger first. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/48 "2011-10-16T04:11:20Z")
Do you mean, “North shot first”? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/49 "2011-10-16T04:18:07Z")
LOL ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/50 "2011-10-16T04:29:22Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > For anyone wanting to try bridge, you can download software that will teach you the game from the American Contract Bridge League [here](https://web.acbl.org/LearnToPlayBridge/). Thanks for the link – I just downloaded them. Excellent stuff for folks who want to learn but do not want to jump into the deep end immediately. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/51 "2011-10-16T11:10:28Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I trust that you are concerned wtih semantics, rather that that you actually believe that social bridge is not contract bridge. No, I do not believe that social bridge is not contract bridge. Someone asked for a definition, and so I wanted that to be correct. All bridge played these days is contract bridge. The name has pretty much gone full circle. The earliest form of bridge, dating back to about 1890, was called “bridge” (nobody knows for sure where that name came from). Then came auction bridge, with a flavor called royal auction bridge and then the game played today, contract bridge. This has largely lost the adjective “contract” and is back to being commonly called just “bridge”. In other news, the world team championship (the Bermuda Bowl) started today. 22 teams qualified for the finals and the USA has two teams in it, the only country with more than one. The two USA teams are playing each other in the first round right now. Live scoring is [here](http://www.worldbridge.org/tourn/Veldhoven.11/Microsite/RunningScores/ASP/RoundTeamsConditStatClassicMod.asp?qtournid=881). The match can be followed online with expert commentary at [BBO vugraph](http://www.bridgebase.com/client/vugraph.php), although they are on a break right now. Warning to casual/new players - if you watch the experts, be prepared to be confused by their complicated bidding systems. You do not have to play the game that way. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372/52 "2011-10-16T16:20:52Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > (and you have to find someone to assemble the various card hands). Varsity. This is easier than it sounds. For most club games, it is accomplished by having the players deal the cards normally, then placing them in “boards”–a four slotted flat metal holder. During play, the card played is shown at each hand, but retained by the player holding said card. After each play the card is placed in front of the player horizontally to indicate a trick lost, or vertically to indicate a trick won. After the hand is played, tricks are counted, the score tallied, and the hands placed back in the boards for the next round. For some tournaments and/or special games with predetermined hands, it can be accomplished by passing out decks of card with sheets showing the hands to be assembled. The assembled hands are then placed into the boards. This is done in such a way that the players will not actually play the hands they assembled–ie, the field is large enough that all pairs will not play all of the available hands. Of course, it can also be done with some poor soul or souls assembling all of the hands prior to the game. Also, as mentioned earlier, there are a variety of ways to play duplicate…in tournaments, I like “knockouts” or “Swiss teams”–each team is composed of at least 2 pairs, designated North-South and East-West. In Knockouts, the team will play against another team…with the North-South playing opponents East-West and vice versa. After the round, scores are compared, and the winning team advances while the losing team is eliminated. In Swiss, each round is only eight hands, and then the teams will be matched against another team, usually with winners matched against winners, and losers matched against losers. Teams compete on a sorta but not quite round robinish format for overall standing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-explain-bridge-to-me-in-a-way-that-makes-me-want-to-play/599372.md?page=2)