How Much Do You Know About The Card Game Bridge?

Grand Master Oswald Jacoby died in 1984 with 12,666.11 masterpoints. As of July, 2011, he was ranked 278th on the list of lifetime masterpoints. None of the others rank in the top 500.

Sharif once said, "Acting may be my business, but bridge is my passion."

He also was quoted as saying, "There was a point when I became too keen. It was obsessive. I would play all the tournaments. I would not make certain films if they interfered with my bridge schedule. I dreamt about cards. I was driven by the competition. I was good at it and I wanted to be perfect. But bridge is like golf; you can never achieve perfection. You get better, but because it is a game of partnership there is no way you can get there. You need to perfect a system between you and your partner."

In contract bridge, the principle of restricted choice states that play of a particular card decreases the probability its player holds any equivalent card. For example, South leads a low spade, West plays a low one, North plays the queen, East wins with the king. The ace and king are equivalent cards; East's play of the king decreases the probability East holds the ace – and increases the probability West holds the ace. The principle helps other players infer the locations of unobserved equivalent cards such as that spade ace after observing the king. The increase or decrease in probability is an example of Bayesian updating as evidence accumulates and particular applications of restricted choice are similar to the Monty Hall problem.

The Monty Hall problem is a probability puzzle loosely based on the American television game show "Let's Make a Deal" and named after the show's original host, Monty Hall. The problem, also called the Monty Hall paradox, is a veridical paradox because the result appears odd but is demonstrably true. The Monty Hall problem, in its usual interpretation, is mathematically equivalent to the earlier Three Prisoners problem, and both bear some similarity to the much older Bertrand's box paradox.

The additional requirements vary depending whether the beer card trick winner is the declarer or one of the defenders. For the declarer, the requirements are generally that:

He must make contract.

He must win last trick with the ♦7.

Diamonds must not be trumps (though some people play that only diamond part scores are excluded).

He must take a justifiable line on the contract to win as many tricks as possible (i.e. not lose tricks to set up the beer or in order to keep the ♦7 until the last trick).

For a defender, the requirements are generally that:

Contract must be defeated.

He must win last trick with the beer card.

Diamonds must not be trumps.

He must try to win as many tricks as possible (i.e. not lose tricks to set up the beer or in order to keep the ♦7 until the last trick).

If the contract is doubled then two beers are earned. If the contract is redoubled then four beers are earned.

Goulash (also known as Ghoulie) dealing has variations; basically, each player sorts the cards from the previous deal by suits, and all four hands are stacked back in the deck. The deck is then cut once or twice, and cards are then dealt in groups of 4-5-4 or 5-5-3, instead of one at a time as usual.

Some players play a goulash in rubber bridge only when the previous deal was passed out; others play full goulash rubbers. In both cases, at least a game must be bid in the goulash deal, otherwise, the partial (part score) contract is discarded and the goulash redealt.

When goulash dealing is in effect, some players adjust their bidding principles in some or all of the following ways in order to accommodate the anticipated wildness of the deal:

Only five-card suits may be bid

Weak balanced hands (in 12-15 high card points range) are passed rather than opened

Preemptive openings are forbidden; instead, a high-level opening bid denotes the exact number of tricks the hand possesses.

Conventions are highly reduced, as opponents will often interfere and break up the subtle information exchange.
Doubles behind a bidder are for penalties, where they would usually be for take out.

Others use opening bids to identify aces or two-suited hands, or have other conventional meanings that aid in determining whether to bid or double in competition.

Bridge players have different understandings of what the rules are concerning opening notrump with a singleton. It is described, depending on who you ask, as illegal, immoral, unethical or fattening. The answer is almost always—none of the above.

The ACBL General Convention Chart states, "A notrump opening or overcall is natural if not unbalanced (generally, no singleton or void and only one or two doubletons)." Also from the General Chart is this definition of natural opening suit bids and responses: "An opening suit bid or response is considered natural if for minors it shows three or more cards in that suit and for majors it shows four or more cards in that suit."

Players who, by agreement, use opening bids that are not natural may use only the conventional methods permitted by the General Chart. If your notrump opening shows a balanced hand, you may occasionally pick up a hand with a singleton which you may want to treat as balanced. You may use your bridge judgment to open or overcall a notrump with a singleton, provided that:

It is a rare occurrence (no more than 1% of the time), Your partner expects you to have at least two cards in each suit, and You and your partner have no agreements which enable you to discover that partner has a singleton.

The king of hearts is the only king with no mustache, and is also typically shown with a sword behind his head, making him appear to be stabbing himself. This leads to the nickname "suicide king."

The Rabbi's Rule is a satirical rule attributed to Mr. Milton Shattner of New York, nicknamed The Rabbi because of his most authoritative whimsical pronouncements and, as has been reported, stern observations after the play of the hand has been completed.

The odds are actually 76%.

Look at it this way: If the first finesse wins (50% of the time) you make your contract. If it loses, you take the other finesse, which will win 50% of the time. 50% of 50% is 25%.

50% + 25% is 75% - you will make six (or seven) three quarters of the time. If you'd like to know why the odds are actually 76%, rather that 75%, read Dorothy Hayden Truscott's book "Bid Better, Play Better."