Female Focus


Page 39


Home & Garden


An insight to the game of Bridge


The world famous flamboyant Pakistani professional Bridge player Zia Mahmood once described the card game of bridge as follows: “People think bridge is somehow boring and played by old people, but it is the most enthralling exciting and stimulating game” the 68-year-old playboy said.


“It is almost as enjoyable as sex. All my life I’ve been exceptionally lazy, rather egotistical and selfish but when I play bridge I become alive, involved and sometimes humbled.”


Often described as the greatest card game of all time, anyone who ever handled a deck of cards cannot help but be fascinated by this challenging game. No two games are the same, but the ability to keep the mind totally focused at all times, the sense of huge achievement after a good game certainly keeps the grey cells in good order, and the unrelenting desire to return to do better after a not so good game is always there. Whilst bridge can be played as a social game amongst four people, it is also played by millions of people worldwide as a regular tournament competition which in itself creates a social environment, as well as with current technological opportunities to play online, again opening up a new group of friends worldwide. Anyone who has ever played card games such as whist will soon understand the requirement to win tricks to beat your


opponents; it is the process by which you achieve this that differs. Bridge is a partnership game, played by two people against the opposition, another partnership of two. The main object of the game is to create an auction against your opposition as to who wins the contract and indeed plays the cards. During this auction by means of different bidding of the suits, you describe as fully as you can the 13 cards from the deck that you have been dealt, and along with your hand, and the information conveyed to you by your partner you can decide between you if the contract falls your way, or it belongs to the opposition and therefore you must defend their play, the object being to score by a standard scoring system a better result than they do. To start with you have High Card Points, an Ace counts for 4, King 3, Queen 2, and Jack 1, so therefore the 52 cards held between the four players have a total value of 40 points. The first things to convey between the partners are the point’s value of the combined hands, along with any strange shapes, voids, long suits etc. Having settled the contract between Partner and Opposition, the object of the game is to win as many tricks in either a trump contract or a no trump contract, the more you win, the better you score. Unlike other card games the Declarer (the person who won the contract and is


playing the cards) then ask his partner to display his own hand face up on the table so that all 4 players can see what at least the holding of one of the hands is, this is described as the dummy. The game of bridge is indeed a very social game, many new friendships are formed in bridge clubs, and like any other club, bridge players are made welcome at most clubs anywhere in the world, the rules and the game do not change anywhere.


Do you think this appeals to you? Most of us wish we had learnt to play the game when we were much younger, however, as we live here in the sunshine, many of us retired with time on our hands, how about finding out more about this fascinating game played by the likes of President Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Sharif, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Javea Bridge Club has a comprehensive teaching programme for both Beginners and Intermediates, which re-convenes after the summer on Thursday 3rd September at 3pm.


For more details contact us at: Javea Bridge Club, Avda de Paris 2, 03730, Javea. info@javeabridgeclub.com, www.javeabridgeclub.com, Telephone: 966 463 671 or 966 472 158.


We look forward to making you very welcome.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60