The Bridge World

Introduction To Bridge

Thoughts On Bridge

   Perhaps the best one-sentence description of how bridge players feel about their game is playwright George S. Kaufman's parody of a famous remark: "I'd rather be South than be President." But what causes that feeling? The Bridge World magazine asked bridge players to describe briefly their main reasons for playing bridge, and the most important rewards they obtained from the game. The greatly varied submissions are printed here, along with excerpts from the book, "Classic Bridge Quotes" for which we are grateful to Jared Johson, bridge editor of The Denver Post, for permission to reprint this material.

The Rewards of Bridge
ADVENTURE "Every Hand an Adventure" is what bridge is all about. It is the ultimate in intellectual competition. As you learn more, ever-increasing vistas unfold for your experimentation and enjoyment. Once you try it, you'll never give it up.
- Bob Lipsitz

CHALLENGE As people develop and grow they search out challenges suitable to their current situation. Some never outgrow video games, but those who seek the highest level of mental stimulation move on to activities such as bridge.
- Mike Lawrence

ENTERTAINMENT Bridge is the most entertaining and intelligent card game the wit of man has so far devised.
- W. Somerset Maugham

FASCINATION Bridge is such a sensational game that I wouldn't mind being in jail if I had three cellmates who were decent players and who were willing to keep the game going 24 hours a day. - Warren Buffett

INEXHAUSTABILITY I am still learning. I will never get it all.
- Al Lochli

LONGEVITY Because every hand is different, the intellectual challenge of bridge never ceases. Besides, and more importantly, my father often noted that, "If you don't play bridge, you'll have a miserable old age." Since that time is getting closer, this is no time for my interest in bridge to lag or diminish.
- Rudy Boschwitz

MENTAL CHALLENGE Many games provide fun, but bridge grips you. It exercises your mind. Your mind can rust, you know, but bridge prevents the rust from forming.
- Omar Sharif

MULTIPLICITY OF REWARDS Bridge is simultaneously fascinating and fun. In pursuit of winning you meet the elusiveness of perfection and the perverseness of chance. In preparation, you have the opportunity to develop and refine your system as linguistic science.
- Michael Neuschatz

PLEASURE Playing bridge reflects intelligence. It's one of the really great pleasures of life. Anybody who's missing bridge is missing so much in life.
- Malcolm Forbes

PREPARATION Proficiency in whist [a forerunner of bridge] implies capacity for success in all these more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind.
- Edgar Allan Poe

TEAMWORK What distinguishes bridge from the many other games combining luck and skill? Part of the answer is teamwork. An apt comparison is with basketball. There, players may engage in contests of skill limited in dimension: three-point shooting, slam-dunking, one-on-one, HORSE, and so on. But what makes basketball distinctive, and the most fun to play or watch, are the team interactions: moving without the ball, setting screens and passing on offense; switching and boxing out on defense; using court sense and maintaining court balance.
   So it is with bridge. There will be opportunities for three-point shots and slam dunks, but complete bridge players are also forever helping their partners and receiving information in return. Playing good bridge is like throwing an outlet pass, running downcourt, getting open, and receiving the ball back in perfect position to score. Other games are just plain HORSE.
- Danny Kleinman

UNIVERSALITY No matter where I go, I can always make new friends at the bridge table.
- Martina Navratilova

VARIETY Bridge presents all the challenges we know of. It is a human game, yet it is an intellectual game. If I sit down to play, I am likely to run into some sort of situation that I've never seen before.
- Edgar Kaplan

   Other items mentioned by correspondents included:

DEVELOPMENT OF SKILLS For example, accomplished bridge players seem to be adept at computer programming and equity trading; computer service corporations and financial institutions sometimes advertise for bridge players.

PRESTIGE People who play bridge well automatically gain a certain amount of respect as capable performers. It is even more common that those who fail to improve at the game will not be taken seriously by others in their profession.

MENTAL EXERCISE Just as muscles will atrophy when not used regularly, so will brain power deteriorate when not maintained with stimulation. Most people attempt to achieve this exercise in pleasant activities, such as reading novels or attacking crossword puzzles. Bridge offers an exciting way to partake in mental exercise.

SOCIALIZATION Meeting people with common interests and spending time enjoyably is the single most frequently mentioned reward from playing bridge. Now that games are available on the Internet, it is becoming easier to overcome the traditional organizational obstacles.

The Other Side of Bridge
   Of course, like most activities, playing bridge can have its downside too. People can be cruel, and in some company newcomers or inexperienced players might need a thick skin (or the fortitude to look for a different group to play with). A famous playwright once expressed his opinion of partner's skills by asking when that unfortunate had learned to play. "I know it was today," the writer explained, "but what time today?" When George Plimpton, who was renowned for dabbling in a wide variety of activities with experts--his first book was Paper Lion, in which he described his attempt to practice with professional football players--, tried to survive a bridge game with masters, he became so flustered that he could not even distribute the cards correctly. "Look, the #$^$!&* doesn't even know how to deal" offered one of the group. Even experts are subject to criticism, sometimes lighthearted and sometimes not. Once, when his opponents in a world-championship match took an unusually long time to act, the late Lee Hazen remarked, "I was a young man when this deal began."

   Traditionally, the stereotypical characteristic of bridge players is their monomaniacal dedication to the game. A well-known cartoon by Webster shows a fire-fighter on a ladder at a window from which heavy smoke is pouring. A voice from inside the room asks that someone not directly involved in the game be taken first. No doubt there are "bridge widows" much as there are "golf widows," but the term is not heard much, perhaps because women are as likely to become fascinated by bridge as are men. Alfred Sheinwold, who wrote extensively about bridge throughout his lifetime, when asked whether men or women were better players, answered "both." This was not merely a diplomatic exit from a potentially embarrassing situation; it was the truth. By way of explanation, Sheinwold noted that at the very highest levels most of the best players are men; they dominate championship events that are open to both sexes. But at all other levels women are more successful. In particular, most wives play better than their husbands (though very few husbands would admit it, or even believe it).

Our Favorite True Bridge Story
   Bridge clubs rarely do any business during morning working hours, and those that open as early as lunchtime have few games going until later in the afternoon. On one particular day, a New York club had only four players, thus only one table in play, at the noontime hour. The four contestants were quite companionable and enjoyed their game. However, at one point, one of the four, a young woman, looked at her watch and announced, "I'm sorry to have to break up this very pleasant game, but I'm getting married in half an hour."