Thursday, October 25, 2007

Ruffing with the majors

I'm taking Bridge lessons on Wednesday nights from 7 to 9. It's hard. Really hard. Most of the time we listen to lectures.

Our Bridge teacher said, "I'll diagram this on the board for you so you'll understand," to which the class replied, "No, we won't. Don't bother."


"Oh, come on," teacher persists. "East leads with the 10 D because it's the fourth in his longest and strongest and challenger ruffs it with a low trump so that later he can get back to the board to develop clubs. If he doesn't develop clubs now everyone knows he'll go down by three."

No one (at least in our class) "knows he'll go down by three." We understand the basics but that's about it. Most of us are still trying to figure out how to use the bid boxes.

When we finally get to play a hand the teacher roams around the room barking, "No! That bid is wrong! You haven't counted your quick tricks, have you?"

"Umm, no. But you said if we had 13 high card points, no doubletons and a four card suit we should ..."

"MAJORS! I said that only counts if you're playing in the majors!" shrieks teacher.

No wonder people drink when they play this game.

4 comments:

Melody said...

Why? I have to ask why.

Dott Comments said...

I wanted to learn Bridge because it's not like anything I already know how to do.

It isn't emotional. It isn't telling stories using words or pictures. It (obviously) has no humor.

But it's competitive, which I like. And it's logical, which I like. And it's something (if I ever learn) I can do for the rest of my life -- as long as my mind stays sharp.

Anonymous said...

My parents used to go to bridge night. There was so much alcohol involved that we learned quite a lot on those nights, but not about anything our parents would have wanted us to know! :)

Anonymous said...

Learning bridge seems as complex as learning a foreign language. The learning curve seems too great for me. I'll stick with uno and rummy like the card guppy I am.