Championship Bridge Ep.4

[@jude999]

Newest Olympic sport.

[@srinivasannarayanan8056]

For a bridge player like me, these are great to watch. Rubber Bridge is mostly the luck of cards. Not necessarily great play. This was on TV on those days - no cell phones, no internet atc., must be a great passtime.

[@Monish2211]

What is the difference between rubber and contract bridge??

[@danielchiverton4168]

There isn't. The distinction is between rubber bridge where the cards are dealt fresh each hand and duplicate bridge where the hands are played by every player in a larger field.

[@ButOneThingIsNeedful]

Though her team did not win on this evening, one can just tell that Helen Sobel was a terrific and top-tier bridge player. (In the first episode of this show Charles Goren refers to her as his "favorite partner" when chatting with Chico Marx.) Observe the way she processes the situation at 11:06, made more complicated by her partner's bid, and eventually settles upon the right decision. She had a special 'intangible' quality to her game.

[@ruralmass7]

You want to be a good player...watch this show.

[@sashacooper9326]

It's interesting, but more of a historical curiosity. I would highly recommend the 'Wednesday Morning Tournament' series with Rob Barrington and Gavin Wolpert. The bidding is a lot more developed, and you get to actually hear their thought process as they play (Wolpert has played in the Bermuda Bowl, so is one of the top players in America).

[@pbabuik]

Goren was the best then along came an Egyptian

[@tuxtommy69]

Why world class players would NOT bid 6 Spades on that first hand is hard to imagine!

[@sashacooper9326]

That would be a very tough slam to find even with modern bidding, and by comparison to modern bidders, they were probably flying blind. They've somehow got to diagnose both the diamond void and the fact that, with a 10-card fit, the odds of picking up spades for 1 loser are much better than would normally be implied by a missing A and Q.

[@tuxtommy69]

@@sashacooper9326 If the diamond cue bid were followed by cue bids confirming first round control in the side suits, I agree that the concern would be on trump suit quality. Key card Blackwood asking for possession of the trump queen did not exist then, so bidding a confident 6 Spades would not happen. Here they are kind of "flying blind" so probably better to remain at what has to be a certain 4 Spades plus whatever overtricks are available. Good point! Thanks, I have to agree!

[@sashacooper9326]

@@tuxtommy69 Even if they'd had RKCB, the answer to 'do you have the trump queen?' would probably have been 'no'. Today if responder had shown 4+ spades with her raise, south could recognise that the 10+ card fit was as good as the trump queen, but I suspect with their methods responder was only showing 3+.