We specialize in hard to find items
All Categories
Contract Bridge for Beginners: A Simple Concise Guide on Bidding and Play for the Novice
Share Tweet
*Price and Stocks may change without prior notice
*Packaging of actual item may differ from photo shown
- Electrical items MAY be 110 volts.
- 7 Day Return Policy
- All products are genuine and original
About Contract Bridge For Beginners: A Simple Concise
Product Description Here is the first book on Contract Bridge for beginners which introduces them at once to the generally accepted Point Count method of bidding used by the experts. Written by the leading authority, the foremost teacher, and the most successful bridge player in the world, it will prove a boon to the novice and the average bridge player alike. About the Author Charles H. Goren is the Number One ranking player of the United States in the official ratings of the American Contract Bridge League. He holds virtually every record of note on the books of tournament play. He has won more National Championships than anyone in history and holds the record for the most number of National Championships won in a single year (five). Incidentally, he is the only player in the history of Bridge who has ever won every major championship in the United States. Mr. Goren's daily column is syndicated in 150 newspapers which have a combined circulation of over twenty-five million. His books have been translated into French, Spanish, Swedish, and enjoy wide publication throughout the British Empire. His recent book, Point Count Bidding, published by Simon and Schuster, is the most successful bridge book in the last fifteen years and has changed the bidding habits of millions of players throughout the United States and Europe.The point count method introduced by Mr. Goren several years ago has now been adopted by all recognized authorities of the game. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 PRELIMINARIES For the purpose of this chapter I am proceeding upon the assumption that the reader is totally unfamiliar with the deck of playing cards. If in your case I have made an incorrect assumption, please do not, out of a sense of courtesy, linger over these pages. Simply skip this chapter on Preliminaries. The Deck Before embarking on the study of Contract Bridge one must acquaint oneself thoroughly with the values of the cards which make up the deck. The game can be played with only one deck of cards, but it is more convenient to use two separate packs. Only one pack is in use at a time, and while one is in use the other is being shuffled or mixed to be ready for the next deal. In order to avoid confusion it is better to employ decks with different colored backs. The standard pack contains 52 cards. It is true that as you take them from the container you will find 54 cards; but two of them are Jokers, which are used in some games, but not in Bridge. So for the immediate future I suggest that you put them out to pasture. The Four Suits The deck is divided into four surfs: Spades (*), Hearts (*), Diamonds (*), Clubs (*). Each suit contains 13 cards: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. In designating a card you specify first the number and then the suit. There are some cards which are more frequently referred to by their nicknames. The three is usually called the TREY, and the two is almost universally designated as the DEUCE. Rank of the Cards Each card has its rank. The rank represents the ability to capture other cards of the same suit. The highest-ranking card is the Ace, which can capture any of the other twelve cards in that suit. The King, while it is outranked by the Ace and may be captured by it, has the ability to capture eleven other cards in that suit, from the Queen on down to the Deuce. Next to the Queen comes the Jack, and after that the numbers in descending order from the 10 down through the Deuce. The five highest-ranking cards (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10) are called HONOR CARDS. Their significance will become more apparent to you as we progress. Assuming that you and your opponents are all playing cards of the same suit, any card which is higher in rank will capture any other card which is lower in rank. But as I indicated a moment ago, the question of rank does not come up unless you are playing cards of the same suit. Your Ace of Diamonds will capture s
