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The Daily Deal
Each day we "seed" one lesson deal somewhere into our otherwise randomly dealt set of boards. The board number is different each day. You never know which board it is. The daily deal is a free mini-lesson. You can take home a handout of the daily deal every day. We hope you find it educational as well as entertaining. To see past Daily Deals, click here. |
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Sitouts Banned! 
We have done away with sit-outs, for once and for all. When we have a half-table in the game, we enter the computer as a participant in the game, in order to make a full table.
When it would otherwise be your turn to sit out, instead you play against the computer. Your score vs. the computer counts in the game. The computer is always disqualified, so it doesn't take away your masterpoints - in fact, the awards actually increase because the game is larger.
You can learn more about this here. |
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Replay At Home  You can now replay the boards you've played at the club - in the comfort of your own home.
Replay the exact same hands with any of several commercial bridge programs such as GIB or Bridge Baron if you own one. If you have not purchased one, we have a free program for you to download. Click here for instructions. | |
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Free Bridge Lessons
Rich answers your questions every Tuesday prior to the game. |
Thursdays, we have a vugraph presentation. Rich reviews interesting deals of the past week. Each board in question is projected onto our large video screen for all to see as we discuss it. |
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After a one week hiatus for April Fools, we are resuming our series of famous bridge deals.
"My name is Bond ... James Bond." What would you do with this hand if you heard West open seven clubs and it went, pass, pass to you? 
In the 1955 novel Moonraker, James Bond made use of this deal to get the better of the villainous Hugo Drax. Convinced that Drax was cheating at the Blades club, he maneuvered to play rubber bridge against him for high stakes. Supposedly drunk, Bond managed to covertly switch decks. Then, sitting West, Bond opened seven clubs! After two passes, Drax (South) confidently doubled with his 31 HCP, more points than most players ever see in one hand in a lifetime. Bond redoubled. Naturally, Bond made his redoubled grand slam! Drax belatedly realized that he had been scammed, and accused Bond of cheating. As that was a case of the pot calling the kettle black, the Club Secretary intervened and insisted that the debt be settled. Drax lost £15,000 (roughly equivalent to $48,000,000 in today's dollars).
This made a for great scene in the novel but, in actuality, this deal is a famous old deal which dates back to the days of whist.
Scroll down to see the rest of the story. |
 New Interclub Challenge |
 We have agreed with Eastlake Bridge Club in Chula Vista, California to run a monthly interclub match. We will run this game on the second Wednesday of each month, starting April 13 (that's this week).
Unlike our previous interclub matches, this one will pay overall masterpoints across both sections. As an extra incentive, we are making the first two, club championships! |
Six-Club "Postcard" Interclub |
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The very next day, Thursday, April 14, we will play our third interclub challenge against three Australian clubs, a club in Delaware and one in Massachussetts. |
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It didn't matter what North led, and he chose a diamond. Bond ruffed in dummy, finessed the club ten, ruffed another diamond to establish the suit, and took another trump finesse. The last trump was drawn, and the remaining tricks were claimed.
"My name is Cumberland ... Duke of Cumberland."
In writing Moonraker, Ian Fleming had used his literary license to "borrow" a well known old hustler's deal - The Duke of Cumberland Hand (which he slightly modified).
Here is the history of the deal, according to the Encyclopedia of Bridge (edited here to accomodate Fleming's modification):
The Duke of Cumberland, son of George III, King of England, was an inveterate gambler for high stakes. One day, at the notorious gaming rooms in Bath, it is said that he was dealt the South hand.
The game being whist, the last card, a club, was turned to set the trump suit. The Duke had the opening lead. In accordance with sound whist precepts, he opened the nine of clubs. Obviously it was to his interest to knock out all the opponent's trumps as quickly as possible to avoid the ruffing of any of his solid top cards.
The Duke's opponents proceeded to assert that he would not win a single trick, and to infuriate him into a bet.
West won the club nine with the ten, and led a diamond which was trumped by his partner. East returned a club, the Duke's jack being taken by the queen, and a second diamond was ruffed by East. East led another club to his partner's ace (pulling South's last trump). West's established diamonds and trumps won the rest of the tricks.
Such is the story of the "Duke of Cumberland's Hand" as related by Professor Richard Proctor in How to Play Whist (1885). One wonders why the Duke, an experienced whist player, did not speculate on how his opponents could foretell the outcome. (Remember that no hand is exposed in whist.) A more plausible version of this legendary episode suggests that the South hand was given to the Duke, who knew it was manufactured and ventured to bet in the face of that knowledge.
The victim may have been an earlier Duke, "Butcher" Cumberland, son of George II, but the scant evidence favors the later Duke. |
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As always, you can follow the play of this deal with our Bridge Movie on our website. |
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