Table of Contents
Introduction 13
The Four Generations of Whist/Bridge 13
Presentation 15
Part I Forces for Change 19
Chapter 1 Gambling, Ethical Play, and Fairness 21
Deciding on the 'Appropriate' Level of Gambling 21
Features of Great Gambling Games 25
Ethical Play and Cheating 27
A Sense of Fairness 28
Chapter 2 The Evolution of Games, Sports, and Contests 33
Arbitrary Rules and Scoring 33
Balancing Skill and Chance (Luck) 34
Enjoyment and Entertainment: for Whom? 36
Simple Versions 38
Unnatural Numbers of Players, Breaking Ties, and Unfinished Games 40
Evolution Driven by Fashion and by Ruling Organizations 41
Part II Whist 45
Chapter 3 The Rules and Strategy of Whist 47
Basic Strategy 48
Terminology 51
Chapter 4 The Kings of Whist: Hoyle and Cavendish 54
Evolution During the Whisk/Whist Period 57
Games Leading to Whist 62
Chapter 5 Whist - the Golden Years 63
Hoyle is King (1743-1863) 63
Cavendish is King (1864-1898) 77
Entertaining Whist Writing 84
Newspaper and Magazine Articles 87
Chapter 6 The Whist Family and the Birth of Duplicate 88
Dummy, Le Mort (Mort), and Double Dummy 88
Boston, Solo Whist, Cayenne, Preference, and Yeralash 90
Duplicate Whist 95
Chapter 7 Toys and Apparatus 103
Cards 103
Trump Indicators 106
Counters/Markers for Scoring 107
Duplicate Trays 108
Trophies and Trinkets 110
Chapter 8 The World of Whist 111
The Club Scene 114
Bumblepuppy Days 118
The American Whist League and the Whist Journal 120
Women Become Competitive 123
Whist Travels the Globe 127
The Good and the Bad 128
Part III Bridge Whist 131
Chapter 9 Rules (Laws) and Strategy 133
Method of Play 133
Scoring 133
Basic Strategy 135
Terminology 137
Hand Evaluation Methods and Hesitations 138
Chapter 10 The First Kings of Bridge" Elwell and Foster 141
Evolution During the Bridge Whist Period Games Leading to Bridge Whist 149
A Missing Brother, Swedish Whist 150
Where and How the Name 'Bridge' Originated 153
Books, Magazines, and Newspapers 155
Chapter 11 Versions of Bridge Whist 159
Duplicate and Progressive Bridge Whist 159
Three-handed Bridge (Cut-throat Bridge) 161
Two-handed Bridge (Double Dummy) 162
Prenatal Auction Bridge 164
Chapter 12 The World of Bridge Whist 165
Whist Players Attack Their Offspring 165
Bumblepuppies Rush to the Bridge Table 168
Bridge in the Whist Clubs 172
King Cavendish Surrenders 174
Gambling, Cheating, and Debauchery 175
Women Bridge Players, Authors, Teachers, Gamblers, and Entrepreneurs 177
Why We Do the Things We Do 181
Bridge Toys and Apparatus 182
The Good and the Bad 184
Part IV Auction Bridge 187
Chapter 13 Rules (Laws) and Strategy of Auction 189
Method of Play 189
Scoring 190
Basic Strategy 191
Terminology 192
Duplicate, Progressive Pair Duplicate, and Progressive 193
Chapter 14 Evolution During the Auction Bridge Period 195
One King and Two Jacks: Work, Whitehead, and Lenz 195
Books, Newspapers, Magazines, and Radio 196
Total Chaos 199
Bridge Whist Players' Reaction to Auction 202
Conflicting Philosophies of Foster and Work 204
The Good and the Bad 207
Part V Early Contract Bridge 209
Chapter 15 Finally, Contract Surfaces 211
SACC, Plafond, and Contract without Vanderbilt's Influence 213
Vanderbilt's Cruise 217
Implementations Influenced by Vanderbilt 220
Auction Players' Reaction to Contract 223
Chapter 16 Contract Bridge Reaches Maturity 226
Strange Experiments, Strange Words, and the Wandering Notrump 226
Britain, France, and America Unite with 1932, 1935, and 1948 Laws 228
Two Kings: Culbertson and Goren 230
The Duplicate Game 235
Alphabet Soup: AWL, WWL, AABL, ABL, USBA, NBA, and ABA 236
ACBL and Masterpoints (No-dust Trophies) 238
The Bridge World, ABL Bulletin, and ACBL Bulletin 241
Bridge Popularity and the Survival of Whist 242
Afterword: Bridge Evolution and Durability 245
Appendices 249
Appendix 1 The Mathematics of Whist 250
Appendix 2 Clay's Famous 1864 Vienna Coup 254
Appendix 3 The Biritch or Russian Whist Publication 256
Appendix 4 Suggested Readings on the History of Bridge 259
Index of Names and Games 261
