The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge by Henry
Francis defines Bridge as "A partnership game of cards derived
from Whist and played by four persons."
The ACBL (American Contract Bridge League) captures the
essence and spirit of the game when it says "The world’s most
challenging mental sport, bridge is a game of skill, communication
and infinite possibilities." See more of ACBL's
description at
Our Game, Our
History.
The mission of
ACBL is "to
promote the fun and challenge of bridge and support educational and
playing opportunities for bridge enthusiasts throughout North
America." It does a superb job and should you take up
Bridge, please consider joining ACBL to avail yourself to the many
member
benefits provided.
The ACBL's
Learn Home Page
offers a variety of ways to learn Bridge:
How to play
bridge, Free software you can
download, an
An Introduction to Duplicate Bridge ,
Find a
Teacher and Find
a Club.
Joining a Bridge Club is a wonderful way to learn bridge; an added
benefit is the new
friends you make!
Bridge Books
You're in luck! There are lots of Bridge books which target
the beginner. Many Bridge Clubs have a
library available to its' members and most public libraries also
have books on Bridge.
Need a recommendation? Try Audrey Grant's ACBL Bridge Series
consisting of five volumes: Bidding (Club), Play of the
Hand (Diamond), Defense (Heart), Commonly Used
Conventions (Spade) and More Commonly Used Conventions.
Audrey
Grant (Book, Software, Videos)
Mike Lawrence
(books)
Bridge World Recommended Books
Master Point Press -
The Bridge Publisher
Bridge software, which runs on your home computer, can be grouped as either Bridge Playing programs that you actually play bridge with or educational programs. Both are terrific tools for learning and improving your bridge. Plus, they are fun.
For your home computer, start with the ACBL free download of
the two part course
"Learning to Play
Bridge." It runs on a Windows
PC only.
Bridge Playing programs
The Bridge Baron
JACK 3.0
Micro
Bridge 11
Bridge Buff 12
Q-plus Bridge
Oxford Bridge
GIB
The Bridge World web site has a 5 lesson
Introduction to Bridge consisting of:
Lesson 1: The Mechanics of Bridge
Lesson 2: Bridge Scoring
Lesson 3: Introduction to Declarer's Play
Lesson 4: Introduction to Defender's Play
Lesson 5: Introduction to Bidding
What to do Next ...
Richard Pavlicek's Learn to Play Bridge! is a nice introduction to Bridge. His free online course Bridge Basics is a great place to start learning how to play bridge.
Karen Walker's Karen's Bridge Library offers a wealth of information about Bridge. Start with "On-Your-Own activities", a brief article about Learning Bridge. Try some of her lessons - The Basics.
Bridge School - Fifth
Chair Foundation offers a series of lessons for the beginner and
also has an archive of articles on various bridge topics. Also
check out the Fifth Chair Foundation's
Bridge
Jargon page for explanations
of many bridge terms and conventions.
Colin's Bridge Lesson
#1 gives a quick overview of Bridge from the deal, to the
Auction, to the Play of the hand and finally, the scoring.
ACBL Links
ACBL learning
area
ACBL: Bridge is Cool
ACBL:
Commonly Used Conventions
ACBL: How to fill out a Convention Card
ACBL: Conventional
Wisdom (series of 24 articles from monthly magazine on
filling out the convention card)
Other interesting
links
Bidding,
Conventions, Defense
21 Rules of Being a Good Partner by Marty Bergen
Bridge Bidding Guide
by Richard
Pavlicek
Shopping
There are many places to Shop for Bridge Software,
we've created the following as a place to start.
Bridge Software
at Baron Barclay
Bridge Base Inc. - Software Index
There are numerous Bridge Teaching software titles
available. Below are a few sites to check out.
Larry Cohen
(books and software)
Eddie Kantar
(books and software)
Mike Lawrence
