Learn To Play Bridge Throughout The Winter

What's Bridge All About?

Bridge is just a game and a card game at that. It’s no more difficult than the average card game and if you have played anything like whist as an individual or with a partner then you are already half way there. 

In fact any form or cards where you play for ‘tricks’ [even the game of Hearts which is probably already on the computer you are using to read this web page] will be a great help in playing Bridge as a good ‘card sense’ will help you get ‘playing’ bridge as fast as possible. 

As well as the card play Bridge also has a short session before the play which decides if the play will have a trump suit and if so which suit that will be. 

Don’t worry about this aspect of the game – it’s both easy and logical and what’s more we will help you seamlessly grasp the concept. 

Having said all that Bridge is no different to any other game – it can be played socially, in a structured ‘club’ environment, overlarge weekend congresses, on holidays and cruises and in team formats which play inter club, region or internationally. 

Some people take it very seriously and have played for years but it is a fact that most people who learn to play Bridge only play socially –and that is a real shame! 

Here at Broughton Bridge Club we cater for Bridge players of all abilities having structured sessions to play in along with social bridge too. 

We play Duplicate Bridge, rather than Contract Bridge, and occasionally play Chicago – but don’t worry all these variants are connected with scoring and the Bridge skills we will teach you will be useable in any situation you may find yourself in. 

Our goal is not just to start people on their own Bridge journey but to lead you through the maze of learning to play, getting some social games under your belt and then introducing you to directed daytime and evening sessions at the club on a regular basis. 

With a player database of over 250 people and over 100 weekly players we feel that we can provide you with the Bridge ‘experience’ you are looking for. 

Beginners Lessons

Beginners Bridge sessions are held at the club house every Thursday morning throughout the winter between 9.30am and 12am at a cost of £3.00 per session which includes tea or coffee. 

You tutor will be Clive Turner, a County Master with over 40 years experience. He is an Associate Member of the English Bridge Teaching Association and will provide you with all the Bridge ‘tools’ you will need. 

If you would like to book onto the sessions please contact Clive Turner directly by either an email to  Clive Turner or give him a call on 07506551429.

Have a free computer based taster session.

If you have still not decided to have a go at Bridge or whether to come and join us or not but you are feeling like you want to know more about the game of Bridge why not try a ‘get you going’ computer based tutorial?

Ok - so a computer programme can’t expose you to the joy of playing against real people but it can show you the ropes – and believe you me – this software needs no prior knowledge of the game of Bridge as it takes you from not even knowing what a pack of cards is to being ready to play for real.

It’s free, simple to install and use and does not need a powerful gaming computer to run. It is for PC only – sorry…

The software is called - Introduction to Learn to Play Bridge (Acol Edition) and it’s based on the popular Learn to Play Bridge written by Fred Gitelman for the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL).

Don’t worry about the term Acol Edition – all this means is that it is based on the form of Bridge normally played in the UK, the so called Acol System – so this software is for the UK rather than the USA.

The English Bridge Union [EBU] promotes this software to introduce ‘Acol’.

Most of the sections remain unchanged from the ACBL version but the sections on ‘Introduction to Bidding’ and ‘More on Bidding’ have been modified for the UK market – allowing for 12-14 No Trump and 4-card majors. Opening 2-bids are introduced as ‘strong’ bids in line with traditional Acol. There is also a new section entitled ‘About the EBU’.

Again as you are starting from knowing nothing about the game – Don’t worry – none of these ‘finer’ points are relevant!

Please download the software by clicking here. When I last checked it was perfectly safe!