Bridge Mania

Very nice write-up of your pastime, Gill Sahib. Omar Sharif lost not only almost all, but his dignity as well in the process to this addiction. I love the game myself, but my generation of poor Pakistanis mollycoddled with Flash (or tin-patti, as Indians call it) . College residences in the late 70’s and early 80’s (in Lahore, and I am sure in other cities also) had rooms dedicated to Flash. Chawani was the Boot (starting bet) and Athani if you played in posh areas, like Gulberg or Cantt. I have heard that at some places the boot has gone upto 500 rupees. Very few of my generation played Bridge. Whenever I visit Lahore, I have a game with my buddies for the old times sake.

Re: # 1

Dear Mr. Kulaharee:

It appears that bridge is the game of elitists' in Pakistan. First time I heard of bridge was in my F.Sc. class (1953). Our English composition teacher was discussing Nasim Hijazi's novels and he asked the brightest student in our class if he had read Nasim Hijazi and what he thought of him and his works. The student said ever since he had read Naim Hijazi's novels he had started saying his prayers five times daily. THe professor said that Nasim Hijazi himself was not that kind of a religious man. And he said that he played bridge with him at the Abbotabad Club. From that I guessed bridge was a cards game but didn't know how it was played. I could play almost every cards game (like flush or flash, sweep, trumps, rummy etc.).

Bridge is fun.

Mohammad Gill

hi sir plz

is there any one who can teach me hw 2 play bridge

Bridge is a lot like marriage. If you have a good hand, you don't need a partner.

Regards

that meanz i wont understand it coz i m single but still if any one cane help me tht will be grt

the only thing i know abt this game is the its a game played by 4 players a deck of 52 cards each player having 13 cards each.

"It appears that bridge is the game of elitists' in Pakistan"

Gill sahib, If the game is not popular among the masses, it does not mean that it is an elitist game. And for that matter how many rednecks in the US play this game? The game was popular among the old folks on the East Coast. You still hear old ladies talking about the Bridge parties etc.in New York city. They were all from financially better off class and perhaps elitist in your opinion. Now you would rarely see bridge tables in peoples homes.

My father used play the game in his club mostly on Saturday nights. Sometimes he would invite friends over and the game would go on for well past midnight with lots of noise and heated words. My brother and I learned it from him though we never played regularly. at that time there were many other things to do than just play bridge.

After I moved to the US and got married, I found out my wife's parents loved the game. When I showed interest, they invited us too and we used to spend some Saturday evenings at their place to play Bridge. That was so boring that we got out of it quickly.

I still get to play the game at least once every two years. The last I played was abt two years ago outside of Quebec city in a summer lodge with two neighbors and my cousin. While talking to that couple we found out they play Bridge. So we invited them over for drinks and game.
I am an okay player but if I play more I can improve.

Btw, Pakistanis are generally noisy when it comes to any kind of game, Cards included. I did not see people at each others throat when I played in the US. You do analyze but mostly people who play the game understand the moves too.

I have actually seen Zia play in Karachi Gymkhana.

(that meanz i wont understand it coz i m single )

If you are single that is all the more reason why you wud appreciate the importance of having a good hand.

Regards

HP:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about bridge. I played bridge yesterday. On one hand, my partner bid a little slam without any help in bidding from me and he made it. My hand although quite weak in points held two key cards which helped him fulfill his contract. I am enjoying bridge now in my retirement more than ever before.

Be well,

Mohammad Gill

Re: # 5
Are you corrupting the youth of Athens by recommending self-help instead of marriage?

Tahir mian,

Don't worry. People will generally find that a good partner is better than a good hand. But if you can't find a good partner....

Regards

I play bridge for several hours every evening - on the Internet. The site I go to (there are several) is www.games.yahoo.com. There are five different levels where you can play, from beginner to advanced. There are always at least 500 people from all over the world playing at the same time, sometimes it is in thousands. It is free.
I used to play a lot of duplicate bridge, but nowadays in Dubai there is no duplicate tournament. Internet bridge is very fast. Whereas typically one plays about seven deals an hour in duplicate, on the Net (advanced level) you play at least 20 deals an hour. If one is slow, one get booted out.
It is fun to play with many different people. There could be a guy from Hongkong, me from Dubai, a Turkish guy and an American, playing together. You get to know who the good players are, and land up with a dozen or so people with whom you like to play (and who accept you !). generally people are very well mannered, and one does not shout at one's partner.
If you haven't played bridge but would like to try, type "learning to play bridge" on google and look up the available sites.
Believe me, it's a great game. Card luck doesn't matter because over time it evens out. What you need is memory (to remember cards) and an ability to solve many simltaneous equations mentally and very fast. To explain : if your partner had bid a certain suit at a certain level and played a particular card but didn't play another, you can figure out what cards he has. Generally, by the third or fourth trick (out of thirteen tricks) one can guess what cards each player has.
As I come closer to retirement I expect to play more. It keeps your brain cells active. Try it.

it is hot-shyte popular inidian colleges. i recall playing for 4 days continuously during diwali holidyas when we wouuld not go home from hostel. we would hoard up on mithai and play continuously. great times...

Re: # 12; majumdar bhai,

"...partner better than hand..."

partner! what is a partner?!...the pet goat?!

Re: # 15

Cheema Saab,

cheee...cheee...