Translated and adapted from English by Bertrand Karnet, 2018
Bridge is a game whose history is rather unknown. Today, it is one of the most famous games on the planet. Before arriving at its current form, the auction bridge, the card game has borne many names and many versions. This fascinating story of the game makes it possible to go back in time. The bridge has experienced many versions including the Bridge Whist which is the subject of this article. We will base this study on a book by John Collinson which remains at present the oldest work that talks about the Bridge Whist. The book is very rare. There are only three copies in the world left and they are in Odleian Library of the University of Oxford, another at Cambridge University Library and yet another to the Record Office public in London. A fourth work existed, but it was destroyed by the American attacks of the Second World War.
In this book, the author, John Collinson, explains that he discovered this card game in Constantinople which was a Russian colony at the time. This is why he calls the bridge whist also Russian Whist. In a letter to The Saturday Review Dated May 28, 1906, Collinson wrote: "Between 1880 and 1880, I spent a lot of time in Constantinople and Asia Minor, where I played what was called" Bridge or Russian Whist ". Thierry Depaulis and Jac Fuchs in volume 32 of September 2-October 2003, pages 67-76 evokes in an article entitled" First steps of Bridge in West: Le Bridge de Collinson "says the life of John Collinson. This engineer went to Turkey for the planning and construction of the railways Mersina, Tarsus and Adana. It was by returning to the kingdom of His Majesty and more precisely to Cromwell Road, that he introduces the game to his friends. C 'is that the Bridge Whist conquered Europe before evolving over time to become the "bridge"
Russian bridge rules or whist
Les bases du Whist :
The Bridge Whist game is played with a classic 52 cards game.
The order of crescent cards: 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7- 8- 9- 10- V -D-R- AS
To play Whist, you have to be 4 players. Two teams of 2 compete by being crossed.
The Bridge Whist has developed in England, American players will have to go against habits by distributing the cards in the opposite direction, that is to say the hourly meaning.
The distribution of cards to the BRIDGE WHIST:
The dealer or donor must distribute 13 cards per player. He must do so by distributing the cards one by one. The last card of the Dealer, the 13th, must be returned to everyone's eyes. This card indicates the color of the asset for the hand. The first player who has to launch hostilities is the player to the left of the donor. It is then the turn of the one who won the last hand.
Les principes du Bridge Whist :
The principle is to provide the requested color. If the player does not have this color, he does not have to cut the asset. The card game is simple, consisting of supplying the requested color, and in the event that a player does not have in hand, he can play the card he wants without having to cut. We never have to go up by playing a stronger card in any color whatsoever, including asset. It is the player who played the strongest card, whether at the asset or without an asset which wins the hand. For the folds won, it is very important to keep them in order since we will see later that the first six folds do not count.
Count the points at the BRIDGE WHIST
- The rober is a part of Whist of two 10 -point rounds. If no one wins the Robre, you have to play the beautiful, that is to say revenge in 10 points to decide between the two teams.
- The levees, that is to say the hands won, only count from the seventh lifting. The first six folds do not report points. A team must win at least 6 hands before making points. Each lifting, after the sixth fold, reports a point. The maximum number of points is therefore 7 points since there are 13 folds in a lifting. If a team manages to make the 13 lifted, it is said that it has made the "home"
- The honours are the 4 dressed assets: AS - King - Lady - Valet. A team that played 3 honors earns three points and the one who played the 4 additional points.
Les points au Whist Bridge
Particularities :
Honors: points won by honors and levees can exceed 10 points. In case of equality, it was the team that counted the most lifes who won the game.
The priority of lifting points is experiencing an exception:
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If a team at the start of the hand already has eight points and a player of this three -honors team, it can end and win the game directly without playing the hand.
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If in the same configuration, eight points, a player has two honors, he can "sing" or "call" to find out if his partner has an honor. If so, they have to show them. They will win the game.
Les gains au Whist Bridge
The players who win the Robre wins 2 points. This rule is to be specified before the start of the game. At the end of the two parts of 10 points, the Robre, it is necessary to count the points of the two sleeves those of the Robre. The team that has the most points won the game. The era the Whist Bridge was playing with money. Each point was worth x books and at the end of the game that the losing players paid the difference in points between the two teams.
To conclude, we can note that the Whist appears very often in the 19th century literature, whether in the work of Edgar Poe, that of Jules Vernes and even David Hume.
Bibliography
- « le Bridge Whist » de John Collinson
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The thousand stories of the Bridge, Gallimard, 1962 - Reese (T.)
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Le bridge pour les nuls, GENERALE FIRST, 2006- KELSEY (H.)