Beginner Question about Rubber Bridge

[Sue601]

Returning to casual bridge after an absense of many years. Have gathered interested others and we are refreshing our memories and playing weekly.

 

My question:

 

When I played Rubber Bridge years ago there were a few $ involved. Seems to me the high scorer left with something and the lowest scorer got her $ back. Other than that I can't remember how much we contributed or how it was divided up. Anyone have any suggestions what might be put in the till and how to distribute it?

 

SueW

[inquiry]

Hi Sue,

 

If you are the best player in the group, go for a big number of dollars.. the more the merrier... you will not win the pot everytime, but if you are the best, the odds are stacked nicely in your favor.

 

As for how much, i have played for as little as 25 cents on the side, winner takes all... (win 75 cents), and I have played for so much a point. The points can add up quickly so don't get carried away, even 10 cents a point might cost some one a fair amount of change... but 10 to 25 cents a point generally will not break anyone, nor make anyone rich. But i don't think this is what you had in mind. So pick a dollar amount everyone would be more than comfortable losing. Say the price of movie and snack where you live.. and put that up.

 

Ben

[mikestar]

If you are the best player in the group, go for a big number of dollars.. the more the merrier... you will not win the pot everytime, but if you are the best, the odds are stacked nicely in your favor.

 

As for how much, i have played for as little as 25 cents on the side, winner takes all... (win 75 cents), and I have played for so much a point. The points can add up quickly so don't get carried away, even 10 cents a point might cost some one a fair amount of change... but 10 to 25 cents a point generally will not break anyone, nor make anyone rich. But i don't think this is what you had in mind. So pick a dollar amount everyone would be more than comfortable losing. Say the price of movie and snack where you live.. and put that up.

Ben, do you mean 10 cents a hundred? At 10 cents a point, a vulnerable grand slam is well over $200 on a single hand--this will break me and not a few others. If it doesn't break you, congratulations and I'm envious.

 

There's a story from the 1940's about three filthy rich Texans on a train who asked a fellow to be a fourth for a game. He was told "we'll play for 5 a point, you keep your winnings, we'll cover your losses."

 

After the game, our hero added up the score and announced that at 5 cents a point, he'd won $500. That's when the Texans informed him they played for 5 dollars a point . . .

[inquiry]

If you are the best player in the group, go for a big number of dollars.. the more the merrier... you will not win the pot everytime, but if you are the best, the odds are stacked nicely in your favor.

 

As for how much, i have played for as little as 25 cents on the side, winner takes all... (win 75 cents), and I have played for so much a point. The points can add up quickly so don't get carried away, even 10 cents a point might cost some one a fair amount of change... but 10 to 25 cents a point generally will not break anyone, nor make anyone rich. But i don't think this is what you had in mind. So pick a dollar amount everyone would be more than comfortable losing. Say the price of movie and snack where you live.. and put that up.

Ben, do you mean 10 cents a hundred? At 10 cents a point, a vulnerable grand slam is well over $200 on a single hand--this will break me and not a few others. If it doesn't break you, congratulations and I'm envious.

 

There's a story from the 1940's about three filthy rich Texans on a train who asked a fellow to be a fourth for a game. He was told "we'll play for 5 a point, you keep your winnings, we'll cover your losses."

 

After the game, our hero added up the score and announced that at 5 cents a point, he'd won $500. That's when the Texans informed him they played for 5 dollars a point . . .

You are right. We drop off all the terminal zeros... so i guess this works out to be between a penny a 2.5 cents a point.

 

So for example, you bid 3nt twice and make (assuming rubber scoring) you get 100, 100, and 700. This is 90 or nine dollars. Of course, I prefer to use chicago scoring. It is hard to lose a lot of money this way.... 40 dollars and you got beat by 4000 points. If you play 10cent a real point, that would be 400 dollars. In the grand scheme of things, not that much money... unless you always lose.

 

Ben

[mr1303]

At Manchester bridge club we play for either 50p, £1, £2 or £5 a hundred. The £5 game is NOT cheap, especially when you're on a losing streak (like I am now).

 

Discovering the hard way that partner does not play the unusual no trump, for example. Going for -1100 and seeing £55 go down the tube.

 

Incidently, although I've asked this in another thread, are there any plans for rubber bridge to be playable on BBO? It might be possible to use bridgebase dollars for this.

[Blofeld]

Ben, you seem to be missing a factor of ten still. At ten cents a hundred, your two 3nt contracts with the rubber they bring will give you less than a dollar!

[Finch]

The English talk about "10p a point" say, meaning 10p per rubbber bridge scoring point (where 100 points = 1 scoring point, 50s rounded down). This can make trips to the US expensive for English players, as they discover the Americans think it's obvious that a bridge point = a money point and 10c a point is a more than they expect.

[vbcastor]

Well Sue, I played in several of these kinds of groups and they all did it differently. One would put $.25 each in the pot and winner took all. Another put $1.00 in the pot and it was divided among the first and second winners with the first place getting more than the second. Another group had the host buy a small gift that was given to the winner at the end of the night. Depending on the number of tables you have, you only had to buy a gift once in 4 or 8 or 12 weeks as the host changed each week. Sometimes it might be a jar of homemade jelly, or potholders or something the host found cute while shopping. Usually not an expensive item as we always took the financial situation of each member into consideration. At holiday times, it was usually something related to that. Still another group had a girl who kept up with the points and at the end of each 2 month period, the winner would get a free dinner by the rest of us splitting her meal. This gave us a night out every 2 months as well as our weekly game. Just a few thoughts from my past. You can be as creative as you like. But keep it on the fun side so no one is harmed by the money.

Vicki

[han]

I rarely play rubber bridge, and I wonder the following: how important is it to bid games?

 

Is it similar to playing at IMPs, or should you be even more aggressive since there is no logarithmic IMPs conversion table? How important are part scores at rubber bridge?

 

Would you say that a 35% game is worth bidding when NV at rubber bridge?

[Blofeld]

Part scores are nice at rubber bridge, because they put some more pressure on the opponents as in later rounds you can score game at a lower level. I'd say that they tend to be worth more than the 50 pts assigned to them in Chicago or duplicate - but also, 3♠ just making is a nicer contract than 1♠+2.

 

I wouldn't think that a 35% game was worth bidding.

 

But I'm far from an expert on rubber.

[Echognome]

I can't really say too much on the subject as the only bridge I've played for money is a 10 cents a hundred lunchtime game with Chicago scoring. Chicago is pretty close to IMPs from what I remember.

 

There is of course a long treatment of the subject in Simon's "Why you lose at bridge." His view is that the answer to the question of whether you should bid game or sacrifice depends on who your partner is!

 

There are some definite bidding differences when part-scores are involved. Any moves above a contract needed for game are considered slam tries. For example, if you have 40 below and you bid 1♠ - 2♠, then bids are not game tries, but rather slam tries.

[kgr]

but also, 3♠ just making is a nicer contract than 1♠+2.

Do they score differnt in rubber?

[Blofeld]

They both give you the same number of points, but if you've bid and made 3♠ then you have 90 points below the line, so making any contract will give you game. If you've made 1♠+2, then you still have 90 points, but just 30 of them are below the line, meaning that game will be 2NT, 3 of a major or 4 of a minor.

[david_c]

There are some definite bidding differences when part-scores are involved. Any moves above a contract needed for game are considered slam tries. For example, if you have 40 below and you bid 1♠ - 2♠, then bids are not game tries, but rather slam tries.

... though of course there are interesting tactical situations here as well, because the opponents will be keen not to let you play in 2♠. So maybe you should bid on in some cases even when you don't expect slam to have play. Or pass 2♠ on hands where slam is just about conceivable, but where the opponents might get into trouble if they come in ...