One of the most popular card games in the world, bridge has been played in one form or another since the sixteenth century. Since modern contract bridge was developed in 1925, bridge has become by far the most organized card game, with bridge clubs and leagues all over the world sponsoring highly competitive tournaments. Though often associated with rich old ladies trading gossip and nibbling delicate snacks between hands, bridge is actually a game of skill and strategy. Its addicts include all sorts of people from college students to business executives.

Although some claim that the game of bridge has its roots in Turkey or Russia, the first real documentation of a bridgelike card game comes from sixteenth-century England. That game, called whist, whisk, triumph, or trump, introduced the "trick," where each player in turn lays a card down, following suit, and the highest ranking card wins the round...