Raleigh Bridge Club

The peculiarly satisfying quality of a bridge hand is that it is a fragment of human experience, a sliver of reality that, unlike most things in life, can be completely understood. We can grasp its meaning, relate it to a larger scheme of things, spot harmony, introduce order. Bridge relieves a small part of our urgent need for clarity. Really, we play and study the game for the same reason Dylan Thomas gave when asked why he wrote poetry: “for some measure of light”. If we seek to explain further our fascination with the game, we run up against the limitations of language. For bridge, in a sense, is like love - its delights have to be experienced at first hand. How could a non-player be expected to understand the sweet torment of lying awake in the early hours of the morning while your mind tries to work out new ways of making last night’s 3NT? When an interesting deal arises, it is the inherent mystery that attracts us, not so much whether it ended in triumph or tragedy, in brilliancy or blunder. -- Hugh Kelsey