Bill and Warren play bridge

Did you know that the two richest men in the world play bridge?

Nice article here about Warren Buffet and Bill Gates and their exploits in the world of bridge.

Warren apparently played 4,800 hands in one year online at www.bridgebase.com , which I understand Bill is a part owner now.

Bridge

What is the best card game ever invented? Hands down, it's contract bridge (pun intended).

I learned to play bridge back in the early nineties, teaching myself with a number of books (Joy of Bridge by Audrey Grant, On Bidding by Alan Truscott, and the "Bridge in the Fifth Dimension" series by Victor Mollo). I had only one opportunity to play against humans, drafting a spades player named Todd Stokes who was a fellow-volunteer at Watchtower Farms. We played against another couple, who happened to be married, and who were quite good. We got our clocks cleaned.

The Macintosh computer was my partner after that, as I never got around to teaching bridge to my friends (although I may have tried to show my family once). I got a kick out of the game, and would occasionally try game out eventually against a program called "Easy Bridge" (available free on the 'geek).

Recently I introduced the game to my Texas Hold'em group, as we were all seeming to experience fatigue after monthly play since last December. It's been a hit with Mark, Chris, Jamie, Trudy, and Colin. We've played weekly on Friday nights, and have had a blast! We've played 4 nights so far, and we're building our player base and expertise.

I stumbled accross a book called "The Backwash Squeeze, and other improbably feats" by Edward Mcpherson. Reading that lead me to bridgebase.com, where I've played a few tournaments online. Turns out that bridgebase is apparently part owned by Bill Gates (!?), and is a fantastic site, with thousands of serious bridge players on from around the world at any one time. Pretty cool.

I managed to finish 14th out of 140 in a recent tournament (see screenshot above, I am "Phunt0m"), so I'm getting better...

Got web game?

Addictive flash games are back...

Gotta check this one out.

Spiel '08

Updated 11/1/08

Essen Links:

Nice Essen Gallery

Biggest Surprises

New games @ Essen, sorted by ranking

Kulkmann's G@mebox

Official Spiel page

ESSEN, Germany. The Spiel. From Wikipedia:

"Spiel

Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called Essen after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day game trade fair held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen exhibition centre in Essen. Many german-style board games are released at the fair.

Unlike the other major German game fair, the Nuremberg International Toy Fair, Spiel is open to consumers as well as publishers and designers.^[1] The fair often has over 130,000 guests with 151,000 in 2006, although numbers were low in 2007 due to a German rail strike.^[1]

The Deutscher Spiele Preis, the International Gamers Awards, and Essen Feather are presented at the fair.

It is currently the biggest gaming convention for board gaming, RPG, ect. in the world, followed by Gen Con Indy in Indianapollis, Indiana. It is reputedly the biggest and best public show for boardgames, card games and CCGs, with designers and publishers demonstrating their newest games, retailers selling games at discount, and a large fleamarket with a wide range of new and used games. In addition, there is usually a hall of comic book sellers, and one or two halls with RPGs and live action material, and a hall of large inflatables and activities for kids. The show sometimes has computer games, but these are unusual.

The exhibition centre is called the Messe Essen. It is in an area of Essen called Margarethenhöhe, in the South of the city."

Reports (with photos) have started to make their way across the gaming universe...