What Are Bridge Clubs and Tournaments ?

Commercial or Public Clubs. Bridge clubs are commercial, private places where duplicate players come together to play duplicate bridge. There are from 6 to 40 tables of bridge in play at a time in Clubs. They are held in churches, recreation halls and all kinds of private or public buildings., Some charge a fee of $3.00 to $7.00 per session; others are run by volunteers.

Tournaments. Bridge tournaments are similar to bridge clubs, except they're held in halls or convention centers and they're held once a quarter or perhaps twice a year.

(For example, in the Los Angeles area where we live, there are local and regional tournaments nearly every weekend.).

How Do I Get Into a Game at a Club or Tournament? There are tournaments in cities, in metropolitan areas called regions and at the national, international and world levels. Almost all club level games and tournaments are open to whoever wants to play -- some national, most international and all world class events are by invitation only. You pays your money, and you takes a seat - - that's all there is to it. You have to bring a partner to a tournament - - sometimes, for some kinds of play, you have to bring four players - a 'Team'.

Regional Tournaments. Once or twice a year, local ACBL (American Contract Bridge League) districts get together to sponsor a 'Regional' level tournament. These are sometime big events, with hundreds or thousands of players, over a period of 3 to 7 days. Local and National-level championship-level players come to add some tough competition at Regional events.

'The Nationals'. The Nationals are the Mecca for American Duplicate players. There are often 15,000 to 20,000 tables of Duplicate play during a 10-12 day period. They're held three times a year in different parts of the USA and Canada.

(We plan our vacations around them. Many players do this every year, and we know people from all over the world who play 'at the Nationals').