The Other Side of Bridge

Last Saturday I had my first opportunity to play Swiss Teams at a bridge tournament in Creston, B.C. My partner, Sue, and I played with two people from our Balfour Duplicate Club. In Swiss Teams one pair of the team will sit north-south while the others sit east-west. We have differing opponents. Eight hands are played by each table and they are the exact same cards. At the conclusion of the eight hands, the east-west pair get together with the north-south pair and compare scores. Points are awarded to the best contract and the number of points depends on the difference between the scores. Your team will either gets points or the opponents will get points. At the end of the comparison, the scores are added up and your team either won or lost the round. Then your pair moves to another pair of opponents. In Creston, we won three "rounds" and lost four but it was good enough for first in the C section (players with fewer than 99 Master Points). It's a very interesting process and I hope to participate again another time.