The Statesboro (GA) Pairs Duplicate Bridge Club has been meeting weekly for several decades as a small duplicate bridge game, generally three to five tables. Ours is not an ACBL-sanctioned game and likely never will be, although a few of us are members.
We all know each other and most are senior citizens. We do not have our own facility and have met at several different venues over the years. We currently meet each Tuesday at 6:45 P.M. at Trinity Episcopal Church at the corner of Country Club Road and Veterans Memorial Blvd, a.k.a. the 301 Bypass.
This website exists to give our club members and the community at large a little information about duplicate bridge and a place to play it in Statesboro, GA. If one were a rubber bridge player who wanted to know about duplicate, one might start with the Wikipedia entry and go from there. However, on this website we try to offer a cup instead of a fire hose. Much easier to drink from. We invite you to wander through the menus and see what is there.
Why play duplicate? We all have endured interminable sessions of rubber bridge where we never got an opening hand and rarely had any support when partner opened. Or perhaps the opponents found a grand slam early on and we spent the rest of the session trying to catch up. Or perhaps we were playing for the first time with a group who turned out to be “social players” in the worst sense of the term. They talked incessantly about everything but bridge and when they finally turned to the cards they bid badly and played even worse.
Switch to duplicate and leave those irritations behind. The housekeeping details of bidding and playing are not much different from rubber bridge and quite easy to learn. However, the game structure and scoring method change it into an entirely different game. There are five major departures from rubber bridge, each of which is essential and together are pure genius. Click here to see details.
Our games are very relaxed and low key. Several years ago we elected (railroaded) an administrative President but our games are not run by a certified or, even designated, Director. The formal rules of duplicate bridge are only loosely understand by some, loosely interpreted when necessary by a few of the more experienced players, and enforced by general consent. We pay no dues and just kick in a few bucks when we need something like new cards or score sheets. We each throw in a buck at the beginning of the game to pay the winners, just for fun. We try to hold down the chitchat and hub-bub, with moderate success.
We welcome new members who have at least some bridge experience. We do not give bridge lessons and are not set up to handle complete beginners. We urge everyone to find a partner with whom you can play regularly; it is a lot more fun that way.
To give us a try or offer comments, suggestions, or criticisms related to this website please email blogmaster@soacckj.com. (Our pages and posts do not accept comments because there are too many people out there with nothing better to do than fill public comment spaces with garbage.)