The study commissioned by the EBU at St. Paul 's School in Manchester clearly shows a positive development of the young people involved. This study concentrated more on social skill development, rather than improvements of a purely academic nature. Experience shows that bridge teaches:

Sorting into groups

For young children the idea of grouping items is central to early learning in mathematics. In Mini Bridge and bridge cards have to be sorted into the four suits (,, ,) which, in turn, have a hierarchy and then into ranks within suits. This requires knowledge of the ranks (ace, king, queen and jack rank above 10, 9... 3, 2).

 

Aids to numeracy

Counting points In Mini Bridge , adding the point count of the partnership hands to decide whether to try for part-score or game Counting suits as the cards are played. This is a very difficult concept for all but the best bridge players. At an elementary level it is only practical to count one suit (usually the trump suit) Calculating the score after each hand has been played.

 

Probability

There is opportunity to use probability at all levels of the game Knowledge of how cards split (with 5 cards out the likely split of 3-2 is 68%, 4-1 split is 28%, 5-0 split is 4%) Knowledge that a finesse is an evens chance, in the absence of other information.

 

Deduction

Know from the allocation of points in Mini Bridge or by listening to the auction of opponents in bridge that one line of play may be superior over another Deduce that a finesse is a better line of play by using the opponents auction, even though numerically it may appear inferior.

 

Rule following

Bidding and playing in turn Knowing that the absolute rule of card play is to follow suit when you can Keeping a `poker face' and not letting your emotions give away vital information.

 

Developing Strategy

Planning the play of the hand before playing a card to the first trick by using a SWOT analysis. In bridge this takes the form of Strengths: Counting your top winners Weaknesses: How many tricks you are short of your target Opportunities: Which suits offer the prospect of generating the additional tricks you need Threats: What can your opponents do to thwart your plans; what steps can you take to avoid danger Learning that in the bidding you must plan the way you will describe your hand.

 

Team Building

Unlike chess, which is a single player game, bridge is a partnership game You have to work as a team understanding that bidding is a dialogue between partners aiming to reach the best contract Understanding that defence is a partnership activity.

 

Mental capacity

Bridge requires concentration. You have to think about what you are doing, who bid what and who played which card It requires great mental stamina. At the highest international level you need to be able to play for 8 hours a day for up to a fortnight. The equivalent of 2 marathons a day for 2 weeks.