April 2020 - 32

Product Reviews
Webster's Bridge
By H.T. Webster and William Johnston
$8.99, softcover, 114 pages
Reviewed by Chip Dombrowski

Old-time humor

Originally published in 1924, this
book pairs the work of cartoonist H.T.
Webster with the humor and advice
of social player William Johnston. It's
interesting to see what's changed - and
what hasn't - in the past 96 years.
Though the book predates Harold
Vanderbilt's invention of the modern
form of the game, many of the situations depicted in Webster's cartoons
are quite recognizable. The pitfalls of
spouses playing together were apparently well-known back then, as were
the ethical hazards of hesitations during the bidding.
The most obvious change is the

New Tricks
Bridge Club

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The shape of things to come

As bridge literature and educational
materials continue to make their inevitable transition to the worlds of web
and social media platforms, bridge enthusiasts will increasingly encounter
online video presentations of the game.
The New Tricks Bridge Club is a
recently launched project that exists
not only as a YouTube channel (go to
YouTube and search for "New Tricks
Bridge Club"), but also as a website,
newtricksbridge.club, and on Facebook

32 Bridge Bulletin April 2020

bridge should be played and
not discussed, and from
many of the cartoons, it's
clear Webster agrees.
A common situation
illustrated: An advanced
player is rattling off the
cards held by various players on a recent deal while his
bewildered friend graciously
waits for it to be over. Cue
spinning heads and smoking
ears. Both authors are truly
mystified by people who remember
hands.
Johnston acknowledges he's not an
expert, which is why he frames his
advice around "how not to play bridge."
Much of it focuses on how to be a good
partner, and that topic is truly timeless.

and Twitter. As of late February,
New Tricks has posted 10 videos,
most of which are tutorials lasting a
few minutes each.
Other videos - the New Tricks
Tournament Series - feature short
board-a-match contests between some
of the top players in the game. The list
includes Zia Mahmood, Dennis Bilde,
Marion Michielsen, Cecilia Rimstedt,
David Gold, Andrew Robson, Jerry
Stamatov and Bertie Black. Viewers
can see the table action through an
overhead camera, combined with a
digital display of each player's hand,
and camera views of each player's face.
Commentary by each player is later

added to the final edit so that you can
hear what they were thinking at each
stage of the bidding and play. Further
real-time commentary is provided by
experts David Burn and Marusa Gold.
Resembling a vugraph show with audio
and much greater camera coverage, it's
a highly entertaining presentation.
New Tricks has some minor technical issues to iron out - audio levels are
poor at times, and the overhead camera
can lack focus - but as the project is
still in its infancy, these distractions
should be overlooked. Definitely worth
checking out.

Available from About Comics,
aboutcomics.com

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YouTube channel, website
Reviewed by Paul Linxwiler

language of bridge. Opening bids are called "original
bids"; "without" is slang for
notrump. There are several
kinds of doubles, but the
terms are dated. "Informatory" doubles are for takeout, and business doubles
are penalty. There's also a
negative double, but it's not
the same one that's been in
existence since 1957.
The other noticeable
change is the standards for bidding. A
foreword by Wilbur Whitehead cautions readers not to heed Johnston's
advice too closely. Apparently the
author's insistence on having the ace
and king of your bid suit (along with
some outside cards) in order to make
an opening bid was considered stodgy
even then.
As a social player, Johnston believes

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http://www.aboutcomics.com
April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2020
