Bridge Headquarters
Bridge Headquarters was a group of contract bridge experts organized in the early 1930s.
The group was organized in July 1931. The Bridge Headquarters was organized as a formal corporation under that name.[1] Representing bridge's "old guard", it stood in opposition to Ely Culbertson's bidding system, and with a stated purpose of standardizing bridge bidding and play. To that end, the twelve members created a system it called the Official System.[2][3]
Culbertson engaged in a war of words against the Bridge Headquarters, culminating in a 1931-1932 challenge match, the so-called "Bridge Battle of the Century", Culbertson and partners against Bridge Headquarters member Sidney Lenz and partners. Lenz lost, and the Official System was eventually superseded by other systems.[2][3] However, Milton Work's point-count system, an important component of the Official System (and which stood in contrast to Culbertson's more cumbersome honor-count system), constituted the basis of Charles Goren's system which became by far the most popular system for the second half of the 20th century.[4]
Members
- Sidney Lenz[3]
- Milton Work[3]
- Wilbur Whitehead[3]
- Edward Valentine Shepard[3]
- George Reith[3]
- and seven others[2][5]
References
- "Bridge Headquarters Inc. stock certificate (product description)". Retrieved December 18, 2016.
- H. Allen Smith (December 20, 1954). "Culbertson's Coup". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
- Truscott, Alan; Truscott, Dorothy (2004). The New York Times Bridge Book: An Anecdotal History of the Development, Personalities, ad Strategies of the World's Most Popular Card Game (Reprint ed.). St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0312331078. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
- Marvin French. "Honor Count vs Point Count". Bridgebum. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
- "Culbertson-Lenz Bridge Match". Bridge Guys. Retrieved December 18, 2016.