Math Max: The bridge warrior

March 1, 2017

3 min read

Photo Credit: Nathan Gross

The auction has begun. It’ s my turn to bid, but I have no idea what to do. My palms are sweaty, and my heart is racing. I’ve just switched places with a seasoned bridge player to try my hand at the game. I carefully arrange my hand by suit beginning from high cards to low.

I look at my helper Dee, a behavioral science major and bridge enthusiast, and lean over to show her my hand. She politely explains what my hand means and how I should bid. She is thorough in her explanation, but I’ m still at a loss. I do as she suggests, and we begin playing.

I only slightly understand everything that happens after the auction, and I spend most of the game in a state of confusion. According to , a professor of developmental math and former professional bridge player, this confusion is normal.

“Bridge is pretty deep, and even the basics can be overwhelming,” said Aeschbacher. He kindly arranged the game to try to teach me some of the basics. It didn’t go well.

Bridge is complex. It is not a game that one can learn in a single sitting. In fact, it takes years of practice to become even a mediocre player. Max makes the game look easy.

Aeshbacher believes his math skills make him a better bridge player. “My knowledge of probability can help me calculate odds. If my left-hand opponent has three hearts and my right-hand opponent has two hearts, then I might play this opponent to have the queen,” said Aeshbacher. “It can get more complicated than that. I can estimate what the percentage chance of success a particular line of play might be. … These are usually approximations I do in my head.”While understanding math does help, Aeschbacher says there are other disciplines that are more useful. “What really would help more with bridge is knowledge of language and patterns. You get a lot of linguists and a lot of computer scientists. A lot of bridge players like crossword puzzles because it’ s the same kind of skill; it’ s pattern recognition and puzzle solving,” he said. He learned the basics of bridge in grad school and played a bit with his friends. Then, after graduating, he and his father began playing together.

“On a whim I said, ‘hey dad, teach me how to play bridge,’ because I thought it might be fun and might be a good way to spend more time with [him],” said Aeschbacher. “Both things turned out to be true. You know, we went to the club and played. I was terrible … I kept going. Eventually I figured out we didn’t have to be last.”

Aeschbacher played professionally for a few years, but found it took the pleasure out of playing. These days, he plays for fun with buddies from UVU and attends sanctioned games in Salt Lake City.

Even with Aeschbacher’ s experience in math and bridge, he was unable to teach a newbie like me the nuances of the game. I finished it just as confused as when I started.