Duplicate Bridge

Duplicate bridge is the most widely used variation of contract bridge in club and tournament settings. It is called duplicate because the same bridge hand (i.e. arrangement of cards) is duplicated at other tables, in order to allow a fair comparison of playing skill and reduce "luck of the cards". In this way, every hand, whether good or bad, is played in competition with others playing the identical cards, and the element of skill is heightened whilst that of chance is reduced. Duplicate bridge stands in contrast to rubber bridge where each hand is freshly dealt and scores depend as much on the cards as on the players.