£5000 A YEAR FROM BRIDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 67, 20 March 1926, Page 23

£5000 A YEAR FROM BRIDGE.

. PLAYERS' BIG INCOMES. WOMEN'S HIGH STAKES. The statement in the Bankruptcy Court of a retired Indian Army officer, that his nverage winnings at bridge during the past Aye years amounted to £1000 a year, has aroused considerable interest in London club-land. Inquiries show that this sum is smalll compared with that made by many well-known bridge players in West End clubs, some of whom make over £5000 a year, and many others £3000 a year. Although it was generally known that some London clubmen make a regular living by playing bridge with their fellow club members, the extent of this practice is in the nature of a revelation. While £ 1 per hundred is a good average stake for play, £2, £3, or £5 a hundred are by no means uncommon. Stockbrokers are notorious players for high stakes. Doctors, too, find bridge an excellent "get away" from their work. In mixed clubs the average stake is only of a hundred, but a lot ..'of money can be made —and lost—even on this small stake. A club secretary said: "On an average the stakes at this club are- £5 a hundred. The average rubber is 400 points, so that if a man was lucky he could win £20 a rubber. Assume that you play ten rubbers, and are fortunate enough to win six out of the ten. Yon would thus have won £120. In all probability you would lose four. That's £80, which would leave you £40 out of your £120." "I have known as much as £400 to be won quite often in a single evening," said another club secretary. "Two clever players have been known to get hold of another two with less experience, and, playing quite fairly, a very profitable Income can be made in this way. In the best clubs it is usual to fix a price limit." Before the war, rubbers played at £15 or £25 a hundred were not infrequent, but since then club committees have taken the matter in hand, and, by judicious pressure, have brought the stakes down to a more reasonable level. Many members of clubs may be regarded as professional bridge players. In no sense are these men cardsharpers. They excel at bridge, and so, year in and year out, they show a profit Stakes of £ 1 a hundred are not uncommon in somen's clubs, and play for high stakes > spreading amongst women. "I have known a woman to play with the deliberate Intention of buying a pearl necklace she coveted," said a club secretary, "and also a woman who played for a missionary society ln which she was interr ested."