Once upon a time, in the magical city of Durham, there was a small university bridge club. It was filled with enthusiasm and valour, a mixture of fearless optimism and youthful daring. Sadly, when it came to the point of actually playing the game of bridge, these aforementioned tendencies did not always lead to results that the game's great players would approve of. For you see, sometimes the enthusiasm of the players led to ludicrously overbid hands. Or the fearless ducking of aces in defense led to declarer making ridiculous numbers of tricks. And sometimes the ever optimistic declarer would try to make overtricks instead of guaranteeing his contract and subsequently lost a preposterous number of tricks.

And so the leaders of the little bridge club decided to try and teach the young players the merit of restraint, the virtues of planning the play of the hand, and the wisdom of not randomly doubling freely bid games. Had their endeavours paid off, all would have been well in the magical kingdom. However, much to the frustration of those who led the club, it seemed that they were forever to be shackled to the imperfections that were all around them. And this made them sad.

But then, by either chance or fate, a pair from the club took the unusual step of going down the public house to drink a few beers. This highly unusual step was just the tonic that the beleaguered players needed, for they suddenly saw a new side to their bridge related problems.

Said David Nolland, "What if you publish some of these rubbish plays and bids on the internet?"

Replied Phil Smith "What a good idea! That way we can at least get a good laugh out of this rubbish."

"But what would be called such a web page?" Responded D.N.

"How about Poor Bridge of the Week?"

And then there was a pause followed by a laugh. And so it came to pass that Poor Bridge of the Week was born into reality.

Over the years there has been some truly great poor bridge reported on the web pages of Durham University Bridge Club; and yet there were former members of the club who felt that the concept of Poor Bridge had not been taken to its full and logical conclusion. This great idea should be brought to the whole world, some suggested, so that all can marvel at, and celebrate the wonders that Poor Bridge of the Week has to offer. And so, in a late night meeting of the old guard of the Durham University Bridge Club — at a secret location — the momentous decision was taken to launch poorbridge.com.

Throughout these pages you will find lots of very poor bids and plays, along with some various less well known coups, and a few of the less well considered bidding systems that grace this planet. The aim is humour rather than vindictive ridicule — though the players involved in the Poor Bridge that is perpetrated should feel, needless to say, fairly embarrassed about their comical misplaying. We hope that you enjoy this site and, perhaps, might share a Poor Bridge moment of your own with the wider world.

Michael Clark, Steve Hurst, Rob Morris, Luke Porter, Phil Smith and Xebon

But who are these intrepid people who have given this spectacular website to the world? For more information, follow the links below.