We celebrated the Rich Christmas this afternoon, complete with a large Honey Baked Ham for lunch, with scalloped potatoes and corn as some of my favorite sides. The ham was very tender and sugary-sweet that it needed no other spices to make it perfect. Sarah's Mom and our Uncle Ernie were able to be here for the day as well, so much of the day was spend talking and sharing stories.

Ernie taught us three-player bridge, a game he came developed with my grandparents. It seems closer to actual bridge than Need a Fourth?, another three person bridge variant. Laura and I have been meaning to delve into bridge for some time now, but the opportunities always seem to slip away into other projects. Hopefully this semester will be different. (I found the cards image on the right from an article on randomness and shuffling.) Here are the rules we learned for his variation:

Deal each player 13 cards as usual, and also deal out the dummy hand. Each player gets to see three distinct cards from the dummy's hand, while the remaining four are turn face up in their proper suits. Each player then places their three dummy cards face down in the appropriate suit pile in their correct order above or below the visible cards. This will give each player a view of over half the dummy hand, as well as a good feel for the distribution and placement of the unseen cards. Bidding takes place as usual, however, it is advisable to bid as high as you think you can make it, so you're not stuck playing 1S when you should be in 4S. We didn't go over how to score, but I assume it is like normal bridge. It will be fun to explore this new game.