Rubber bridge

Rubber bridge is a form of contract bridge played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners seated across the table from each other, using a distinctive method of scoring built around winning a best-of-three rubber rather than scoring single deals in isolation. As in all contract bridge, a hand proceeds through dealing, a competitive auction in which the partnerships bid for the right to name a contract, and then play of the cards toward that contract. A game is won by the first partnership to reach a cumulative one hundred or more contract points across one or more hands, and the rubber itself is won by whichever partnership wins two games first; because scoring also carries over across games, it is possible, though unusual, for a partnership to lose more games yet still win the rubber on total points. Rubber bridge involves a high degree of skill in bidding and card play but also a fair amount of luck in the cards dealt, and a popular related variant called Chicago, or four-deal bridge, shortens play to a fixed set of four hands.