After a Year of 'Rampant' Cheating, Elite Bridge Tries to Clean Up

[Demovictory9]

After a Year of ‘Rampant’ Cheating, Elite Bridge Tries to Clean Up
As the pandemic forced most players online, the problem of cheating consumed the game’s highest levels. Top players say a tight-lipped culture is finally changing.

Ten days after the first elite player confessed to cheating, a second said she had done it, too.

A few months later, wealthy sponsors pleaded for players to clean up the game. Then officials suspended one top player, and another, and this summer 30 teams forfeited rather than play someone accused of cheating.

----------

Bridge is played by partners sitting opposite each other, trying to win a certain number of tricks in each hand based on a predetermined bid, or contract. In person, cheating usually meant surreptitious signals to share “unauthorized information,” like who has a good suit. A foot might tap out a coded message, a pencil’s angle could signal a strong hand, or a card placed vertically or horizontally could guide a partner how to play.

When the pandemic forced players online, teammates could cheat effortlessly: talking side-by-side on the sofa, chatting by phone, or using spectator accounts to see everyone’s cards.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/arts/contract-bridge-cheating.html