Bridge Central Right in Your Backyard

It's a long, narrow room stocked with about 40 tables that seat four each, and each table has on its corners a rack of cards that players use to execute their strategy.

This is the look of a bridge hall, which resembles a gamblers' hall or a series of poker tables—but without the exchange of money.

"Bridge eats up a lot of square footage and it is very tough to find space for bridge clubs," said Bill Miller, owner of the , on Route 28.

Bridge is a skilled card game for four people, played in pairs. The game is usually played in a format whereby the winner is the pair that accumulates the greatest number of points, awarded according to specific rules. In duplicate bridge, players use a standard 52-card deck board that is shared among tables to accumulate the greatest number of points or to turn in the highest ranking relative to other tables.

"My job is to monitor the chaos," Miller said. "I make sure that the movements are set up properly so that people play 27 hands during a session of bridge and against other people and tables.”

Miller started the Bridge Center of Central New Jersey 20 years ago with two industrious owners, Joe Sabbatino and Sue Huntley. Miller bought a half interest in the business 10 years ago and became the sole owner two years ago.

Like many bridge clubs, the Bridge Center tends to attract seniors, or those who are retired. It is a game that is considered mentally stimulating and takes longer than most strategy games to master.

“The game is very competitive because you are making literally thousands of decisions every second,” Miller said. “Every mistake you make is usually reflected in your score.”

Miller said that the the keys to becoming a successful bride player are lessons and lots of practice. The bridge center offers a basic skills course that is conducted over six weeks, plus there is a lot of opportunity for practice outside of lessons in regular sessions for which there is a per-session fee.

The Bridge Center is one of the few bridge clubs in central New Jersey that is open seven days a week. Sessions are weekdays from noon until about 4 p.m, and each bridge session takes about three-and-a-half hours to complete.

“Bridge is also a social game,” Miller said. “People come to a bridge club to enjoy conversations with live human beings. Most of the people who come to my bridge club I see more often than my family. I have had players well into their 90s, and they live for getting out of the house and coming to play bridge.”