Le personalità del bridge

Nato a Philadelphia nel 1864, nella sua gioventù fu un forte giocatore di cricket, di baseball, di tennis e di golf.

Nella seconda parte della sua vita, dopo trenta anni di avvocatura, si dedicò al bridge e se ne innamorò a tal punto da divenire in breve, oltre che un esperto del gioco, un'autorità universalmente riconosciuta in materia.

Al dilagare della sua fama, contribuì non poco, l'idea di inventare un sistema per valutare in modo semplice ed immediato le potenzialità di una Mano (gli ultra famosi Punti Milton Work pubblicati per la prima volta nel 1914) e la pubblicazione di un famosissimo testo sul gioco che ebbe un enorme successo.

Nel primo e secondo decennio del secolo scorso Milton Work è stato considerato come il più preparato legislatore in tema di Auction Bridge e fu anche eletto membro onorario dell'American Bridge League.

Con la nascita del Contract Bridge, la sua fama fu offuscata da quella dell'astro nascente Culbertson, ma il metodo da lui ideato per valutare la forza di una mano di bridge, che fu ripreso ed inserito nel suo Sistema Naturale da Charles Goren, lo ha immortalato e gli ha fatto meritare un posto nell'Accademia della Fama.

Da quando Milton Work si spense nel 1934, i tentativi per ideare un più efficace metodo di valutazione degli Onori presenti in una mano sono stati innumerevoli, tuttavia nessuno di loro è riuscito a soppiantare quello di Work che, anche se non molto raffinato, racchiude nella sua estrema semplicità la chiave dell'imperituro successo che lo accompagna ancor oggi.

Milton Cooper Work (1864 – June 27, 1934) in the world of whist and auction bridge, which were predecessors to contract bridge, the game we enjoy today, Milton Work was a giant. These games were in their heyday at the turn of the 20th century, and Work was recognized as the outstanding American authority on them.

Work’s best known contribution to the modern game was the popularization of the Work point-count method of hand evaluation in which aces are worth 4 points each, kings 3, queens 2 and jacks 1. This method, first proposed by Bryant McCampbell in 1915, became widely known through Work’s lectures and writings.

Although Ely Culbertson’s honor-trick method of evaluation dominated the bridge world for much of the Thirties and early Forties, Work’s point-count method became the rage when Charles Goren made it the cornerstone of his Standard American system. This method, with some modifications, is still used today by players everywhere.

After a 30-year career as an attorney in Philadelphia, Work took a leave of absence in 1917 to tour the U.S. with Wilbur C. Whitehead, organizing bridge competitions and lecturing on bridge, to promote the sale of Liberty bonds. The success of the tour induced him to quit the practice of law and adopt bridge as a career.

Work was founder and chief editor of the earliest auction bridge magazines, the Work--Whitehead Auction Bridge Bulletin (1924--1926) and its successor, the Auction Bridge Magazine (1927-- 29). Assisted by Whitehead, he served as the chief authority on the first series of bridge games broadcast on radio (1926--29). In 1928 he was paid $7000 per week to give brief lectures on bridge in the course of vaudeville presentations.

Work’s considerable fortune was substantially lost in the stock market crashes of 1929--30, and he resumed some bridge activities from which he had retired. In 1933--34 he resumed tournament play in contract bridge and won five consecutive sectional tournaments as a member of a team that included Goren, Olive Peterson and Fred French.

Milton C. Work (1864-1934) fut une autorité reconnue dans le monde des jeux du whist et du bridge.

Dans ses écrits, il suggère un nouveau mode d'évaluation des mains au bridge, un système très simple et efficace qui connaît toujours un immense succès .
Ce système, d'abord connu comme les points Work, fut ensuite adapté par Charles Goren pour évaluer toutes les mains. Aujourd'hui, on parle simplement de points d'honneurs.

Il a de plus donné son nom à une technique de jeu de la carte classique consistant à imposer à l'adversaire un choix entre donner une levée ou en perdre une. Appelée Coup de Milton Work, cette technique est aussi connue sous le nom de fourchette de Morton.

Milton Work a par ailleurs été le manager de l'équipe de cricket de Philadelphie qui effectua une tournée en Angleterre en 1897. Il avait auparavant joué pour le Belmont Cricket Club entre 1880 et 1887 et joué au cricket, au tennis et au baseball pour l'Université de Pennsylvanie en 1887.

Il fut éditeur du magazine American Cricketer.