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6 Facts About Goren & His Bidding Wheel

The Goren Bidding Wheel is one of my favorite items related to the game of bridge. (If you’re wondering, trump markers are a close second for my mental list of favorite bridge things.)

While most bridge players already know about Charles Goren and his historical contributions to our game, I’m not so sure that people everywhere – and yes, younger ones – will know the Bidding Wheel.

Here are a few fast facts about the Goren Bidding Wheel and the player who created it.

What’s A Bidding Wheel?

Bidding is one of the many intricate parts of bridge. It can also be one of the hardest to learn as a newcomer

I’m not sure about everyone else, but bidding got on my nerves as a beginning bridge player – at least at first. There was a lot of confusion and note-taking involved in learning how to bid for the first time.

Natural bids, artificial bids. I had no clue how to relate these to my hand.

Enter the bidding wheel. Simply, imagine a color wheel, but with appropriate bridge bids marked out instead.

It’s like a cheat sheet that moves.

Doesn’t that make you want one of them immediately?

#1: Originally, Goren studied law.  

We all know Charles Goren as one of the Bridge Greats. We know he was great, and we know he was really great at the game. We also know that the Goren bidding system was, well, named after Goren.

But did you know that his original choice was law?

Glad he chose to stick with bridge!

#2: Goren also had a TV show.

What could be better than bridge on TV?

While I was born (far) after the show aired, I discovered bits and pieces of this show scattered around the Great Plains of YouTube.

Championship Bridge with Charles Goren aired from 1959 to 1964.

It was great, and no doubt inspired more people to play.

#3: Goren published his first bridge book in 1936.

Winning Bridge Made Easy was published in the mid-thirties.

It was an instant hit, probably because of the overall popularity of the game during this time.

The best thing about Winning Bridge Made Easy is that you could read it today, and it’s every bit as relevant as when it was first written down.

#4: Goren advocated the longest suit first.

How many times have you been told to lead the bidding (or play) with your longest suit?

It’s a crucial piece of advice that most bridge players have heard at least once. Then twice, then more.

We can thank Charles Goren for this little bit of bridge advice.

(Unfortunately, you can’t blame ol’ Goren if you happen to use his advice and lose instead. That’s on you.)

#5: The Wheel had several different publishers.

Several companies were involved in the production and release of the bidding wheel, which I understand to have stayed largely unchanged between different releases.

Bidding wheels were from Heines Publishing Company, the games publisher known for AutoScore; but some other bidding wheels were also released by Milton Bradley, the publisher best known for the Game of Life.

Luckily, you don’t have to buy a vintage bidding wheel if you’d like to play around with one. Today, modern versions of the bidding wheel are available at bridge suppliers.

#6: There’s an online Goren Bidding Wheel, too.

Thanks to the internet, there’s also an online Goren Bidding Wheel to be found. No downloads, just visit this link to BakerBridge to access an online bidding wheel. Have fun!