okay, as per your request of reading your messages more carefully, I took anohter look at your post. Granted, you did not say Luck was the orimary factor in bridge, but you did say it is a game involving luck.

Here I disagree. It involves no more luck than baseball or football or other games that are almost entirely based on skill. Sure, sometimes a lucky bounce on a bunt attempt is needed, but more often than not, it is the bunter's skill that will determine the succcess or failure of the bunt.

Is it lack of skill that causes a wide receiver to come up .5 inches short of the first doen marker? Maybe, because he could have run a better route, but also he was just a bit unlucky.

But, baseball and football are still considered games of skill that luck has hardly anything to do with. The net effect of luck is usually negligible.

In bridge, is it luck that determines whether a finesse succeeds? SOmetimes it is, but often it is skill. The net effect of brisge is negligible. The cards that are dealt are a non afctor, becasue competitive bridghe is played in some sort of suplicate form where everyone plays the same hands.

I am not sure why we were talking about bridge, but that is my take on bridge. I don't exactly remember how it fit into our pente discussion.