Cheating Scandal Rocks International Bridge Competition

In any game that involves playing cards, competitors will look to gain an advantage over other players. Unfortunately, that advantage often falls under the category of cheating.

We've seen it happen time and again in live poker through various angle shoots and collusion. In the realm of online poker, incidents of cheating have been widespread, with the God mode hole card scandal at UltimateBet coming to mind immediately.

The latest cheating scandal uncovered involves not the game of poker, but bridge. Two top pros from Germany admitted to cheating at the game, coming out with their admissions of guilt after fellow players threatened to blow the whistle.

It seems the pair of Germans have selected a self-imposed punishment, hoping to stave off any further penalties that the authorities such as the World Bridge Federation and German Bridge Federation may impose. According to The Telegraph, the cheaters likely won't get off so easily.

The German Bridge Federation (DBV) issued a statement regarding the cheating scandal that was posted at brigewinners.com, promising "to work intensively to implement measures and procedures in the hopes of avoiding events such as these from ever happening again." The DBV added that "ethical conduct at the bridge table is of utmost importance .... more important than titles and success."

It appears an investigation is necessary, as rumors regarding cheating have been ongoing for the last month or so. Boye Brogeland, a top-ranked professional from Norway, was apparently the first to speak out about the issue, claiming he felt it necessary to do so “for the future of our beautiful game.”

Two players from Monaco are also under suspicion, with allegations that they communicated the power of their hands to each other by the way in which they placed their opening cards. Claudio Nunes and Fulvio Fantoni allegedly placed cards horizontally or vertically, depending upon the strength of the cards.

Using such collusion to determine your partner's card strength is viewed as the "gravest possible offence" by the official rules of bridge.

Gus Hansen, poker pro and top level bridge player, chimed in about the cheating allegations. A fellow player paraphrased that Hansen stated"it's like playing poker and your opponents can see your hidden cards."

This weekend, the World Bridge Championships will begin in Chennai, India, with some 40 countries being represented. You can bet that the powers that be will be on the lookout for unethical behavior among players after the latest scandal came to light.