hand?" Father and son had been partners.

"You're not concerned about losing the rubber, are you?" It had been the
only rubber Jimmy lost.

"No. It's only a game," said Jimmy. "I'm just trying to understand."

His father gave an amused groan. "It has to do with the laws of
probability and the theory of games," he said.

The boy shook his head. "Bridge," he said thoughtfully, "consists of
creating a logical process of play out of a random distribution of
values, doesn't it?"

"Yes, if you admit that your definition is a gross oversimplification. It
would hardly be a game if everything could be calculated beforehand."

"But what's missing?"

"In any game there is the element of a calculated risk."

Jimmy Holden was silent for a half-mile thinking that one over. "How," he
asked slowly, "can a risk be calculated?"

His father laughed. "In fine, it can't. Too much depends upon the
personality of the individual."

"Seems to me," said Jimmy, "that there's not much point in making a bid
against a distribution of values known to be superior. You couldn't hope
to make it; Mother and Uncle Paul had the cards."