It riles me that the basis for most attacks made on bridge - from the pulpit or by the press - is that it is a gambling game and that it is ENTIRELY for this reason that people play the it. I disagree. Most people play bridge for relatively small stakes, (including my small social circle who all love bridge). I maintain that bridge is not a gambling game pur et simple. It is before the game that the stakes are made, and a player cannot alter them once the game has begun. If people are so stupid that they START the game with stakes above what they can afford to make, it is their own fault and not bridge's.