Robert Sheehan on the players who make a living from the game

A test of whether a game is serious or not is whether it can support professional players. Backgammon, bridge, chess, gin rummy and poker pass the test. At bridge, the ways to make a living are teaching, journalism, playing on sponsored teams in tournaments, and playing rubber bridge. Tournament bridge: The prizes in most bridge tournaments are derisory (the Mind Sports Olympiad being a shining exception), and it is not possible to make much of a living simply by winning events.

However, many top players earn fees by playing on "sponsored" teams. That phenomenon is unique to bridge - in the other games I mentioned above the participants play as individuals.

But bridge is a partnership and team game, and some rich people who can't abide the thought of playing with partners of their own standard hire (or "sponsor") experts to play with them, both in pairs and team events.

There are around a dozen players in the US who make over $100,000 a year as professionals on sponsored teams, and many more make lesser amounts, in addition to fees from teaching and journalism. The current rate for a professional in one of the two or three top teams in a US "National" (of which there are three a year) is from $10,000 to $20,000 for a week's work.

The sponsor system is less widespread in Europe; in the UK there are two or three big sponsors, and perhaps ten players make a living from sponsorship.

Rubber bridge: This is the gambling form of the game - the participants play for stakes. An outstanding player in a weak game can average around 300 total points an hour, although there will be many short-term fluctuations due to the luck of the deal.

Stakes are expressed "per hundred", so £5 a hundred is the lowest stake at which it is possible to scratch a living. And most rubber bridge games are too tough for even the strongest players to win at more than 100 to 200 points an hour.

I doubt whether more than ten players make a living at rubber bridge in the UK, because there are so few games available at decent stakes. There are three clubs in London that play £5 a hundred upwards (the Portland Club, St John's Wood and TGR's), and one in Manchester.

The high game at TGR's is £50 or £100 a hundred. At that price a player doesn't have to be much better than break-even to make a living wage. Daily wins or losses of £5,000 are common.

But it is a very tough game. You may know the famous gambling aphorism: "if you look round the table and you can't see a mug, you're the mug" - it happens to me all the time at TGR's. The current star in that game (and also a world-class tournament player) is Zia Mahmood, from Pakistan, one of the three best rubber bridge players I have ever played against.

Robert Sheehan, The Times bridge correspondent, will be playing in the pairs event at the MSO with Tom Townsend, one of the top young professional players.