Bridge champion dies playing the perfect hand

An 80-year-old English woman has suffered the "perfect bridge player's death" after collapsing while playing a once-in-a-lifetime hand.

Wendy Brown died while playing a 29-point hand, which only comes around once every 150,000 times, experts say.

The long-running Cornwall champion slumped forward in her chair after suffering sudden heart failure, the Exeter Express and Echo reports.

"The other members of the bridge club responded magnificently and tried everything to revive her," her son Charlie Brown said.

"But when all is said and done, it was a lovely way to go.

"I can imagine the smile on her face when she looked at her cards and she knew she had a winning hand."

Her friend Barrie Benfield said he hadn't seen a 29-point hand in 18 years or so.

"My theory is that she couldn't take the excitement," he said.

"It's very sad but what a way to go — it's the perfect bridge player's death."

Experts say if you played bridge once a week, it would take 115 years to get such a hand.