Milton Cooper Work was a noted American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 authority on whist

Whist

Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was played widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. It derives from the 16th century game of Trump or Ruff, via Ruff and Honours...

, bridge whist

Bridge Whist

Bridge whist is a card game, a variation of whist popular 70 years ago. Later variations of the game led to auction bridge and contract bridge. It had the same or very similar rules to Russian whist of the time....

, auction

Auction bridge

The card game auction bridge, the third step in the evolution of the general game of bridge, was developed from straight bridge in 1904. The precursor to contract bridge, its predecessors were whist and bridge whist....

 and contract bridge

Contract bridge

Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...

.

Work Point Count system

In his writings he suggested evaluating

Hand evaluation

In contract bridge, various bidding systems have been devised to enable partners to describe their hands to each other so that they may reach the optimum contract. Key to this process is that players evaluate and re-evaluate the trick-taking potential of their hands as the auction proceeds and...

 balanced hands

Contract bridge glossary

These terms are used in Contract bridge, or the earlier game Auction bridge, using duplicate or rubber scoring. Some of them are also used in Whist, Bid whist, and other trick-taking games. This glossary supplements the Glossary of card terms.-0–9:...

 using a point count method: Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2 and Jack = 1. This became known as the Work Point Count and was later adapted by Charles Goren

Charles Goren

Charles Henry Goren was a world champion American bridge player and bestselling author who contributed significantly to the development and popularization of the game following upon the heels of Ely Culbertson in the 1940s and rising to prominence in the 1950s to the early 1960s.-Early years:Goren...

 to value all hands. It is still used by most players. In 1927 Work was named American Bridge League (ABL) Honorary Member of the Year.

Other sporting activities

He was the manager of the Philadelphian cricket team

Philadelphian cricket team

The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even with the United States having played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, the sport began a slow decline in the country. This decline was...

 that toured England in 1897

Philadelphian cricket team in England in 1897

The Philadelphian cricket team toured England in the summer of 1897. Starting on 7 June at Oxford, the tour lasted for two months and ended in late July at The Oval. The Americans played 15 first-class matches captained by George Stuart Patterson. The tour is, perhaps, most notable for the...

. He had earlier played for Belmont Cricket Club

Belmont Cricket Club

The Belmont Cricket Club was one of the four chief cricket clubs in Philadelphia that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I. It was founded in 1874 in west Philadelphia and was disbanded in 1914. Bart King, arguably America's greatest cricketer during its golden...

 between at least 1880 and 1887. He also played cricket, tennis and baseball for Pennsylvania University

Pennsylvania University

Pennsylvania University may refer to one of two unrelated universities:* University of Pennsylvania, a private university* Pennsylvania State University, a state-related university...

in 1887. He edited the American Cricketer magazine.