My story is really about my family. Every year for 12 years, my dad and 2 brothers along with our families would vacation in Sea Isle City, NJ. My dad and two brothers knew how to play bridge, but I had not yet learned. I was always interested and loved to play cards, so I thought I would give it a try. We would play a few boards each night as they taught me the basics, bidding, playing, etc. My dad gave me the book ‘The Play of the Hand’ by Watson, I took an evening bridge class at our local high school and I would read up on the internet. The first couple of years were a bit hard and I am sure frustrating. By the 3rd or 4th summer, we were playing at least 24 boards a night 6 of the 7 nights. (My father owned a duplicate set of boards.) That is really how I learned to play. Dad passed away 3 years ago and as a result, we stopped going to the beach.

The oldest brother, Chris, saw the Monroeville bridge tournament and invited me only a week before it began. I just joined the ACBL that Tuesday. Well, I didn’t have any official tournament experience, but I guess you could say that I had a ton of Rasmussen tournaments.

I really enjoyed my experience. I think Chris and I will be planning to attend another tournament in the not so distant future.