Earning a Life Masters took about 9 years, during which time I worked full time as an associate professor of accounting and did lots of other things, including traveling. This “Masters” was the hardest one to earn – after ones in mathematics and an MBA! (-: All of my needed colored points were earned playing with players like me—non Life Masters—so I encourage players to play with comfortable partners at their own level, but against those better than they are on their home turf, while constantly studying the game and perfecting partnerships. Gold Rush events helped immensely. Most players are very considerate and helpful, but non-Life Masters, who are upset playing against more accomplished players should consider the advantages of better competition and not be intimidated. Duplicate is a great game, where I’ve meet many fine people. My personal thanks to all my partners and opponents.

Valley Forge, PA Regional Tournament week of June 22nd, 2015: all present and accounted for, the crazy boisterous bridge players, the instructors (unlicensed except in their own minds) who will gladly tell you everything you did wrong at the bridge table and everything you are going to do wrong – and you don’t even have to ask. Then we have the strong silent types who can’t smile, nod in your direction or even pretend they are playing against any other functioning human beings. To them you are invisible.

And everyone in the room on every floor of the hotel is screaming the same thing: “How many points do you need?” In my case, it was 6.0 gold. To become a life master. To stop schlepping to far flung tournaments, playing all day and drinking all night and paying the ACBL a ridiculous amount of money over the last 100 years, acquiring all my black, red, silver on the road to 6 gold.

Luckily, Valley Forge is my hometown so the only expense this go-round was gas. Well, ok, food. But I would probably eat anyway if I lived in Podunk, Iowa. I just wouldn’t be here in the Philadelphia area for any tournament or famous historic sight. Seen them all.

A word about my team, God bless them. My partner Barbara and our mates Gina and Hollis have played many a Swiss, Knock-Out and Knock-Up which has brought us to this turning point in my life. The other three have long been life masters and they were doing this just for me. I really owe them.
To keep you in suspense no longer: we did very well. We acquired 2.36 gold in Swiss and 2.61 gold in knock outs. Close but no cigar! Don’t you just love that saying? I bet you don’t know what it means either.

But I digress… we left the tournament very proud and happy for me. I now needed 1.03 to achieve greatness. Here’s where I say, “So if I don’t get it, I don’t get it. Big deal. I can probably live the rest of my life and it won’t change anything.”

And here’s where my partner, ‘never say die Barbara,’ says on the ride home, “We will do it. We’ll go to Fairfield, NJ, Baltimore, Timbuctoo and all points east, west, north and south in the USA and abroad where there is a regional or better. And if all else fails, the nationals will be in Philly in 2018.”
“I’ll be dead,” I say.

“Oh don’t be silly,” Barbara says. Sure, what does she know; she’s 10 years younger than me. Hollis and Gina say nothing so I know where they stand on these cockamamie bridge trips.

That was Saturday, June 27th.
On Tuesday, June 30th I get a call from my friend Sue K. She’s an extraordinary bridge player with ‘skatieight’ master points and what’s more she has her finger on the pulse of the local bridge world. Our conversation went like this:
Sue: “Hi you probably don’t know it but you are a life master.”
Me: “No I’m not. I still need 1.03 gold.”
Sue: “No you don’t.”
Me: “Yes I do.”
We continued the “No I’m not; Yes you are!” volley for another five minutes until she said:
“Stop talking and I will explain.”

Here is what happened: A local bridge player named Bruce whom I know in passing also played in same tournament at Valley Forge. His results from a Swiss event were disappointing and definitely “wrong.” He too is an excellent player, life master with “skatieight” points and somehow he couldn’t reconcile his scores with his play. So he took matters into his own hands and called the ACBL right then and there from tournament central.

Although I have no way of knowing I “imagine” that conversation went like this:
ACBL: “Hello and how may I direct your call?”
Bruce: “You made a giant mistake and I expect you to fix it – pronto!
ACBL: “Oh no, sir. The computer never makes a mistake.”
Bruce: “Yes it did.”
ACBL: “No it didn’t.”
Here we go again. I bet that volley continued for another five minutes.
Not only did the computer screw up Bruce’s scores but he asked them to check across the board and sure enough, it screwed up my score. And God knows who else.
I now officially and forever more earned 7.02 gold at Valley Forge. And I was and am a Master of Life!
I think I will marry Bruce!

Gertrude Flor will be 94 in September. She was born into a family of wealth and privilege in a small town that was once considered part of Romania and Austria. As a child she spoke many languages and was extremely musical. She recalls her mother playing bridge with friends and “always there was yelling and screaming” and so she vowed never to learn “that game”.!!!!!

Gert is a Holocaust survivor who was liberated by the Russians and then became a freedom fighter for the Czech army. Her late husband, Sam Flor, was also a survivior and was a sought after speaker to tell his story of the Holocaust to the world. (Gert could not bear to speak about it). While living in Minnesota he was with the Minnesota Symphony (a concert violinist) and there they learned to play bridge with friends.

Moving here with their daughter Gloria, Gert was a concert pianist and even played for bridge players at the Philadelphia NABC. After Sam died in 1996 a friend persuaded her to try duplicate bridge. She did so reluctantly and only went to local tournaments. She has tried to become an NABC Master for almost 20 years. Two years ago she had a stroke that affected the vision in her left eye and the use of her left arm. But she continues to play at the Yorktown Bridge Club a few times each week.

Over the years, Joan Brandeis and Miriam and Sheldon Einhorn made several efforts to play with Gert to earn the points needed to become an NABC Master, but she still needed 2.95 Gold points after many attempts.
When Susan Kestenbaum heard how close she was to her goal she enlisted several club members to try and help her achieve it this year. Ellie Goodman. Edie McAlpin and Wes Powers all agreed without hesitation to make this happen during the Valley Forge Regional’s new Mid-Flight Swiss event.

The directors at the Valley Forge tournament were helpful and encouraging. Marc Labovitz made sure Gert had a stationary table for her wheelchair and an electrical outlet for her lamp. Both Marc and Marshall Kuschner made sure her cards were sorted into suits and all of the opponents were patient and understanding.

The team left the tournament feeling disappointed that she was still over one point short of her goal. Gert, however, was not discouraged and was busy making plans to try again in Lancaster. She was upbeat and on the trip home and she raved about how nice everyone was to her, including the opponents and directors.

Imagine our great surprise when we found out that the initial scores posted were revised and that Gert had, in fact, become an NABC Master! (The team earned 3.40 Gold points)

At a celebration party this week at Yorktown Bridge Club she gave a little speech expressing her gratitude to all, saying that with the exception of her daughter, she had lost everything and everyone in her life and this wonderful experience “restored my faith in humanity”. She also said that “the bridge players are now my family”. All Gert’s friends and teammates were very touched by her words.

Many thanks go to Bruce Schwaidelson who called ACBL to question the scores in the A/X flight – the revisions corrected the team’s scores also and Gert now has her 3.40 Gold points to be an NABC Master. Gert’s team has named Bruce their honorary team member!