I learned to love bridge when I started taking lessons about 15 years ago. There was so much to learn and understand! I found the game challenging, interesting, often fun, and many times frustrating. The social aspects of Bridge have been a real plus. Most importantly Bridge afforded me the opportunity to make many good friends with whom I have shared Bridge games, good conversation, movies and dinners. I especially want to thank Linda, Judy and Natalie who were so instrumental in helping me to earn the points I needed. I look forward to many more years of friendship, challenges, and even the frustration!

Many many years ago when I was very young,
A friend and I read Goren’s Book, love of bridge had then begun;
Other friends’ and neighbors quickly said, in no uncertain terms, “Too much study time involved, no desire to read, to learn”;
So one day we heard “There’s a bridge game in town, just come in and you can play”,
So off we went to check it out, to see if we could stay….
And play some hands, what could we lose, after all we read Goren’s book,
We were seated at a table, introduced and then we looked,
No cards were dealt or taken, instead once played were all returned….
To the board, then passed on to be played again until played by all, we quickly learned;
Well the years rolled on, business demanded much time and my bridge days faded away,
Until late last year I decided to observe a duplicate game to see if I felt I could still play;
The first thing I learned, the Goren I played was no longer being used anywhere,
Conventions and strange bidding now ruled the day and to compete you must adapt if you care….
To stay in the game and win some points, after all winning is what we all want to do,
And if you play your cards right and luck is on your side, you’ll pick up a couple of points too;
So now I’m a Junior Life Master, at this time of my life, I think to accomplish that really is a blast,
But the real benefits of the game are the friendships I’ve made, and that soothes me if I come in last;
So I look forward to continuing and improving my game, even collect some more points along the way,
And win, lose or draw, I’ll continue to play, even sneak some Goren in….but I’ll never say.

Samaresh  (Sammy) Maitra was born on December 13, 1938 in a small village in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

He was the youngest of 19 children. He remembers a very happy childhood- he would get one tennis ball for the year and the whole village turned out to see it.

He and his family migrated to India and settled in Calcutta. In 1961, he won a scholarship to the University of Maryland to do his Ph.D in Physics. Here he was introduced to bridge, and with his background in mathematics became fascinated with it.

He moved to Rochester as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Rochester, and began playing bridge in earnest. He met and married Yashu who claims, quite erroneously, he adds, to be a better bridge player than he is.

Sammy says, ‘Bridge has given me an intellectual challenge, but more than that it has given me a sense of community and has led to lifelong friendships’.

Yashu adds: His passion for the game and calm demeanour (haha) are well known in the Rochester bridge community.

He plays with a great variety of partners, and is unstinting in his praise of them. He congratulates at least 50% of their plays at least 25% of the time.

He is equally grateful to his opponents, without whom he could not have achieved this milestone. Yashu often jokes that he should clone himself and play with his clone, but she shakes her head, he would never agree that the clone was as good as he. |

Seriously though, he truly loves the game and the Rochester bridge community.

Sammy has the last word: I could not have done it without Yashu’s love and support, and for her unique ability to create a bottom board out of a top.