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.
Category Archives: Stories
Clayton White – Club Master
Clayton White began playing duplicate bridge in 2003 after retiring from a 33-year career as Professor of Music and Department Chair at Community College of Philadelphia. Playing in The American Bridge Association (ABA), Clayton captained teams that won three national Knockout Championships and 12 Sectional Knockout Championships as well as numerous pairs Championships. Also, he is a bridge instructor certified by the ABA and the ABTA.
Since his ABA club closes for the summer months, Clayton and his partner, Anola Vance, have played at Raffles on Wednesdays during July and August the past two years. Anola, a former student in Clayton’s bridge class, has been playing duplicate bridge for 3 years. In the NLM (under 500 MP) game hosted by the PCBA at Bala Golf Club on October 9, 2015, Anola and Clayton placed 1st overall with a 65.46% score. Anola will soon advance to Club Master.
Sam Maitra – Emerald Life Master
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.
Barbara Wall – Junior Master
Junior Master status! I never expected to “go” anywhere in the bridge world. How did I get here? I played bridge in college (St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY) 47 years ago – typical college bridge where most of us did not know how to keep score so only kept track of winning tricks. In June 2014 I retired from teaching and my one goal was to play bridge again and enjoy it.
I moved back to hometown of Oswego, NY and in October of that year ran into an old friend to whom I expressed my desire to get into bridge. And the next thin I knew I was playing 2 or 3 time a week and had 2 new friends who were my partners and a local bridge club that encouraged me and welcomed me into their membership. I am having fun, keeping my mind active and learning how to play “real” bridge as my parents did many years ago.
Jane Beck – Life Master
When there is a duplicate-bridge player in the family, the whole family is affected. It all began in the fall of 2009.
Her Story
Jane looked for something new to master
Her knowledge of bridge – a disaster
Conquered books and lessons
Lost her apprehension
And achieved the rank of Life Master
His Story
He is married to Jane, Who had no clue of the game
She sought out great books, and lessons she took
While partners were many, It sure cost him plenty
It took so much time, her husband did pine
First Sectionals he feared, Then Regionals and Nationals appeared
Oh dear lord, will she ever get bored?
She got her Life Master, Now he’ll be put out to pasture
While Holidays are here let’s give her a cheer, and at least one more beer
On gold points and silver points and red ones too, If some are black she’ll be happy too. Happy Holidays !!
I had a lot of help along the way ! Thank you:
• My terrific partners : Patti Isaacs (the angel always sitting on my shoulder), Nancy, Terri, Jill, Joan, Leslie & Karen. Thanks for your patience and putting up with me through this bumpy ride !
• Caroline for taking me to my first Regional: where I earned by first red points, and playing teams when I earned my needed gold points
• The Bridge Studio, Wilmington DE, for providing a fabulous venue for lessons & games
• Julie Hockersmith for continuing the Tuesday-evening Casual Bridge — answering question, after question, after question
• Barbara Rhoades, who INSISTED that this little team, who won big at Bala two years ago, compete in GNTs – not taking no for an answer, and those who made it possible for me to compete
• Cheryl Shields and Tom Kramer for the friendly game in Middletown DE that is a safe haven for beginners
• Len Thomas – my greatest cheerleader – for his dedication by helping every Friday morning in the NLM game at the Studio, teaching and mentoring beginners (always with a smile) for the love of the game
Granddaughter’s Story
Were you bridging Grammy? Yes, I was. Did you have fun bridging Grammy? Always, Abigail
Life is Good
Woody Wolston – Junior Master
My first experience with bridge, in fact duplicate bridge, was when I was around 9 or 10 years old. My parents, who played bridge with a couple of different groups, were in a duplicate bridge group. When my parent’s hosted the duplicate group, they would let me shuffle the cards for the boards. After their friends left, I got to finish off any of the leftover appetizers.
Until I moved to Pennsylvania from Minnesota two years ago, I had only played with people a dozen times. My dad had taught me when I was 11, but I only played with my parents and some of their friends a couple of times. Other times, I played with my Tai Chi group during its annual weekend retreat, which one of the group, Kim Hayward, is a Grand Master. My other prior experience is playing bridge solo almost every night. I deal out, bid, and play the hands to what be the most likely lines of bidding and play.
I moved to the eastern Pennsylvania & western New Jersey area to be able to work in my business associate’s, Rose Levy Beranbaum’s, Hope, New Jersey home. Rose is the award winning baking cookbook author of 11 books. I found the when I was looking on-line for a bridge group. Jo Ann Mauger received my email and invited me to join the Stroudsburg, PA Monday afternoon group.
My experience with Jo Ann’s group has been wonderful. She is a great director and an excellent teacher, as she frequently holds a class for players after we finish our games. She paired me up with a good “C” ranked partner as well, Sam Goosay. Before joining the club, I had only played informal party bridge and only knew Stayman and Blackwood for conventions. So it has been a rapid and interesting learning curve for duplicate bridge.
What I like about our club is the willingness of the experienced “A” ranking players to offer their advice on bidding, playing, and strategy. Especially, William Haynes, who likes to remind Sam and me,” You need to remember the scoring. Sometimes better to let the opponents get the bid with the possibility of setting them than be in the same contract as everyone else.” I also, have found the ACBL’s on-line “Learn to Play Bridge” very helpful with playing the various hands, especially with all of the modern conventions. I have also enjoyed reading and trying to solve problems in the Bulletin. My partner also recommended Audrey Grant’s Bridge at a Glance, which I check with it and convention pages from Learn to Play Bridge when I practiced solo.
Since Rose and I research, test, and write baking books, I generally bring a treat to the group each week for their feedback.