I began learning bridge with my in-laws two years ago.  We used a bridge tablecloth to help with the bidding and had lots of fun playing.

In the spring of 2023, an acquaintance introduced me to the Ithaca Bridge Club.  I began attending their casual play Fridays, which included weekly instruction.  From two fantastic rotating teachers, I learned and developed my elementary knowledge of the game. I was encouraged to become a member of the club and join the ACBL whose monthly bridge bulletin, I was told, would be worth the fee alone.

Our bridge club hosts occasional 499er ACBL-sanctioned games.  Beginning players are paired with more seasoned players.  I took advantage of this fantastic opportunity and was having fun playing in a sanctioned game, with great support from an experienced partner. The training wheels of bridge were starting to come off.

I then began to play occasionally in the bi-weekly ACBL-sanctioned games with partners who were not discouraged to play with a novice like me. Thank you!  All of the players at the Ithaca Bridge Club have been supportive and offer their help/advice in a positive manner. For example, early on in the league play, I decided to double an opponent’s opening and quickly learned that I should have 13HCP to do so. I might have gone down in that contract. For me, the best way to learn is by making mistakes and then correcting them. Sometimes this happens more than once!

The club also started to offer weekly mentor sessions where one experienced player meets with 4 mentees, and we play practice games online together. The critique and instant feedback supports my developing knowledge of bridge.  We all have certain bridge knowledge, but when we play together and combine that knowledge, we become more comfortable with the game.  This group experience, along with the patience of countless partners at the club, have nurtured a level of confidence in the game that has helped me become a better bridge player,

In sum, great instruction, understanding partners, and lots of opportunities to play have all helped me develop as a player and has led me to my small sum of master points.

I had not played bridge since college (am now 81).  I lost my wife to cancer on April 4th, 2020…during the COVID epidemic.  So, here I was grieving and very much alone.  When our YMCA in Phoenixville PA re-opened in August, I started going to work out again.  I vaguely remembered something about a bridge club and inquired.  I was sent to the “active older adults” room (I call it the old age room) and met a group of people playing bridge. 

I believe it was the next month that they were going to have a week long teaching session. So I sat in on a bunch of hands to observe and, kind of, relearn the game a little.  I also went on-line to play and learn a little more.  The main thing that bridge did for me was to give me company…people to be around and to have a little fun again.  It was an extremely trying period (and still is, but to a lesser degree) and that bridge club (along with my church) became the center of my life.