I played tournament bridge in the 70’s then stopped to attend medical school, and gave it up entirely until around 2020 when I discovered Bridgebase and started playing online. I started playing as well, on Bridgebase, with my sister who continued to play throughout the time I had stopped playing.
I have now taken a serious approach to the game and have read several books by Max Hardy and Mike Lawrence. I played 2/1 in the 70’s, to the degree it existed then and played precision as well, but I prefer 2/1 with adjuncts. My current problem is that I only have 170+ MPs and I humbly believe my level of play is better than my current MP total would indicate. I have been paired with MP equivalent players at two venues, one in Center City Philadelphia (not the new game that just started of which I shall avail myself) and the other in King of Prussia-both players were not at my level. The problem with getting a better pick up partner is that most better players already have a permanent partner. I am beginning to get resigned to the fact that I may have to accept the pick-up partners I get.
I am going to try to play in the Philadelphia Regional in August. I guess at some point I will get to Life Master but…as delusional as it may sound, my real intention is to WIN tournaments! I do continue to play with my sister and have been able to improve her game, particularly regarding bidding so there’s always that.
My bridge journey began on December 31, 2019, when I attained my first master points. I learned bridge during COVID and had always felt that I was a didactic learner during my years of classroom education. COVID took that away from me!
I started playing duplicate Bridge in March 1970, and immediately joined the ACBL. I was a student at DePauw University, in Indiana. We were 4 children in our family, close in age, and I had learned to play Bridge very young because we had the perfect amount of players for most card games or board games.
When I graduated from high school and went to college (in 1986), my mother, Helene Cross (also an ACBL member) decided to learn bridge (and golf) as my younger brother was going to be headed off to college soon too and she thought they would be activities that would fill her days in place of the time well-spent raising her two children.
I learned the basics playing “shuffle and deal” in college during the late 70’s and early 80’s. Then other than reading some columns in my local newspaper, I did not play for almost 50 years. I was consumed with family and career.