story – Page 10 – ACBL District 4

Gerry King – Bronze Life Master

At 94, I am pleased that I finally made Bronze Life Master. My late wife and I took bridge lessons many years ago when the children were quite young. It was one of the best things we ever did. Not only did we keep our minds active, but got to meet a lot of nice people (also occasionally some not so nice).

I had a job as a community pharmacist (before the big chains) and did not have a lot of free time. We got another couple and went to the Cheltenham High School adult education lessons. The other couple became dropouts, but we continued taking more lessons, playing and eventually were introduced to Duplicate. I really didn’t get serious about bridge until many years later after my wife had passed away (13 years ago) from Alzheimer’s and other bad stuff. Bridge became my life. Really, I became addicted. Someone asked me how many times a week I played and on reviewing, it had been nine times that week.

I went to Philmont Country Club a couple of summers for Bridge Camp with Joann Glasson. I got my gold with my late bridge partner, John Bravo. He passed in July 2022 and I really miss him. And with Covid, (we didn’t and I don’t) play online, it has been a struggle to make Bronze but I’m happy that I finally made it. Here at Rydal Park there is a lot of bridge played but it is social – much different.

Gene Marks – Ruby Life Master

My dad taught me the basics of bridge when I was about 16. I taught my friend, Billy Ullman and together we taught two others. From there the game grew to four tables at school lunch and from there Billy and I started playing duplicate at the Roger Smith hotel in White Plains. There were some very good players there (Ron Gerard, Dorothy Hayden, Allen Truscott to name just a few) but we were too inexperienced to be petrified. Eventually we began traveling to regionals (I can remember a section top in Asbury Park) but we just loved the game. After graduating from high school, I began attending Adelphi University in Garden City, New York where I fell under the thrall of a 25 year old sophomore, with a car. We were within an hour of a dozen clubs on Long Island and I found myself playing more bridge than studying and soon began missing classes and exams. After one semester, I flunked out of college because of my bridge playing. This became even more serious when I was drafted into the army (this was 1966 and Vietnam was my probable destination). However, I lucked out and wound up in an army band in Japan. After the army, I went to Syracuse university where I managed to keep my bridge playing under check enough to graduate in 1973.

After banging around for a while, I found myself in the restaurant business and wishing to expand on that, I attended the culinary institute of America, graduating in 1978. By 1981, I was first hired as a Chef. Being a chef and the father of 3 children left me little time to play bridge and rarely would I have the opportunity to head out of town to play in sectionals, regionals or nationals but one year, some buddies and I qualified for a National in Toronto and even though we were very low ranked, we managed a win against a team headed by Barry Rigal and got our first platinum points. However, those opportunities to play at a high level were rare and there were years where I was lucky if I got to play once a week. It took me till around 2000 for me to become a life master.

In 2019, after over 40 years in the restaurant business, I was finally free to play on my schedule. This past few years, I have felt like my bridge skills had never been better and I went to the Nationals in New Orleans with every confidence that I would do well. Playing with a friend who had been a teammate in the past but rarely a partner, we did so poorly on the first day of a qualifying event that I was ready to quit. After a below average first round, we managed a 54% on the second, qualifying us 59th out of 80 pairs or so. To complicate things a bit, I managed to rupture my Achilles tendon the week before. In any case, we got our heads back in the game and finished with the top score of the third round. On the fourth round we had a decent game and wound up finishing 7th out of the 162 pairs who started the competition; good for over 33 platinum points against a pretty damn good field. Two days later, my regular partner and I finished with the top score out of 124 pairs, good for over 37 gold points.

I love the competition that a national tournament offers. Playing a club game rarely is a good measure of your skill since a mixed field of skill sets tends to give more random results. Your mind wanders as you wonder what your opponent could possibly be thinking as you wait for 15 or 20 seconds for them to open a no trump or pass or play the jack of diamonds. Playing against the best competition forces you to utilize all your skills and if your mind wanders, you lose. I love that my game continues to improve and, at almost 77 years old and having played bridge for over 60 years, I still find it as exciting and interesting as I did when I was 16.

Mike Berney – Junior Master

I come from a bridge-playing family; my parents played from the time they were married in 1935 until my father‘s passing in 1977. I played contract bridge in high school with 5 or 7 pals, from 1962 to 1966. My father played contract bridge weekly in a game with his friends, and I used to sit and watch, and learn.

On my 18th birthday, in February 1966, my father convinced me to play in a duplicate bridge tournament as his partner. It was my first tournament ever. To my great surprise, we won the tournament! I believe we earned one full master point each.

Believe it or not, I stopped playing altogether after my freshman year of college in 1967. I found other interests.

In March 2022, after a 55-year hiatus, my wife and I moved to a retirement community. Vibrant and extraordinarily well managed, the Masonic Retirement Village, in Elizabethtown PA, offers a weekly duplicate bridge game. I began playing again a couple times a month. I have won and I have lost. But most of all, I am just having a lot of fun!

Ellen Luchette – Advanced NABC Master

This year I started working towards my next rank, always with my forever partner in my heart (my mother, Lila Gleitman), and new partners who she would have adored. For me, lessons with the great Joann Glasson, John Dickenson, and Lisa Mita were key to my success. Further, going over boards after club games with my partners (Bob, Carl, Emily, and Toysie) has been another incredible tool. As Bob says, “Play steady and avoid bottoms,” has made a big difference.

It was a great experience to compete in the NAP C Flight in New Orleans. I look forward to traveling to many more Regionals this year and also to becoming a Life Master.

Mark Bolotin – Gold Life Master

Despite receiving Autobridge among my Bar Mitzvah presents, that’s not when my bridge career started. Sniffing my nose up at that gift, I buried it deep in a desk drawer.

During the summer after my sophomore year, I attended a National Science Foundation program for high school students at the University of Notre Dame. Spare time activities there included chess (which I knew how to play) and bridge (which I certainly didn’t).

Upon returning home, I dug into my desk drawer and retrieved Autobridge. Carefully following its steps, I learned the basics of bridge. To raise my game to a higher level, I also completely read Goren’s massive book Bridge Complete which my parents possessed.

Now ready to conquer the bridge world, I joined some family members for a few hours of bridge. Not only did I fail to conquer, but my uncle (correctly) told me that I should go back and reread the book. With my tail between my legs, I did so.

I don’t recall the details of later games with family members, but I think I kept from embarrassing myself too much the following two summers at other NSF programs (Of course, my fellow students didn’t play as well as my family members).

It was at college that I began to learn how to play at higher levels…intermediate, maybe even advanced. There were some very good players around me and I learned by playing with them and by reading additional bridge books. Some would say that I should have put the same effort into my studies.

I continued to play too much bridge in graduate school. However, after that, my game was shelved until I retired and moved to Philadelphia.

On the way to look at the condo my wife and I soon bought, my wife saw a familiar face across the street and shouted out, “Hey, did you used to live in Northern Virginia?” It was Carol Greco; she had belonged to the same Temple we did in Fairfax County. We spoke some. The next time we saw her, she gave us information about the city including Center City Bridge Club.

So, I resumed playing bridge after a 40-year hiatus.

There are many partners I could single out; I’ll mention just four local players. The late Steve Kahlstein rescued me from the vagaries of pick-up partners. Phil Greco has been my longest-standing partner. The late Stephen Vineberg might even have been more of a convention geek that I am. Lynn Condon fights valiantly, but unsuccessfully, to structure my bidding.

COVID and BBO also deserve significant credit in my reaching Gold Life Master. Without all the clear points I earned during the pandemic, I’d still be well short of Ruby Life Master

To all my partners and opponents, thanks for making bridge a great game!

Jill Greiner – Life Master

I reached my Life Master on Dec. 22, 2022, in the online Winter Wonderland. I needed .21 after the tournament in Lancaster! I got most of my points over the 10 years since I joined with the same 3 partners who also became Life Masters this year – Jean Pryzbylkowski, Pat Latshaw and Sharon Sherban.

The day I achieved Life Master was December 23, the day before I had serious back surgery. I played bridge all that week as a way to forget the pain. I went into surgery feeling very happy and reaching Life Master has gotten me through weeks of recovery pain.

My experience with the local clubs in Lancaster, with John and Debi Klinger, and York with Edward Scanlon, is what made it possible. They were always there to offer lessons and answer questions. They taught me a lot about bridge and about partners and opponents and how to be a good person for both. They worked so hard to get us all through the pandemic and being patient with me when I was too fearful to return to face to face play. (My husband and I have health issues that cause us to be more fearful.)

I have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy traveling to some tournaments where I can enjoy time away with my partners. Bridge can make us humble as we make the most silly mistakes and make us feel great when we make a difficult contract. It is a challenging and fun past time and one I hope to be able to do for many more years.

4 THE LOVE OF BRIDGE

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