Thank you for congratulating me on earning the Junior Master Status. I am a very active person who enjoys challenges, activities which stretch my mind, and interactive relationships I have with others. I have played competitive tennis for years and that has been very satisfactory for me. So I decided several years ago to learn to play bridge as another activity which meets the same criteria. As I became intrigued with the game, I then suggested that my husband learn to also play bridge. He began a little over a year ago, and now we play as a team, if you can call it that (both of us being novices). In all seriousness, we are loving the game, learning together, communicating better, enjoying the mindfulness of the game, and are having fun. We are both competitive and like the interaction with the others and the cognitive stimulation that bridge requires. I am very happy with having reached this first goal and look forward to more bridge in our future since my husband, Jay, is soon retiring. I look forward to reading the monthly ACBL magazine and learn a lot from taking the quizzes and reading other player’s stories. I hope it does not take too long to reach the next goal. I strive to learn as much as I can each time I play this wonderful game.
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Laura Rabenold – Junior Master
I have really enjoyed learning this fascinating game of bridge and would especially like to thank Sara Gainey who has been a patient, knowledgeable, supportive, and down-to-earth teacher of our group of learners at Lehigh Valley Active Life on Wednesday mornings and Brookside Country Club in Allentown on Thursday afternoons.
I have made a lot of wonderful new friends through this game, and enjoy the fellowship we have together. My husband and I also organized a “practice game” every Tuesday at our church where we talk about the hands and don’t keep score. That has been a lot of fun.
Thanks to all the mentors in our district who have played in the mentor games Sara plans for us- they are very patient!! And the Swiss game experience we just had recently with them was loads of fun!
I hope to enjoy more years of bridge and keep learning more layers of this fascinating game.
William Hankin – Club Master
I grew up in a card-playing family. Canasta, hearts, and my mother and her siblings played rubber bridge. My mom taught me and my sister bridge when we were teenagers. I played a lot in college, learning the old Goren rules. I developed a certain card sense but never learned to visualize all the other hands.
In late 2016 I was introduced to a Chicago game at the local senior center. Soon after in Mar. 2017 I started playing duplicate bridge at the Bayside Bridge Club in Somers Point, NJ. I joined the ACBL then.
I have attended some lessons at the Northfield NJ’s Shore Bridge Club and get tips from the many experienced players. I have been reading bridge books by Grant, Cohen, Stewart and others. A partner and I won some gold and red points at the Nationals in Philadelphia just recently. I am still working on visualizing the other hands. There is so much to learn and so little time to learn it.
Donna Morgen – Platinum Life Master
I went over 10,000 masterpoints by coming in eighth overall in the 0-10,000 pairs in the Atlanta Nationals. All I can tell you is that it takes a lot of perseverance to reach your bridge goal, whatever that may be. Sometimes we take baby steps. When I finally earned my first points, it was in a club. My grand total was .08.
When I started playing duplicate bridge, I had never played bridge at all. My friend and her were longing for a way to meet people. My father suggested playing duplicate bridge. I asked how to do that. Dad gave me a book that was five pages long. The book stated that an ace was worth four points, a king, three and so on. My friend and I memorized this book. It didn’t seem all that complicated! We decided to give it a try. Off we went to the bridge club. Of course we came in last. The next three nights we went back, only to repeat our fate. A less than sympathetic person told my friend if we came in last again, we couldn’t play there. She started to cry. After asking someone else we were relieved to find out that we would still be allowed to play. We did decide that maybe we should split up and try to see if we could get better players to play with us. That was the beginning of our determination not to win points, but to learn to become better players. Obviously, it is still and always, a work in progress.
The best advice I can give is to play. Play in sectionals,regionals, and nationals. Play up every once in a while. Play against the best players. Learn from them. Listen to their discussions. Ask questions. Most good players are happy to answer questions as long as you want an answer, not affirmation that your action was right. Listen to their reasons for making the decisions they do. And most of all HAVE FUN.
Robbie Dimond – NABC Master
I am glad to finally get this National Master status –with the help of some great teammates from York, PA. One of them is Lois Anderson who was my tennis partner and we were ranked # 4 in the USA in the 70’s tennis division two years ago. So, Basically I am a Senior tennis player [ranked in top 7 of the USA Senior Women over 75 and # 1 in the Tri-State Area and represented the USTA on our International Friendship Cup team in Austria this summer.] So, Bridge is my non-tennis sport that I like to relax and play apres tennis. It is an absorbing hobby that is endlessly entertaining!
I play mostly on the Internet at Bridgebaseonline and sometimes at the Bridge Studio in Wilmington or DuPont Country Club. Significant helpers over the years toward this goal have been: Pat Scofield of Newark, DE, Susan Shenkin, Dr. Ila Shah of Mechanicsville, Maryland , Cathy Browne and Carol Smith of York, PA.
Mary Poplawski – Emerald Life Master
What does it take?
Love of the game, love of partners, acceptance that no one is perfect in any set of 26 hands, especially yourself and your partner. I heard a story lately of a divorced couple that still played bridge together. When asked why, the answer was “it is hard to find a good bridge partner.” I started 50 years ago with no idea how to play. I had to read, absorb, and apply logic. I’ll never be a bridge great but I’ll keep reading their books and articles.
Thanks to all I’ve played with and against.