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.

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.

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.