D4 is a fantastic experience for players. At a high level, there are some things done in D4 that are not my preference, such as conditions of contest in the GNTs and NAPs, but those are completely irrelevant to 99.9% of the players here and does not detract from the hard work our district administrators have done to make the general experience for the players positive.
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Mark McDaniel – Junior Master
While I had played some bridge before COVID, when COVID started I began playing about four times a week on Trickster Cards, with my good friend Dave Predmore. Last year we played in our first tournament which was the Rochester Regional held in August at the Jewish Community Center. We had some success there and have since played a few tournaments online through Bridge Base Online. I also played a tournament in Oswego last month with my son Cody, who while very familiar with card games is relatively new to bridge.
The pleasure of playing bridge and learning to be a better player is what I enjoy most.
Neil Butcher – Junior Master
I played bridge in college in the early 1970’s. After college I took a 50-year break from playing. When my wife passed last year, I needed an outlet, so I had mentioned to a friend I played bridge years ago and she hooked me up with the Dick Bowers Bridge Club in Winchester Virginia.
One of the members, Milan Majarov, offered a class in bidding. So, having been away from the game for so many years, I took his class. I began play with the club in April of this year. Everyone welcomed me and went out of their way to make me feel at home. I was able to accumulate a few master points, not because I’m a great bridge player, but because I had great partners. All the players in this club are excellent bridge players and help me learn more about the game each time I play.
I look forward to playing with them and plan my schedule around sessions with the club. My thanks go out to all of them and to the ACBL for enhancing my experience playing duplicate bridge.
Ian MacKellar – Gold Life Master
How did I get to GLM? Not too complicated. Read and play lots for a long time. It doesn’t hurt to be smarter than the average bear, to quote Yogi bear. It was hard to do while I was still working and would not be possible today without BBO, especially since most of the tournaments that I used to play no longer exist and our local club is often down to 2 tables. I don’t really have any further bridge goal, other than to still be playing when I am 90+.
Martha Goodman – Club Master
I achieved this milestone only because of the patience, kindness and good helpful instruction that I have received during my club play at Shore Bridge and Shuffles bridge clubs. These very good players have been very gracious in their welcome to me as I began my sanctioned bridge play. I have nothing but good to say about these two bridge clubs and the bridge players here in Southern Delaware.
Leslie Heselton – Life Master
I learned to play bridge while at the United States Naval Academy in the early 1960s. After graduation I continued to play tuber bridge.
When I met my future wife, Mary, I knew she was smart enough to learn to play good bridge and assisted her in learning to play. I started playing for Master Points in the 1970s at the San Diego Bridge Club earning 0.1 points at a time.
Upon moving to the Washington DC area, my partner and I decided to learn and play Precision Club and I earned points at the Northern Virginia Bridge Club at the rate of 0.2. In the 1970s, we moved the New Jersey, where I again started playing rubber bridge. When the ACBL Nationals came to Philadelphia in the early 1980s, Mary and I decided to see what it was like. There we earned around 20 Master Points and I got my interest back for bridge. With some friends, we started learning 2/1 game force and I have been playing that for about 15 years now.
Two events I was very excited about were first: the Gold for Good back in December. I not only received gold points for playing in the clubs events, but was first in the Club section and 6th overall and received about 5 gold points. The second event was qualifying for the North American Pairs in Memphis last month. Although we could only attend for Friday through Sunday, I was able to earn the required points for Life Master in the Gold Rush Pairs and the North American Pairs.
On to Bronze Life Master!