Feedback from Players: since October, 2022 - New England Bridge Conference

NEBridge - Feedback from Players: since October, 2022

At the beginning of every month the Regional Director, Mark Aquino, sends out congratulatory emails to New England bridge players who have advanced in rank during the previous month. Some of them send responses, and Mark selects a few of the most interesting ones to be posted on NEBridge.org. Below are a few memorable ones from players who achieved a new rank between since October, 2022.

Life/Bronze Master: Not Your Typical Life Master

If you play bridge for as long as I have been playing, you will eventually become a life master, even if you are not that good of a player.

I first became aware of bridge growing up in the 1950's. Playing bridge was a big part of my parents' social life. The best gift my mother ever got was a subscription to OKbridge. It kept her going the last few years of her life. She lived in New York State and played with a man from Texas nearly every day during his lunch hour and they became fast friends. I played a little with my parents and took my first bridge class in Colorado. When we settled in Amherst, I took lessons from Stan Finn and Chris Roberts. Stan got me started playing at the local bridge club in Norhampton, where he directed for many years and got me involved with the Board.

I took the slow route to becoming a life master. I rarely played in tournaments unless they were close by. I earned most of my silver points playing at our local Club. I earned most of my gold playing on BBO. So I am not your typical Life Master. I like collecting bridge books and wish I could say I have read them all.

It has been great to play bridge on BBO, especially during covid. It allowed me to earn the rest of my gold points. Nine months ago, I had a heart attack and aneurysm repair. I am thankful to God and my surgeons for allowing me more time to achieve this goal of becoming a Life and Bronze Master.

A couple of years ago I taught a beginners bridge class and now play once a week with one of my students, John Dahl. I also play with Kathy Myers. Both of them are on the fast track to becoming life masters, and not following in my footsteps. I am thankful to my partners I played with over the years. I could not have done this without you: Karen Meenan, Alice Shearer, John Broglio, Ian Woglom, Rol Taylor, Lee Magee, Jim Nowill, Barbara Sher, David Rosnick, Ann Mason, and to so many of you who I played with at least once. I am thankful to several people who helped me get my final gold on BBO: Jim, Alice, Allison, Rich, Judy, Steve, Kathy. I was lucky to commute to bridge with two great players: Philippe Galaski and Roger Webb, whom I could ask them bridge questions anytime. Thank you!

Bridge is a challenging and stimulating game. The beauty of bridge is that you never stop learning and there's always room for improvement. It's addicting and frustrating. You can feel great about a bid one minute and humiliated the next for a bad bid, poor play or defense … but there's always the next hand. It's been said that Bridge is a game of who makes the least mistakes! So that's my story.

Sue McCoy
May, 2025

I was born and educated in Britain ,and my parents were keen bridge players .Our first 15 years of marriage were spent in Portugal ,Peru and Brazil and enjoying social bridge .
We moved to the US in 1979 and on our retirement in 2001 took lessons in Greenwich from Steve Becker . We found to our astonishment ,no one else still played Goren .!
In 2004 we retired to Portugal, playing regularly at Bridge Clubs ,the reward being a bottle of wine !
On our return we joined the Hartford Bridge Club and were warmly welcomed .
My husband and bridge partner died in 2021 .
I owe this new exciting rank to my new partners ,the Directors and the willingness of my new friends to come to Tournaments . The secret is finding the right Bridge Club !
I never expected to make Life Master at 84 !
Mary Hunt
May, 2025

Thanks, Mark. In full disclosure, I rarely pay attention to my ACBL status. Happy to try and be helpful, but I am not a shining example.

I have only played in one tournament, and that was the local one in Keene, last summer. I just started playing bridge in 2020 by taking lessons at the senior program at the local college.

The instructor 's wife invited me to play duplicate in about 2023 and I have been playing locally ever since. I would love to encourage others to play!! Especially younger folks . . . I am not one of those. LOL

Sharon Beaty
April, 2025

My story is I am 79 years old and hoping after 30 years of playing bridge I can achieve life master status.
The beginning years I was working and played off and on. It was difficult for me with my family to travel to tournaments. Taking group lessons with 2 great teachers (Mel Marcus and David Metcalf) elevated my game.and fueled my love for bridge.
I can almost thank the horrible pandemic for allowing me to play more competitive bridge. I played and still play online with great partners and was able to get gold and red points
When play resumed at Pinehills in Plymouth where I live our new manager brought more stac games to our group and I was able to achieve NABC status.
Over the last few years communication from ACBL has greatly improved - updates and personal touches.
One suggestion would be more gold and red point games at the clubs, online or more regionals in Mass.

Arlene Bornstein
April, 2025

When I was 17 growing up in Lebanon, my best friend's mother put us around the table and said you have to learn bridge. We were not very serious about it, but we played a similar game called Tarnip - a version of the card game Whist. I kept it up casually over the years, including playing Omar Sharif's bridge game on Windows computers. Then in 2017, when the grandfather of some of my students came to pick them up, he asked me if I would play with him at the Guilford Community Center.

Since then, playing bridge has been one of the pleasures of my recent years. I take every opportunity to play at our local club in Branford, and I formed long lasting friendships with other club members. Going together to tournaments in our region has been the highlight of some weekends. My students are very proud of my bridge adventures and ask every Monday about my results. Some are actually taking bridge classes. I promised a few to play with them in local tournaments if they remember some basic conventions:) It is also helpful that my husband enjoys the game and joins me in some of the tournaments.

Marie-Jose Babouder-Matta
March, 2025

I grew up in St. Louis (where this picture was taken) and played Spades with pretty serious people. My grandparents taught me Gin and card tricks. But like many people I just stopped playing cards. A friend of mine plays Bridge and told me how fun it is. I found an app called Tricky Bridge and got hooked. I found some website about Bridge clubs and wrote a guy on the other side of Boston. He said well if you live in Milton, you could play in the Puritan Club. So I showed up there on a Monday 0-499 game. Marty Cohen was the director that day and partnered with me, and he could not believe how little I knew. I did not understand 8-card fits, transfers, how to use the bidding boxes and all kinds of pretty basic stuff. And I had no idea that it was a 3+hour game of duplicate. But I paid my money and showed up again the next week! I still work, so I found a night game at MIT, which has pretty good players as you can imagine. But I just channel Columbo and press ahead. I learned to speak Spanish by studying and living in Spain and Mexico. I knew if you want to learn a new skill, you have to just throw yourself in. I wrote Denise Bahosh about partners for the regional tournament in Connecticut. She amazingly, angelically partnered with me for a full-day tournament and taught me about etiquette like "Questions partner?" and helped rein in my wilder bids. I've continued playing weekly with a couple regular partners and am hooked. I even started a social Bridge club with my students in Brooklyn. I teach half the week at Pratt Institute and my students love it. They're slowly learning all the bidding rules and love the bidding boxes, snacks and they bought fake cigarettes and sometimes dress up. We screen clips from movies and shows about Bridge. Games start at 7:15pm Thursdays and end right at 9:00pm. We're averaging five tables each Thursday night. And they're getting some respect from their families for playing this legendary game. Here is a trailer for our growing club.

The best thing for me about District 25 was the free Watertown tournament for under 49MP. I think that is so smart. It's not just about the money, although that is nice. It sends a message that you are serious about getting younger players who have no history with Bridge or newer players who are coming back to the game. My schedule allows me to attend some day games but the most common complaint I hear is that there are not enough evening games in the area. But I'm happy to know that the game is still going strong. I have the bug, clearly.

Jim Finn
March, 2025

I had sort of a Rumplestiltskin experience with bridge. I was a very active young competitive player in the late 7os/early 80s. Interestingly, one of my occasional partners in those days at the Manhattan Bridge Club was Uday Ivatury, who I believe coded BBO’s original platform.

That all came to a stop in 1983 with the birth of our first-born, and I was effectively out of bridge for the next 35 years. When I starter playing again around 5 years ago, it was a changed world: online bridge, electronic scoring devices at clubs, blue bids on convention cards.

Interestingly, the system I used in 1983, quaintly called at the time Eastern Scientific, hadn’t changed much with the exception of Bergen raises. I find now at 72 it’s a little harder to keep track of the cards, but my bidding and table judgment are vastly improved from the young version of myself. I’m also a much better partner when I play with my wife than I used to be.

One last note/suggestion: while I understand, as a former marketing exec, the appeal of tiered achievement levels (Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum/Diamond etc) as a way to keep ACBL members engaged, it does dilute the LM achievement a bit—kind of like being Bronze tier in a frequent flyer program: you’re never gonna get an upgrade.

Anyway, I’m not in it for the points—just for the love of the game.

Steve Feinberg
February, 2025

I started taking bridge lessons 14 years ago from Karen Barrett in Darien Ct. She is an amazing and patient teacher.
I played for a few years with my regular partner, Meredith Stravato, and then we were lucky enough to be asked by
Richard DeMartino, of Riverside CT, if we would want him to mentor us. We thought we died and went to bridge heaven. So Rich has been
our mentor for the last 5 years, free of charge. He is a very generous member of our bridge community and he loves giving back.
Needless to say, Meredith and I have been very fortunate to have these experts in our corner.

Helen Donohue
February, 2025

I first learned to play bridge when I was in college in the mid-1960s. I was attracted to a beautiful young woman I observed playing a card game. In order to meet her, I picked up the game. It worked. I was captured by both her and bridge. We married. Although no longer together, we are still friends, and share warm memories of our meeting and our bridge triumphs.
Pursuing my education and career took me away from bridge for many years. A couple of years ago I took a course being offered by Peter Samsel of the Pembury Bridge Club in Pittsfield. I discovered that the bidding system is completely different from what it was 60 years ago, but the play of the hand is about the same. At Peter's urging, I have become a registered Director, and I've enjoyed being able to help out and give something back to the game that has brought me great pleasure.
I hope to be able to continue playing for many years to come.

Michael Wilcox
February, 2025

I am thrilled to hear from you. Thank you so much for taking the time. I never thought that a lowly player like me would be acknowledged by ACBL. Four years ago, I didn’t even know what that was.

I live a dual existence - four months in the Bahamas and the rest of the year in Great Barrington, MA. Briefly, I started taking bridge lessons in the Bahamas in the winter of COVID because the classes were held outside. My teacher, and now partner, was Sandra Walker who lives in the Bahamas. I gradually worked my way into playing socially and then took my nerves in hand and played duplicate at my social club. I discovered that my enjoyment of the game was increased by knowing there was something at stake, and I could measure my improvement by comparing my results to others. The following year, I was invited to play at the local Bahamian ACBL club where I earned a very few points. I eventually found my way to ACBL clubs in Great Barrington and Pittsfield, and was lucky enough to team up with Andrew Lipps, who has been such a help to me in improving my game. I have enjoyed this journey so much. The idea that I now have a ranking amazes me. It has encouraged me to do better and better. This month, Sandra and I will complete in the Bermuda Regional. I’m excited!

Jane Iredale
January, 2025

Since joining the ACBL, I have acquired a wife, 2 children, 3 grandchildren, and 30 addresses in 13 states (some twice). My rise through the bridge ranks was slowed by several factors: driving the Dad "taxi" for many youth activities, finding new partners every few years, and extensive business travel. During that time, there was roughly 15 years where I rarely played bridge. After "retirement" and my return to MA, I have won about half my masterpoints in the last 7+ years.

I remember Tom Rutledge (#37 on the all-time masterpoint list) dragging me to LM with a section 5th in a club game. Some years later, I was on a club team that included Benito Garozzo: we finished 0-4!! Much of my recent success I attribute to Roger Li - our partnership is stronger than the sum of its parts. (I confidently predict Roger will join the Sapphire ranks this year.)

The proliferation of on-line games allows me to play more often without giving up on my several hobbies. I have several NE partners, as well as one in Kansas City and another in Honolulu, and will remain a student of this glorious game.

Mark, some other thoughts/opinions: the many lost clubs are highly unlikely to come back, and for people that don't live in densely populated areas, on-line bridge is the answer. I miss Dean's Woburn club, but even then, I only had the time for once or twice a week. The ranks of seniors like you & I are thinning out, so it is encouraging to hear than GenX and GenY folks are taking an interest in the game. Still, recovery will be slow.

Rick Howard
January, 2025

My parents played duplicate bridge in our home when I was growing up. I spent a lot of time in college learning the game, then played only twice a year (Christmas and summer vacation) with my parents for many years.

When the pandemic hit, both my mom (Dorothy Murphy, Wachusett bridge club) and my dad (Frank Murphy, unaffiliated) needed to replace their in-person games with online bridge. So, we’ve been playing on BBO most weekends for almost 5 years - 30+ hands per session so I’d estimate 5000+ hands! - and it’s the highlight of my weekends. I learn something new from them every time.

I’ve also gotten into the local live games: a few weeklies with my mother’s club (Wachusett Bridge Club with Al Berg) and unit games with CMBA (Denise Bahosh runs a nice game). We’ve played some Swiss Teams with mixed results, and I have partnered in tournaments across New England with my mother with better results.

I’ve really enjoyed connecting with my parents through bridge in the past few years. I hope they look forward to our weekly games as much as I do, and I hope my mother enjoys playing with me in person as much as I like playing with her!

Matt Murphy
January, 2025

I learned bridge at age 11 in the Soviet Union by watching young physicists play the game during those frigid Russian winters. Took up the game competitively when in medical school, and continued it during my residency and fellowship training. With work and family obligations it took me some 45 years to achieve this level. I still love this amazing game, and play primarily online as time permits. I owe the greatest gratitude to 2 mentors, John Schwatrz of Plano, Texas and Henry Baer of Dallas,Texas, two of the most amazing and gracious players I have ever met.

I think District 25 and our unit are doing a terrific job. I love the ACBL and its partnership with BBO, as this allows me to play in higher level games online, allowing me more flexibility.

Andrew Fenves
January, 2025

Thank you for the nice note recognizing my ascendance to the rank of SLM…. I am happy to get the credential but realize that I am still an intermediate player. Although I have been playing the game for a long time, I came to duplicate late in life. Soon thereafter I discovered it was the most interesting and competitive form of bridge, and I was hooked. Steve Becker taught me the essentials, and I played at the Hartes club in White Plains which gave me a kind of tough love experience. During the COVID endemic I learned to play online, and that became my go to game. I play with several other intermediate partners and my wife, and none of my points were earned with a pro.

The above pic with Robert Todd and Michael Berkowitz was taken on a Regional at Sea cruise where I earned my last few gold points. At the age of 87 I’m late to the party, but grateful for the ACBL and its supervisory control.

Mike Grant
January, 2025

I am very new to all of this. I live in a coastal Massachusetts town, called Marion. Like many people, I am feeling the stress of current events. Three years ago, I set my sights on establishing a community vegetable garden, so if it all goes bad, at least we can find a little something to eat. Working on this project makes me feel very happy. Long story short, I wanted to build the garden at my Community Center, but was having trouble making an inroad. It turns out, not everyone shares my enthusiasm for vegetables. I tried to mix in with the chair yoga crowd, but it was bridge that helped me establish myself as a regular. There is a nice group playing twice a week, and I thought I could play well enough.

After a few months enjoying COA bridge, a woman called and said, ‘I hear you play cards pretty well, but have no idea how the bidding works. If you want to come to my house on Fridays, I can help.’ She is brilliant, and I am obsessed with the game. Frankly, I am not all that bright, but the more I play, the better the cards fit in my head. Progress is slow.

The idea of going on a trip to study and play bridge is appealing. Also, I wish I could play with a real person, instead of a robot.

Barbie Burr
January, 2025

Didn't expect to hear from anyone on this one. It's the next one that matters to most players, I think. Anyway, as to how I got here. I played duplicate for a few (couple?) years in my twenties. In that time I hit a few sectional and regional events and gathered a few silver and, somehow, twenty five or so red. I think I had a fraction of a gold. Then the evening game in Bangor ceased (or I thought it did) and I stopped playing.

I kept, however, the last post card I received from the ACBL showing how many master points I'd earned. It also had my ACBL number.

Scroll ahead about thirty five years. I retired and wound up wintering in a motor home park in Arizona. I was in the library and heard noise in the room across the hall. Being nosy, I poked my head in. There were either fifteen or nineteen party bridge players in the room. One posed the question, Do you play?

Thirty years ago or so, I said.

Close enough, someone said. And so for the rest of that winter, I played party bridge.

Went back to Maine in the spring. Bumped into Van Raymond (with whom I had played some in my twenties-he introduced me to duplicate). Told him of playing and he told me there were multiple games in the Bangor area. I dug out that old postcard, contacted the ACBL and suddenly, I was playing duplicate again, with around thirty master points to my name.

Came back to Arizona in the fall and discovered that I could play seven or eight times a week. So I began to play four or five times a week. Well, I tried to play seven times a week and discovered I couldn't keep it up for more than ten days. In any case, the black points began to slowly pile up. I even earned the occasional splash of (fractional) color.

Last year, I qualified for a progressive sectional and connected with Mark Grucza, another player with two hundred or so points who had qualified but didn't have a partner. We proceeded to win our section with about a 60% game. So we played a few more times, and always seemed to do well together.

This fall, he'd made plans to attend the NABC in Vegas and asked me if I wanted to go along. It was about a six hour drive, so I said sure, why not? We played in the GRIN games M-T-W-T, and played in an evening side game S-M-T-T. In that process we figured out that we could play two good rounds a day but not three.

In any event, we collected 14 gold points and 5 red points, leaving me in what I think is the improbable position of needing over twice as many silver as I do gold to reach life master.

Jim Mingo
January, 2025

I am a recent returnee to bridge. I began playing again (after 50 year layoff) in the summer of 2020. I have since earned over 275 MP.

I don't drive and have no easily accessible club. Activities on BBO including virtual clubs, Silver Linings weeks, and Online Regionals have been critical to my growth and ability to earn points.

D25 events including BridgeFest, Regionals and the Manchester super sectional have been very important. The Bracketed pair events have been both fun and valuable.

John Lescher
November, 2024

I grew up in Dorchester, MA the youngest of 5 children. We did not have much but my family played all kinds of cards since I can remember. We loved to play the game kitty Wist. When I got older around 30 I moved to VA where they did not play this game but played bridge. They offered a beginners class I took it & fell in love with the game. We played weekly at home games- tables 2-3. I then moved back to MA 3 years later never playing again until I was in my 60’s. I could not find a beginners game at the time. I finally found a game in Nassua, NH over 30 years later and I told the director I had not played in over 30 years & was a beginner. She told me to come anyway. I had never played in a sanctioned game did not even know what that meant. I was horrified I should not have been there playing. I did not even know what Stayman was. A very nice lady saw how horrified I was & told me about an un sanctioned game in Chelmsford, MA where the people were very nice & patient to help me learn. I have been playing there now for over 3 years & was very fortunate to have the husband & wife team of Bob & Karen to teach me. I play with Bob the director on Wednesdays, He is my mentor & Karen teaches a lesson before bridge on Fridays. I now play competively against both of them. I loved the game so much I decided to try a sanction game in Arlington, MA and have been playing there for the past few months where I have earned my Junior Master Status. I will continue to play the game I love and become a better player. I learn something new almost every week. I am very happy to see they offer beginners bridge in Arlington, MA so that others may enjoy the game of Bridge that I Love!

Anne Nee
September, 2024

I am a new comer to duplicate bridge.

I began playing social bridge after I retired. I go to Arizona in the winter and started playing there a couple of times per week. Mike Boedigheimer was the instructor there and he taught the basics of how to play and bid.

This year when I returned home to Ellsworth, I contacted Michael Povich at our local bridge club and he set me up with Sandy Curtis, who summers here in Ellsworth. We play in Ellsworth, Northeast Harbor and Blue Hill. I have met some of the most interesting people while playing bridge.

Sandy and I seem to be a perfect match, Sandy is a good card player and is very forgiving when I am not.

I really enjoy the mental challenge and look forward to improving my game.

Thank you for taking the time to write me at this first milestone in my bridge career.

Paul Grant
September, 2024

Thank you for notifying me of my hitting the 20 master point mark. It has taken a while, but fractions of a point do add up.

I started playing at Newtown Bridge Club about 3 years ago when I lived in Stamford. As a newer player, it was quite intimidating, but the duplicate games were very professionally run. I realized that it was « the place to improve ». About a year and a half ago I moved to Southbury, and that made life on Wednesdays much easier. My partner, Jane Waugh is still driving from Stamford though.

Jane and I also played online in the community games on Thursdays. The games were followed by a fabulous lesson. We are hoping the games will resume in the fall.

I probably will never get to the next level because my time is too divided between working as a realtor, taking dance classes, hiking and gardening. Focusing on one thing is not one of my strengths.

Barbara Deysson

I have played bridge casually for a number of years. In 2017, I moved to Newtown, CT and took up bridge as a more serious hobby. I played regularly at the Newtown Bridge Club. I took a number of lessons from the club manager (Susan Fronapfel) and played with many different partners. I met up with my most long-term partner as a couple of singles early in 2018. As a couple of "advanced beginners", we learned the game together. Somehow, I managed to win both the Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs awards in 2018. Ken and I played in many sectional and regional tournaments over the years, garnering our share of success. I was proud to be playing with Ken in the NABC Championships in Providence when he qualified Life Master. Ken and I recently won a regional tournament where I earned enough points to qualify Life Master myself.

I met Mike Hess in 2018 and started taking regular lessons. Mike is a well known bridge player and teacher who has mentored me over the years. It took a long time for me to learn the difference between "winners to protect, or work to do" when declaring. Mike and I have played together in several tournaments, winning one in 2023. I've also assisted Mike teach beginner and intermediate players and am mentoring a few newer players myself trying to do my part to build the bridge community. I find mentoring an enriching experience and take pride when students achieve their own success.

Once we emerged from the pandemic, I found myself playing in the Westport and New Canaan games. In addition to Ken and Mike, I'd like to extend special thanks to Tom Hunter for running the great club games and helping me on my way as a partner and teammate. I've been helped out by too many people to thank individually, so I also like to thank everyone that I've played with over the years. As my teacher repeatedly tells me "bridge is a partnership game", advice that I take with me as I move forward.

Life is a game, Bridge is serious"

Gregory L. Rich

Thanks. I know that’s an automated response but my biggest positive for district 25 is its directors. They couple wonderful knowledge with polite and appropriate rulings which bring player support and a sense of fairness to the game…..AND fabulous involvement by its National District Director keeping communication open with his constituents.

My recommendation would be at some point stop the masterpoint strata reductions in games. This dilutes the significance of the events.

B E Lacy

I'm glad to get to the bronze level, though I sure don't feel like I have "mastered" anything.

But I AM a better player than I was when I first played with you.

And I still think it was damn nice of you to play with a nervous newcomer novice.

All the best,

David Offer

I played party bridge for 20 years but after lessons joined ACBL a year ago. Since then I’ve played in Bridgefest in Southbridge and Nashua and beginner games in Newtown and Hartford.

I approach tournaments with some degree of trepidation but have found them all great with my fellow players very helpful with my continuing education.

In this regard, let me commend Sue Miguel and the directors who have helped me with clarity and kindness.

I don’t have any suggestions to improve the unit but it would be great if ACBL’s online game schedule could be published a day in advance to help set up game times with partners.

Thank you again.

John Dahl

Thank you so much for the congrats. My story is pretty straightforward and siimple. I began to play brdge in college and loved it so much I almost flunked out. I still have dreams of rising from the bridge table in a panic because I was late again to another class.
After college I worked at MIT and discovered duplicate . Needless to say these players were way out of my league although amazingly patient with me, like when my partner responded 4 clubs to my opening bid and I timidly passed him! Wasn't Gerber a babyfood?
When I married, I had accrued 2 MP and was thrilled with that achievement!
Until 10 years ago, I played bridge strictly socially until I met a woman who had over 400 MP and condescending agreed to play with me.
Then I got hooked again and read everything I could about bridge along with playing in a duplicate game twice a month.
Through the years we accrued close to 50 MP. Then Covid struck. The live club games stopped, and I was truly heartbroken. However, as far as bridge goes, Covid was the best thing that ever happened to me. I found ACBL and online bridge. Who would believe that someone who was excited about having 2 MP could now have over 400 MP. Who knows, maybe I will become a life master yet!
Thank you ACBL for helping to make my life meaningful and just plain fun in very trying times!
Respectfully,
Ginny Arsenault

Thanks Mark!

I have had a long road to this!

It started at 1970 Boston NABC where I went to go to see the Aces play, found out I could play in a side game and jointed the ACBL that day.

Since I was working, I could not play in clubs, but I would go on vacations to select tourneys either NABC or my favorite tourneys in Las Vegas. Often I would go and pick up partners which led to great friendships. I still have my 0-49 trophy from 1986 Toronto and 2002 Flight C in Las Vegas.

It took me 32 years to be LIfe Master. When I retired in 2017, I could start play at the great Puritan Bridge club. At the time I had 500 points but more Gold, Red and Silver than I had black points. The club is great and I have found many friends and am very blessed to find such a great place to play.

Thank for your great work for District 25

Larry Schell

Thanks for your message of congratulations. I’m happy to share a little bit of my bridge journey, partly because it is a little different, and partly because I’d like to acknowledge someone who mentored me, but is now gone.

I learned to play bridge, as many of us did, in the lounge of my dorm in college. I loved it right away, but I managed to avoid the fate of several classmates who flunked out due to their participation in the games that ran 24 hours a day. I went off to grad school, got married, and mostly played party bridge. A friend of my wife introduced me to duplicate, and I managed to accumulate 20 some-odd master points. Then, life intervened: I got a full-time job, started a career and a family, and had little time for anything else. I did not play competitive bridge again for 40 years, until after I had retired.

In late 2015, I was playing golf with a friend, who had asked if his father could join us, to which I agreed, of course. Toward the end of the round, the elder gentleman commented that he had to hurry up and finish, because he was going to play bridge. I casually commented “Oh, I used to play bridge,” and my life changed. My companion was Dick Dugas, and he virtually grabbed me by the collar and dragged me off to the Upper Cape Bridge Club. That club was much more substantial then than it is now, and I was exposed to a whole new world of duplicate bridge. Dick was a wonderful person, an excellent bridge player, and he served me well as a mentor. He was also extremely competitive and sometimes impatient, but he taught me a tremendous amount. I learned a lot from other partners and mentors, too, but Dick was the one who really launched my bridge career.

I now split my time between the North Shore and the Cape, so I’m getting to know even more players from District 25. I play only a limited amount in tournaments, and with the late (post-retirement) start to accumulating points, my rank aspirations are limited. But I hope to keep plugging along and enjoying the game for some years to come.

Steve Colman

I retired just before the pandemic after a 50 year career in education mostly in NYC. Up to that p[oint i lived for Texas Holdem. The pandemic put an end to that. Looking for a replacement I noticed that at the senior center in ridgefield ct, Founders Hall there were bridge classes so enrolled and fortunately i had a great teacher Mike Hess who encouraged me to try duplicate. i did and it changed my life. Met lots of really friendly people found the Newtown Bridge Club where i play in person 3 days a week and online also, continue to take bridge classes with Mike and additional lessons at the Newtown Bridge club.

Charles Glassman

Thank you for the congratulations. I've played Bridge informally for many years online, in person, and/or in solitary. It was only in the last couple of months, as I moved to partial retirement, that I engaged with a local bridge club (Derry Bridge Club At MGCC) and started accumulating master points. I also realized last month I could acquire master points online at Bridgebase.com and set a goal for Junior Master status which I have been very pleased to achieve. Many thanks to ACBL for the opportunities to play organized Bridge games. You have my permission to share this, but I must regretfully decline to provide a self portrait.

On a slightly separate note, I was a bit surprised to find how few clubs there are in the southern New Hampshire area, where I live, or even in northeastern Massachusetts. I realize Covid had a big impact on participation (Nashua for example had a club prior to Covid), but find it surprising that recovery appears to have been slow. Personally, I would love to see a club open up in Nashua again. If there is something I can do to help facilitate a club in Nashua (short of running a club myself - I don't have the time or experience for that), I would be pleased to hear about it.

Regards,

Winston Rogers

Thank you for your congratulations on this achievement. I confess the ACBL ranks, for someone competitive like me, do provide motivation. I can share three things that may be of interest. One, I earned many of my red, silver points and gold points over 50 years ago and then stopped playing when I moved out of Boston and no longer had regular partners. In those days (I am pretty sure) you lost your points if you were inactive for a certain time so it was only when I learned this was not the case that I regained motivation to play. Two, BBO came along - and so did Covid. I went back to bridge to pass the time and all the rest of my black points were earned on line playing mostly with robots. I was uncomfortable playing with pick-up partners until I decided a 2024 goal would be more post-pandemic socializing which led to Three, playing in a live game. The Mansfield Sectional was nearby so that was my first foray into the real world. Thank you to the opponents and my partner who (gently) told me the bidding box was actually for bidding (where did THAT come from?!) and helped me learn how to put the cards back in the right order. And, above all, thank you to Denise Bahosh who so patiently worked to find me a partner and welcomed me at the tournament. It was all fun and my pick-up partner and I got just enough red and gold to put me over the top. That convinced me that pick-up partners can work both live though I would love to develop a regular partnership. So that is pretty much my history. I forgot how much fun bridge can be and now I actually feel motivated to work towards LM. Thank you to everyone in the bridge community for keeping this game alive over the years and during Covid - in the clubs, at the tournaments, and on line. I am appreciative to you all.

Priscilla Clark

For most of my life I did not play cards. As an adult, I was busy raising two children and working as a school administrator. In fact, it was not until I was almost seventy years old that I decided to take up bridge. I realized that it was time to develop interest in a sedentary activity that would engage my mind. My recreation had previously centered on physical activity such as cross-country skiing and kayaking, but I realized I should prepare for the days when I could no longer rely on strenuous outdoor activity as my primary source of socialization and recreation.

I took a few beginner bridge classes, and made friends with a number of the participants. When my husband saw that I was engaged in this activity, it renewed his interest in bridge after a hiatus since college. Once Covid spread in the United States, online bridge became the perfect venue for learning and practicing the game. I regularly enjoy this convenient and safe way to pursue my interest in bridge.

Rhoda Weinstein

I can’t say there was anything remarkable about reaching life master other than retirement….

I started playing when I was maybe 14 and my parents sat Sam and me down and taught us all about bridge. For one afternoon. Then they said they didn’t much like the game and would never play with us again but we needed to know how to play so we could play with all our relatives.

So we did play with grandmother, aunts and uncles, a few cousins, and then a perpetual game in my fraternity, and then I joined the ACBL and played a bit on my first job, earned maybe .04 MPs on little slips of paper that I never mailed in. But I kept reading the Bulletin.

Then social bridge all my life. Favorite story, ten of us showed up at a manager’s house for an evening of bridge just to be told by the babysitter that the manager and his wife had gone to the movies. More recently, a three table team game here in Wellesley every Sunday night for about the last 30 years. And then came retirement, and winters.

Now I play about six times a week with about six different partners. Never a dull moment!

Fred Wardwell

Having played Bridge in high school and in college, and in the early years of marriage, I had not played for a long time. Last year my wife, Leslie, died unexpectedly in April, and faced with grieving the loss I found bridge again at clubs in Branford and Old Saybrook Connecticut. I must say that the people I’ve met have been a breath of fresh air and have given me the courage to put myself out there and socialize during this very challenging period in my life. I look forward to Bridge every week and my partners provide tremendous support.

As a result, I’ve accumulated a few master points playing in the Branford Friday game, sometimes coming in the top three with my partner Donna. I’ve also played some competitions and enjoy those too. And finally, the community Bridge lessons on the ACBL site have been a great experience. Bridge is a wonderful lifelong hobby and I’m grateful to the ACBL for facilitating my return to playing.

Roger Hill

Salem, CT

Slow and Steady is Just Fine

My mother taught me to play bridge when I was a teenager. There were many bridge players at Carleton College in the late 1960's. I bid wildly and acquired some bad habits

I started playing duplicate in 1979. Near the end of the year I met my current partner Steve Emerson, an MD/PhD student at Yale. We have played together for more than 44 years, eventually becoming "a strong New England Flight B Pair." My other New England partners Rita Brieger and Harold Miller eventually became teammates, All have my gratitude, as does my Florida partner Marty Fox.

It took Steve and me seven years to earn our first gold points, but after that we usually got some at every regional. We play a simple 2/1 style without New Minor Forcing or support doubles. We have had some highlights:

In the early 1990's we finished first overall in the final session of a 4 session IMP Pairs at the Nationals in Boston. I had 10 gold points when the session began. When it ended I had more than the 25 needed to become a Life Master.
I won one open regional with Rita and one with Steve and several Flight B team games.
At a NYC Regional Steve put a triple repeating squeeze on two World Champions. They got upset with each other but quickly switched from Polish to English and asked Steve if he knew what he was doing. When Steve nodded his head, both shook his hand.
Recently we got the best of one of America's top young bridge players at a regional in Astoria. My grandson was kibitzing which made the day memorable - even though no one remembers who finished fifth.
Thanks to Randy Baron for publishing my pamphlet Go for the Gold in the early 1990's and thanks to the Connecticut Bridge Kibitzer for publishing several of my columns. All stress the importance of partnership psychology.

Go over your errors AFTER the session ends. Remember most bad boards occur when one partner compounds a minor error made by the other partner.

Make slow and steady improvement. Read bridge books if you want to improve. Have fun. Be an ethical player. Keep on playing as long as you can to keep your mind alive.

Burt Saxson

I actually started playing bridge in college in the 1960's and enjoyed traveling to sectionals and regionals but when I got married in 1973, I decided I couldn't keep up with the time involved so I stopped playing competitive bridge for 33 years and I resumed playing in 2006. In the meantime, I kept sharp by reading just about every article in the Bridge Bulletin and Bridge World magazine. I am currently teaching bridge to seniors for ILR (Institute for Learning in Retirement) and thoroughly enjoying their love of the game. One of the highlights that I remember from so many years ago was playing in a night game at the Hartford Bridge Club in 1968 and having Charles Goren and Harold Ogust visit the club. I didn't actually get to play against them that night but it good to see them there. At a regional in New Jersey later that year I remember standing at a table ( along with many others) watching Oswald Jacoby declare a contract.

I have enjoyed playing and reading and teaching bridge for many, many years and I will continue as long as I am able.

Harold Miller

I have been playing duplicate bridge since high school. While I was in Dallas, Texas for a summer internship while in college, I was paired up at a local bridge club with a math teacher from Massachusetts. Through playing with Arnie, I met Frank Blachowski. Frank and I placed third overall in the non-smoking (anyone remember those days?) Open pairs tournament at the 1978 Long Island Regional. I graduated from MIT, went to law school and started my career spending two years in Chicago. In the mid-1980’s when I had returned to the Boston area, I began playing at the Puritan Club in Braintree. Forming a team for a club Swiss game, I met Hal Hindman. Hal and I went on to play in the non-life master flight Grand Nationals, winning a trip to the Nationals in Buffalo that year. I continued to actively compete in bridge until after my son was born. Parenting took up most of my extra-curricular time. But I always kept my hand in bridge attending the occasional tournament and playing at the local clubs in Framingham and Westwood. I am happy to say my bridge partners, those I have named and others, have remained life-long friends and I am lucky to get to play with them when I can. I am devastated by the damage wrought by Covid on our local club games.. Most of my masterpoints over the past few years have been from playing robot bridge (if you can call it bridge) and online duplicate games. I hope I will get to play more face to face bridge in the coming years. The ability to create enduring friendships and be a part of the bridge community while challenging your mind is what makes bridge so precious. The masterpoints are of secondary importance.

Bob Asher

Each milestone I reach is an exciting benchmark in my duplicate bridge journey.
Both of my parents were life-masters, and Bridge was important part of their lives together. They were very successful both locally and regionally. However, they didn’t allow any of their children to play bridge until we graduated from college! As a result, I didn’t start playing regularly until I was a Grandmother. I’m grateful to Dottie Kelleher and Horace Grover who run our local bridge clubs, and all the regular players who attend these games. My fellow players have explained conventions and offered support regularity so that my learning is ongoing. The Portland groups are a friendly and active bunch. I’m grateful to my regular partner, Russ Glidden, who shows patience and good humor even when I don’t. I’m also grateful to David and Sally Magee, who originally taught us the game. I think the only secret to success is playing a lot of bridge. Luckily I have a tolerant husband, Hank, who encourages me. This includes playing online as well as in person. I also like to read the newspapers columns on bridge and taking the bridge quiz and see how well I compare to the experts. Most of all, I’m grateful to all the kind and wise players who have offered supportive advice along the way in a gentle and helpful manner.

Anna Noyes Benoit

Thank you for your kind consideration. You are very thoughtful. It's been an unexpected journey since I took my first bridge lesson over 25 years ago. Little did I expect friendships, romances, and travel all tied to my love of this game. I have been most fortunate to have wonderful (and forgiving) partners and mentors that have helped me accomplish this honor.

Ciao,

Natalie Bassil

My journey began in September, 2022. I had waited 6 months for the next available bridge lessons at The Warwick Bridge Club in RI. I received private lessons from the Director there, Robert Garfinkel. My lessons consisted of 10 two hour sessions where I learned to play duplicate bridge. Since I was the only student, I never got to play a game. At the end of November Bob suggested that I play with his Wednesday night group. It is a smaller group and it would be a good introduction to the game. Bob was going to be my partner and would “carry me”. When one of Bob’s regular players, Jane, arrived that evening, she told him that her regular partner was unable to come. Bob said, “no problem, you can play with Donna”. I was flabbergasted and informed Jane that I had never played before. Her response was, “no problem, I am very patient and do not get upset”. True her word, she was wonderful. I could not have asked for a better person to introduce me to the game. We had an okay night with some wins and losses. I was encouraged at the end of the night when she informed Bob that she would play with me again.

In December, one of the Wednesday night players along with my very dear friend in Long Island, Pat Lessard, told me about another bridge group in RI for new players. It is The Viking Bridge Club in Portsmouth. The Director there is Susan Miguel. I contacted her and she suggested that I come to her Thursday game. This was a wonderful suggestion as I was able to play with people on my level. In addition to playing, Sue gives a brief lesson before playing which is extremely helpful. She has the ability to explain a complicated game to new players with style and humor. She runs the Viking Bridge Club in a relaxed and confident atmosphere. New members are always welcome and can be assured that they will always learn something from her.

I continue to play at both bridge clubs. Wednesday nights are more challenging and have a wonderful partner there, Norm, who is very patient with me as I learn all the nuances of this complex game. Thursdays I continue to receive instruction on new conventions and strategies on playing. In addition to these groups, my friend, Pat gives me weekly private lessons and we discuss issues I encountered while playing on both days. I have been extremely fortunate to have encountered players in both bridge clubs as well as Pat, who are willing to give me constructive criticism and have helped me improve my game. I love the game and look forward to improving!

Donna Schupack

To paraphrase a famous quote (attributed to Thomas Edison), my journey to achieving Sectional Master status has involved a fair amount of inspiration as well as a lot of perspiration.

I had played a little bit of bridge in college, stopping for 45 years to pursue a career as a software engineer and raise a family. Eventually I retired, the kids grew up, and, sadly, my husband died suddenly in 2018. A friend encouraged and even inspired me to get back to playing bridge. But it took quite a while before I became committed to the game. I first tried reading a bridge book, but that didn’t motivate me too much. Then I discovered bridgebase, and I started practicing online. Finally, after several months, I felt comfortable enough to start playing face-to-face bridge.

My next step was to start attending the Newcomers Group at Family Friendly Bridge in Arlington, MA. I went almost every Thursday morning for about a year. Bob Gaudet, the director, was certainly a great inspiration to me. His combination of mini-lessons, supervised play, and awarding of masterpoints really motivated me to learn more about bridge. He also encouraged me to start attending local sectional tournaments.

But then, in March 2020, covid came to town, and nothing, not even bridge, would ever be the same. All the clubs closed during covid, forcing everyone to start playing online. Online play was a blessing in disguise, of course, since there was nowhere to go and nothing to do during covid. So I started playing more often, sometimes with some of my original partners from the Newcomers Group, and other times with some more experienced partners whom I met on the bridgebase partnership desk. Before long, I found myself playing 4 times a week! All that playing during covid resulted in my further honing my bridge skills and winning even more masterpoints. Next, I focused on playing in some Silver Linings games in order to meet the Sectional Master rank requirements. Happily, my Sectional Master goal finally became a reality!

In summary, in a little over 4 years, I went from being a beginning bridge player to a competitive intermediate-level player. My advice for newer players is this: make bridge a regular part of your schedule. Seek out lots of different partners. You will be amazed at how much you can learn from playing with a variety of bridge partners. And don’t be afraid to be competitive. Always be open to a new challenge! Strive to play in games and tournaments at a level that includes players who are a little stronger than you. Will you make mistakes in bidding and playing? Of course you will! But, over time, you will start to notice that you are making fewer mistakes, gaining confidence, getting higher scores, and piling up masterpoints!

And you will have tons of fun along the way!

I’m glad I started my bridge journey and hope to continue it for many years to come. I wish all newer players the best of luck as you start or continue on your own bridge journey!

Nancy Rosenfield

I had been out of duplicate bridge since the mid 90's due to work and family obligations. In 2013 my wife and I were on a cruise to the Galapagos Islands. On the cruise was a woman named Liz Randall. Liz was and is a long time bridge teacher from Long Island. We started talking bridge and she encouraged me to take it up again as I was entering semi retirement. A few months later she introduced me to BBO and we played a few games. I still didn't jump back in until I met my old partner from the 90's and we decided to give it a go in late 2015. The reason I mentioned Liz (I still play a bit with her on line) is that she saw your name in one of the online games and mentioned that she once shared a cab with you and your son way back in 2000 (or thereabouts) at an NABC. I doubt if you remember such a chance encounter, but it makes for a good story.

Anyway, thanks for the notice. I'm a once a week player except for the occasional tournament. I have mostly played in the old games at the Newton temple and Westwood. I now play at Bay State mostly and occasionally at Family Friendly.My old partner is no longer around and it's been a scramble this year to find someone who can put up with my irregular schedule. Which brings me to a point. With the FtF games getting smaller it would be really nice if the district or someone ran a partnership desk kind of thing. I have done a lot of walkins, but that's tough for someone with my experience to pull together a card in 10 minutes or so.

Bill Finch

My bridge began in the UK playing social bridge with Culbertson and then ACOL rules.

When I moved to the USA I learned to play duplicate bridge playing 2/1 and won my first gold point at the Rye Town Hilton tournament and I was hooked!

I am a member of the Newtown Bridge Club and I am grateful to the Club and all the players who have helped me reach the level of Ruby Life Master.

Caroline Molyneux

Thank you so much for your kind email. I am so pleased to have reached this level - I remember as a complete newbie wondering with my friends whether we’d ever reach Life Master. Secretly, I set personal goals and was pleased when I met them. I have also been so very fortunate to have been mentored by some of the very best in bridge. I played with Harold Feldheim for many years and I know he would be thrilled by my recent achievement. After Harold died I began playing with Brian Glubok and Bob Lavin. And then Covid hit, with lock downs and the end of face to face bridge for me, for several years. I began playing online which took a fair amount of getting used to. At the same time Brian introduced me to some outstanding players: Alex Kolesnik, Walt Schafer, Joe Grue and Ron Smith all of whom I began playing with in virtual clubs, BBO games and online tournaments. Playing with and learning from world class players has been an unparalleled experience for me.

I have begun playing face to face tournaments again. Sadly, there are few brick and mortar clubs in my area and I, as I’m sure others do, find it difficult to rearrange a schedule based on online play to include face to face games. I don’t know how the ACBL can help clubs regrow attendance. I miss playing face to face tremendously and hope those days will return.

Thank you again,

Jill Fouad

I played bridge in college. After graduating from Queens College, I taught for several years before my first son was born. Resuming my career after my children were born, I joined the computer industry working her way up from programming positions into management before I retired. My husband, Barry, and I have three sons, 8 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren with 2 more due in April and a 13-year-old “designer mutt”, Zoey, a cross between a Bichon Frise and a Papillon.

For many years I ran a marathon group of bridge players in Trumbull and Shelton. I joined Newtown Bridge Club in 2016. There I re-met Susan Fronapfel with whom I had worked for several years and began to play duplicate. My regular partners are June Steigler and aureen Gordon for online and in-person games. I am competitive and like to win, but I don’t let it bother me when I don’t. I enjoy bridge because “It gets you out socially, keeps your mind alert and exercises your brain!”

One item would be more opportunities to win silver, etc. I needed .02 silver, a ridiculous amount and not many ways to close that gap.

The other thought would be to have STaC wins available somewhere. It’s been almost a whole month since the game and the CTBridge.org website was not working.

Linda Diamond
Trumbull, CT

I started playing bridge when I retired 11 years ago. My life had always been about work and family with very little time for me, which is not unusual for a working mom. I was lucky to find my first bridge teacher, Karen Barrett, who taught bridge to beginners in Darien, Ct. She was patient and encouraging. It was there where I met my regular and steady partner Meredith Stravato.

After playing together for years, Meredith and I were approached by world class bridge expert Richard DeMartino of Riverside, Ct., who graciously offered to mentor us. He was impressed by our strong desire to learn and he wanted to give something back to the bridge community. We couldn't believe our lucky stars. Rich has been our mentor/teacher for the last 4 years and what we have learned is immeasurable.

It was during the pandemic, with limited activities, that I earned most of my points playing on BBO. I got my Life Master and Bronze Life Master awards simultaneously, in Providence, RI. And 2 months later I earned my Silver Life Master award. I'm very proud of what I've accomplished and learned, and especially fulfilled by the friends I've made along the way.

Helen Donohue
Greenwich, CT

Most of my life I played non-sanctioned social and team duplicate games. I did join ACBL back in the sixties and earned about 60 master points in local games in New Jersey, before dropping my membership due to work and other constraints.

When I retired to NH, in 1996, I started playing again in a non-sanctioned weekly game in New London run by Ted Fulton. There I met many nice people who were also good bridge players. I still continue to play in that game every week.

About 10 years ago I was introduced to the Eastman Bridge Club run by Jane Verdrager. There I met more nice people who were also good bridge players. Since Eastman is a sanctioned game, I rejoined ACBL and became grandfathered under the old rules for Life Master at 300 points. While at Eastman I formed a partnership with Dick Tracy, among others. After a few games with Dick, he told me, "You should be a Life Master". I thought that would be impossible at my age, but Dick persisted and convinced me to play with him in some sectional and regional tournaments. We did pretty good and won an open pairs regional at Warwick for some gold. Then, just before the pandemic, we got more gold by winning the team of four event at a regional with Dick, Karen Hewitt, and Steve Randall. That put me over the top for Life Master.

Since then, I have played mostly on line in an assortment of tournaments, playing with many partners, but especially Dick Tracy, who has been instrumental in my success.

David Donovan
New London, NH

I learned bridge in college in 1976 but did not play duplicate until 1981. I began in local clubs like most people. I started playing in area Regionals and some Nationals in 1984 and have had modest success ever since, slowly accumulating Masterpoints. My most successful partnership has been with Larry Bausher of CT since about 1990. He was happy to play the relatively simple strong club system that I developed and we've been playing it with few changes ever since. I do have a published Lebensohl variant that some top players have adopted called Advance Lebensohl which is essentially a transfer system after one notrump interference. I intend to continue playing bridge going forward when I'm not playing golf which has been my main hobby for many years.

Glenn McIntyre
Bedford, MA