I learned bridge my senior year of college which was 44 years ago. But after graduating I had little time to play bridge so only played rubber bridge occasionally for the next 38 years. But after retiring at 60, I reconnected with an old neighbor (Anne Harrington – life master and ACBL certified teacher) who I had played rubber bridge with and she suggested I give duplicate a try. We played together for about 6 months and then due to various issues we stopped playing. I was playing rubber bridge with a non-ACBL bridge group and came to realize I learned a lot from this 6 months so I started teaching bridge. After a year I got connected with another life master and I joined the ACBL and we played duplicate online. But after about 6 months we stopped playing because we were planning a move from Virginia to Oregon to get close to our younger son who lived there. After getting settled in, I made some new friends (Jill and Bob Wolcott) who got me connected to the Medford bridge club. I got assigned a partner (Larry Crain) and we built a good partnership and we started to go to local regional tournaments in 2023. We learned the Schenken Big Club bidding system and tailored it with several things we borrowed from Precision. We played in the NAP tournament for the district and I captained a GNT team in the district. 

 

At this time one of the principals at the club (Dennis Kendig) sat us down and asked us if we have a goal to be a life master. After a few months of thinking about it I decided to work towards becoming a life master. I play on average probably once a day and have regular partners online In Connecticut, Michigan, Texas, Montana as well as several in Oregon. The most notable of these is the partner from Michigan. I started playing with her in 2023 and after playing together online for 8 months, we decided to travel to a regional tournament in Houston. We both have a goal to try to get all the gold master points we needed to become a life master in 2024. So far we have been to regional tournaments in Houston, Vancouver, Denver, and King of Prussia this year, and we are discussing going to one in Lansing (she needs 5 more gold) The picture I included is a picture of us at the Denver regional the day we won the overall in the gold rush. I also have plans to attend the Billings and Seaside regionals with my partner from Montana (Andrew Knutson). 

 

In 2023 I won 195 master points. This was good enough to be 9th ACBL wide for the Ace of Virtual Clubs and 17th ACBL wide for the Mini McKenney race. 

 

I currently teach beginning bridge for the club, I got certified as a director and I currently direct 1 week a month at the club. I am a member of the board for the club and currently I am the web master for the club’s website.

 

I want to thank all my wonderful partners and teachers along the way. Without them I would not have the success I have been having.