I got my start with bridge in April 2019 when I was visiting Seaside with my mother, Sandy, and tagged along to one of her bridge games which she plays religiously.  I was only planning to hang around for 10-15 minutes, but a tall gregarious Cuban American named Manny Suarez (who sadly passed away earlier this year) insisted that I sit with him while he played, explaining the basic rules during a sit out and having me practice bidding and playing hands then and there. Talk about diving in from the deep end !! At the end of the game Manny invited me to join him the next day to be his partner in a live game. I came the next day, and I was hooked !!

For the last 3 years, I have been living in Tokyo Japan and not able to find a local club there to join, so I was just fooling around, playing BBO Casual on-line.

When I returned to the Eugene, Oregon and the US last April, I vowed to use this opportunity to become more serious about bridge and improve my skill.

I had 26 ACBL points in April and was aiming to achieve Regional Master by the end of this year.

I contacted David Brower at the Portland Bridge club, one of my original mentors, and asked him to set me up with up with a C-level partner who was also seriously trying to improve his rank and skill.    David introduced me to Stacey Melnick and we got together a number of times in Portland while I was house sitting in the area.   Stacey is more thoughtful and methodical which balances my more open, intuitive play.

Locally in Eugene, I visited the Emerald Bridge Club and met my new local partner, Treyson Sherk, a young player on the rise. Treyson and I canvassed the Oregon sectionals this year, playing in Corvallis, Bend, and Eugene over the year and getting winning results in the C Class. We play  a blend of 2/1 and SAYC, and take our defense seriously. I also bought an ACBL membership for my mother, Sandy, who is a 50 year veteran but has never played in serious tournaments before.   This benefitted me as well in being able to develop a mother-son partnership and play at a moments notice.

As then as Paul Harvey would say, there is “the rest of the story”.

Among my bucket list items was playing in the North American pair nationals, but I wasn’t sure how to pursue it. Then I was playing with my mother in a Vancouver WA sectional recently and, at the end, the director announced that that day was the last day to register to play in the District 20 NAP regional finals, for those who had qualified.  I told the director that I was interested in playing but did not know if I was eligible.  He said to check the My ACBL page.   I checked and found out that I had qualified with Stacey at a June game in Portland. I immediately called Stacey and asked him if he was interested in playing in the NAP regionals which were going to be held the following week.   He surprisingly said he hadn’t partnered with anyone yet and enthusiastically said “yes”! We practiced on line in a bunch of BBO Open games and got humbled and trounced the week before the NAP Regionals. However, it paid off as we got 1st place in the District 20 Rank C championship, and are now on our way to Kentucky in March! The saga continues ! Wish us well !!