When asked to share his journey to Gold Life Master, here is what Stephen had to say…
“I doubt my story would be very inspirational. More likely, it would discourage younger/newer players. I have been playing tournaments (Sectionals, Regionals, Nationals, even the World, once in Montreal!) off and on for 55 years. So if you divide 2500 by 55, that’s a pretty poor yearly average, LOL! I have taken time off, years at a whack, including 2006 to 2017 without touching a playing card (NO, I wasn’t incarcerated on committed to a mental facility) so I suppose that brings the points-per-year average up.
Anyway, I do my best, and always enjoy ‘throwing cards around’. Today we are a far cry from the olden times when a club player might win as much as a full master point in a Special, if the table count was right and the top positions weren’t taken by veterans in the unstratified, open-only, competition. I never minded getting beaten up twice weekly by the same seemingly invincible pairs, but I know there were months on end when I wasn’t sure that I could count trumps, let alone judge which way to finesse a queen holding KTx opposite AJx !
If any of this is ‘useable’, feel free to share it. Whether you do, or don’t, look for me at Louisville and we’ll have a laugh together.
This picture is me at the Tierra Del Sol Off-Road Rally in Ocatillo Wells, CA in 2015. “
R. Stephen Peel
Editor note: I found the story quite inspirational and also good for a laugh!
