Bridge
Introduction
When people ask me about my hobby, I’m stuck in a dilemma. Do I tell them about bridge, and get the classic "Isn't that an old person game?" response or answer with a more normal answer, like tennis? I can't blame them because I was once a kid who had no idea about bridge. Thinking back to elementary school, before I got into bridge and invested countless years of my life into this card game, I never would have guessed that my bridge passion would have turned out how it has. Now, every time I pick up a deck of cards or play a round of bridge, I'm always reminded of the lovely Mrs. Eckert, who nurtured my interest in bridge, and without her, I would not have continued this passion as long as I have.
The Early Days
During the summer of 4th grade, my parents signed me and my brother, who is two years older than me, up for a week-long camp at our local Ocee library for a game called bridge. At that time, I had no idea what bridge was. Neither did my parents. I later learned one of my bridge friends thought bridge meant building a bridge using cards. At this camp, I learned that bridge was a complex card game that involved both bidding and card play. It requires 4 people or 2 pairs. After this weeklong 10-hour camp I was hooked. After a casual first year of weekly classes on Mondays at Ocee Library under Ms. Karen, who hosted the camp, Ms. Karen recommended me to Ms. Eckert. Ms. Eckert taught advanced kids, while Ms. Karen specialized with beginners.
The last student that Ms. Eckert took under her wing, I was introduced to a group of students from the Alpharetta area who are mostly my brother's age. For the next 5 years, Ms. Eckert taught us every Friday for 2 hours at her house, and we practiced on Sundays under the USBF Junior Training Program. Aside from all this practice, we needed real experience, so we also played in games at the local bridge club against adults. Due to school and the fact most games were during the school week, we typically only played once a month, playing whenever we had a school day off. The two clubs that we played the most at were in Alpharetta and Roswell because of their rather close distance. Each game lasted around 3 hours and costs kids $7 and adults $15. It was at these games that I was introduced to the local bridge scene. The first few years I played, the clubs held junior games a few times a year, but those disappeared over time. Two of my best games ever were at junior games where my partner and I got a score of 70%, which is outstanding considering anything over 60% is exceptional.
Beginning to Compete
As our desire to compete grew, we traveled further to find new tournaments. Over longer school breaks, we drove further to participate in larger events, such as regionals and sectionals. For example, we played in Atlanta, Conyers, Gainesville, and Charleston! At the Atlanta Labor Day Regional in 2015, I arguably had my best game with my Alpharetta friends. On a team of 4 with my Alpharetta friends, we placed first out of 45 teams. Charleston was my favorite bridge experience with them, as 8 of my bridge friends traveled to Charleston, South Carolina for a whole week with the sole purpose of playing bridge, with two adult chaperones. The whole week was dedicated to playing bridge, as even if we wanted to we were unable to go travel around and visit the attractions, as we couldn't drive and didn’t have cars. Each day we had the same schedule: wake up, play bridge, eat, play bridge, eat, sleep. We played a minimum of two games, and three if we woke up early enough. I played and performed well enough to win the most master points out of anyone in my category. We also got accused of cheating during this tournament. Between the rounds, we would often get together and chat about random things, and a lady who saw us thought we were telling each other about the boards we had just played, and told our teacher; we ended up having to go apologize to the lady and not congregate between rounds.
Outside of these local tournaments, I also competed at the Youth NABC for five years, from 2012-2016. These nationals were held across the country, and I traveled to Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Washington DC, and Chicago to compete, and one was local in Atlanta. It was at these Youth NABCs that I finally was able to meet the youth scene in bridge, and arguably what kept me coming back to bridge, as I made lots of friends through these events. On average around 300 kids show up for a three-day event, which includes one warmup day, a pairs championship, and a team championship. I never did well in the pairs championship, with my highest placing coming 9th in 2016. However, team-wise, my team of six managed to place 3rd in 2015, one of my proudest achievements. Outside of results, Youth NABC was always a great experience to meet some of the best bridge players in the country and even foreign players. I made countless friends through Youth NABC, many of who I’d meet every year at nationals. Unfortunately, after 2016 many of my Alpharetta friends entered college and quit bridge, leaving me without a team, so I also took a hiatus from Youth NABCs. I will always remember them, but two especially, Alec and Caleb. These two were my favorite partners. I first played with Alec for a year before switching over the Caleb and playing with him for over three years. In bridge, the pairs must have good chemistry and be able to communicate effectively, and I found a connection with Caleb that I don’t know if I will ever find again.
In 2013, by coincidence, the 3rd World Youth Open Bridge Championships was held in Atlanta right after nationals, and to 11-year-old me with nothing to do at home, I had nothing to lose, so I entered with Caleb to get a taste of international bridge. This was my first experience playing with screens and minimal talking, so I was quite intimidated. We performed as expected, starting off average and ending around in the bottom third of the pairs. However, due to a miscommunication between our opponents, we actually were ranked in the top 10 for a brief period of time! This experience allowed me to meet many of the world's best players and get first-hand experience of the special rules that are used in international bridge. While the competition is open to anyone who meets the age requirements, the USA typically sponsors one or two teams per event and pays for all their expenses. Therefore, in 2015 and 2017, I tried out for the U21 team as trials were held in Atlanta. In 2015, I tried out with my usual group of friends. We ended up doing worse than expected, placing 6th out of the 7 teams present. When 2017 rolled around, the majority of my friends had already moved on from bridge and entered college, so I competed with a team that I had never met before. Similarly to before, I ended up placing 6th out of the 6 teams present.
Grief and Nostalgia
After the 2017 USBF trials, I began taking a break from bridge. I could not commit the hours necessary to improve to the next level and decided that the best choice for me was to take a break for a few years. The results from trials really showed how far I was in terms of quality from the best players in the country.
Ms. Eckert sacrificed her hard work and time for our group of kids for free. She drove us to the games, taught us everything, and was a constant light in my life. Ms. Eckert was responsible for the best 5 years of my life. She was always positive and there for my bridge group throughout our journey, through the ups and downs. In 2016, when I was a high school freshman, Ms. Eckert suffered a stroke and was forced to stop playing and teaching bridge. She soon moved an hour away to be near her kids, and I was never able to see her again. Toward the end of 2018, I was notified out of the blue of her death by my brother. This news shocked me, and I have never truly gotten over it. I still think of her all the time, missing her positive personality, and never got the opportunity to fully show my appreciation to her. She was there for my team after we were destroyed in trials for the United States Junior Bridge team, and she was there when we placed third place at youth nationals in Chicago. I was only able to achieve everything I have in bridge thanks to her seeing potential in me and taking me in. Ms. Eckert was and will always be an inspiration to me and I strive to be like her in the future. Every time I play I think of her and her dedication and continue to improve. I also have to give credit to Ms. Karen for introducing me to Ms. Eckert because on my own I never would have known her. Thank you to every single person I met while playing at Ocee Library or with Ms Eckert.
There are a few boards and matches that I will never forget. Once at Crown Plaza, our team blitzed the first three rounds, which means that we obtained the maximum number of points possible in those rounds, which being able to do in one round is already an achievement. Another board was at World's in 2013. Playing one of the best pairs in the nation, we lucked out on a miscommunication and they ended up making a disastrous accident, which allowed Caleb and I to be top 10 in the world for just a few minutes. Miscommunications happen all the time to everyone including myself, and one that I will never forget was at a midnight knockout match with a friend who I've never played with before. Due to a lack of experience, our bidding went astray quickly as I thought he promised both spades and either clubs or diamonds when he reality he only had spades. This ended up negating insanely good play from our teammates as we got doubled and went down around 5. This list of memorable boards will only grow as I continue to play in the future.
Throughout 2018 I mentioned to my friends about hosting a bridge camp, but no concrete progress was made, and after Ms. Eckert's death late in 2018, I felt even more compelled to host this camp as a way to pay my final respects to her. After positive encouragement from my closest friends, I reached out to Ms. Tucker, a longtime bridge teacher who heads the Atlanta Junior Bridge program. After pitching my idea of hosting a camp, she was eager to help me put this idea into reality. We initially met at Ocee Library, but when we inquired about hosting this camp, we were unfortunately told that the library was closed for renovation over the summer. Refusing to let this hinder my plans, I reached out to countless other libraries and public places, such as churches. After about 5 rejections, the manager of the Gwinnett County Public Library Suwanee branch showed interest and after a period of long discussion, Mr. Freeman offered me a spot to host my bridge camp during the week of July 22 to 26.
As we approached the week of camp, I inquired and was told that 16 kids had signed up. And as promised, 16 kids showed up on Monday. With almost all of them returning Tuesday, I began to have hope, but after teaching bidding, half of the kids decided it was too difficult and left. Throughout the week, the attendance steadily declined, and on Friday only 4 kids showed up. While I was disappointed, many kids had notified me that they were to be absent on Friday, so I never was that optimistic. Although the attendance was not up to my expectations, this was a great learning experience for my time teaching a bridge class.
Georgia Tech
Attending the Georgia Institute of Technology gave me the opportunity to get back into the game. Georgia Tech has a talented bridge team and one of the largest clubs out of any college in America. joined the club the summer before freshmen year and first played in a casual collegiate tournament on GT Black, on a team composed of me and a few alumni. Although we didn't play very well, only winning one out of our four matches, it was a good introduction to the team and a nice refresher after the long break.
Later in the fall semester, I captained GT Navy in the first OJBL ever, which was an online casual tournament against other college teams. In the first month, we placed second in our group, winning two of the three matches. In the second month, we ended up with one win and one loss. One of our other match's scores got disqualified as our opponent had fielded an ineligible player and the final match we forfeited as it just proved too difficult to field a complete team on our end. After that month, I took a break from the OJBL until the next year.
Early in 2021, the first collegiate tournament rolled around, which I had been looking forward to since I began playing with GT. The first weekend, I only played the first half, and we ended up 8th out of 15, which was not a terrible finish for my first official competition. The next weekend, GT White placed 2nd out of the 10 teams! GT actually swept the competition, with our three teams dominating the top three finishes. Also around then, starting in February, GT Bridge met in person a handful of times, and while I met a bunch of new people, it was still toned down as opposed to pre-covid times. I managed to run unopposed for secretary so I became the 2021-22 secretary. For the rest of the semester, I continued playing some casual collegiate matches.
The Grand National Teams rolled around in June, and I was excited to compete for the first time. I've qualified in the past with my friends from Alpharetta, but I've never participated in the finals, and with COVID, they waived the qualification requirements and made it online.
Round 1. Nice. Round 2. Nice. Round 3. Nice. Round 4. Nice. Round 5. Nice. Round 6. Nice. Round 7. Nice. We miraculously won our first seven rounds, and despite losing our round against the GT A team, we placed first, qualifying to represent District 7 at nationals!
District B finals didn't go as well, placing 17th out of 30, but with tougher competition, we came in with lower expectations.
For nationals, we had to have 2 new partnerships, so we knew coming in it'd be a little bumpy. After sitting out the first session, we were exactly on the qualification spot, 16th, as the top 16 out of the 38 teams would progress. However, the second session didn't go too well, as we won two and lost two rounds, and anxiously awaited the final results. What a disheartening moment as we ended up 17th. The possibility that making the one contract that went down in the last round may have brought us to 16th place made it even worse.
Collegiates also occurred this year, although participation suffered significantly due to it being online. I competed in the pairs and came 10th out of 12 pairs, but it was with a new partner, so I wasn't too bothered.
The start of the sophomore year also meant the return of in-person bridge, as Georgia Tech transitioned to in-person. I started off with tabling at Grad Expo the week before classes started, and also tabled at Org Fair a few weeks later. Surprisingly, we managed to hold a very steady and impressive 20+ attendance at the majority of our meetings. It was amazing to meet all the experienced returning players while also meeting newcomers. Being on the leadership team, I felt a responsibility to teach so I did that whenever needed.
The fall semester went well, and as the spring semester rolled out so did the Collegiates. For both team tournaments, I was on the B team. The first time, we got 5th and the A team got 4th. Unfortunately for us, only the top three schools in each team tournament win a package, so we were just short on luck. The next week, in the other team tournament, we managed to beat the A team, but choked hard at the end, ending up 6th, and the fourth place school yet again. Demoralized, we headed into the pairs tournament, which rewarded six travel packages, three for strat A and three for strat B. Our top pair got 4th in strat A, narrowly missing out on a package, and by some miracle, my partner, Justin, and I, who got 8th overall, managed to win a travel package, which included a $500 stipend for airfare and a free three-night hotel!
Leading up to the collegiate bridge bowl in July, I had weekly practices with my partner. I had been partners with this guy for about a year now, but ironically he was not who I won the package with. Unfortunately for me, nationals were in Providence, Rhode Island. This proved to be annoying as I was in Seattle for the summer, so I had to fly to Boston and then make my way to Providence. Luckily my partner was in Boston for the summer, so he drove me to Providence, but on the way back I wasn't so lucky because my flight was at 8 AM. On the B team, we placed 7th out of the 12 teams in the qualifying day of the team event, qualifying for the knockouts on day 2, although we got knocked out in the first round of the bracket. Our A team had gotten the first seed, but were upset in the quarterfinals and lost in the quarterfinals. The pairs event went alright. We managed a decent score of 55% in the morning session, but in the afternoon session, we barely managed around 47%, leading us to a disappointing finish overall. The one silver lining about nationals is that I found a USBF U26 trials team! Ever since I saw the news that the USBF Jr trials were happening this year, I wanted to play but had no team. Luckily, my hotel roommate, who wasn't even my bridge partner, was also interested in playing at trials, and we agreed to play together at trials in December. While my partner had learned bridge significantly later than me, she had infinitely more connections and knew all the good USBF juniors.
The fall semester came and went without much commotion. I played in the annual GT uga Hate Match and won, and besides that, started practicing two to three times a week with my partner and team as we prepared for the USBF trials.
As we entered USBF trials, I didn't expect to be one of the top two teams, as I thought we were in the middle of the pack. On the first day we were sixth out of the ten teams, which we were content with, but unfortunately, the second day went much worse, and we got second to last and were knocked out.
Disappointed with myself and without a set college partner, I entered the spring semester of my junior year a little disappointed. In the first of the two team tournaments, our school entered four teams of four, but one dropout forced our team into a five-man rotation, derailing us into a poor result. In the second team tournament, I placed first place, although on a merged GT Gold and GT White team. The pair tournament wasn’t notable either, as my partner and I didn’t have any chemistry together.
As the summer Collegiate Bridge Bowl approached, I was wildly unprepared. The previous year the teams were decided before the spring semester ended but this year it was unclear. With an odd number of players, no one knew which team would have five people. Combined with our captain being sick for the majority of the summer, I only found out which team I was on two weeks before the event. We planned to be a team of five if our captain could make the event and a team of four if not. I was given the opportunity of a lifetime when I found out who my partner was, as he was way better than me. He was on the USA U21 team! Having never played with him and discussed our conventions twice before the event, we went in with high hopes. Only the day before the tournament did our captain unfortunately confirm that he was unable to make it.
Despite the lack of practice, the team and I entered the tournament with high hopes, knowing our potential. After the first day, we earned the first seed in the knockouts of the team event despite losing two of the six matches. The first knockout round went almost perfectly and we qualified for the semifinals. After losing the first half, we mounted a comeback in the second half and qualified for the finals. After losing the first half yet again, we managed to win the second half and become national champions! (https://cdn.acbl.org/nabc/2023/02/bulletins/db9.pdf) Having won $10k to be split between the four of us, and after the longest day of bridge ever, I lowered my expectations for the pairs event. After a solid 57% first session, we got an impressive 61% second session score, and with an overall 59% won the pairs event and split another $3k prize! (https://cdn.acbl.org/nabc/2023/02/bulletins/db10.pdf) Our teammates from the team event finished just behind us in second place as well. This might have been Georgia Tech’s best performance at collegiates ever!
Best Results
2023: Collegiate Bridge Bowl Team and Pair winner, Spring Collegiate Team Tournament 2 Winner
2022: Collegiate Bridge Bowl Pair Package, T5-8 teams
2021: District 7 GNT Flight C Champions
2020: 10th Place Youth NABC Pairs
2017: 6th Place USBF Under 21 Trials
2016: Youth NABC 9th Place Pairs
Youth NABC 9th place Team
2015: 6th Place USBF Under 21 Trials
3rd Place Youth NABC Swiss Team
Labor Day Regionals 1st place Gold Rush Teams
2014: 1st place Most Points Won 0-100 MP Charleston MABC
Youth NABC 8th place Team