Promoting Bridge to Young Players

This is a copy of a letter that I put together (with the help of McKenzie, of course) about a month ago and sent in to the Bridge Bulletin. I haven't had any response from the ACBL Editor, so I'm putting it up here in the hope that this spawns at least a bit of discussion.

At the Junior reception at the recent Las Vegas NABC, several speakers reiterated the same point: the ACBL needs more young players, and they want us, the juniors, to get our friends into the game. I have a question for those who keep telling us to get our friends involved: Who do you think our friends are?

Our friends are already here. We met them at the bridge table. And while there is a camaraderie among young players, most of our friends are the same as yours: other bridge players, young and old.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the ACBL cannot simply call on us juniors to revitalize the game with a few text messages and blog posts directed to our [non-existent] non-bridge friends. But hope is not lost! We're happy to help get the youth into the game, but you, the ACBL execs, and members of all ages, will need to help us.

We junior players are happy to welcome and befriend other young folks when we see them, but you all have to recognize and harness the power you have to bring kids to the bridge table in the first place. Right now, the ACBL and its members are failing at this task.

I played in my first ACBL game at age 11. I caddied for many years as well. I traveled to tournaments all over the US and became well-known among players and ACBL officials. Forgive me for tooting my own horn, but I was a smart kid with definite potential. Nevertheless, the encouragement I got in my thousands of hours at bridge tables never went beyond a patronizing “It's so nice to see young people playing bridge!”

Not once in my fourteen years as an active and eligible junior did anyone speak to me about the opportunities available to junior bridge players – and I know now that those opportunities are many. No one ever took me under their wing; no one told me about the scholarships or travel; no director even mentioned to me the junior entry fee discount.

It wasn't until nearly the very end of my juniordom that I married former junior standout McKenzie Myers and realized just how many opportunities I had missed. My husband was lucky enough to take up bridge in an area full of knowledgeable and helpful players who helped him get involved in the junior program and become the successful and enthusiastic young bridge player that he is today. If all young players received the attention and nurturing that McKenzie got from District 20, junior bridge would be a much bigger part of the ACBL.

If the ACBL and its members are ready to back up that statement we keep hearing (everybody together now: It's SO NICE to see young people playing bridge!), here's what you need to do:

Give kids some incentive to turn off their Wiis and iPods and pick up a deck of cards. Class credit in high schools and colleges is a great way to get kids to try the game at an age where they're still young enough to take advantage of junior opportunities.

A friend of mine who is a professor at a Virginia university taught a semester long bridge course for honors students. He used supplies and lesson plans of his own, because he didn't know of any of the ACBL's education initiatives. The ACBL needs to work harder to reach out to educators who are in the best position of all to recruit young players to the game.

Next comes PR. Stop letting young players fall through the cracks. When a new player joins the ACBL, take note of their birthdate. When a new junior joins, reach out! Tell them about discounts, scholarships, special events, and other junior players. A simple information packet and a handful of tournament free plays could go a long way toward boosting junior bridge and the entire ACBL in turn.

I suggest that every district dedicate some energy toward junior relations. This means electing juniors to serve on boards and to reach out to new junior players in the area. This junior liaison can provide names and numbers of folks in the district who can partner and teach new young players. Most juniors have parents who play bridge, but let's be honest – teenagers are not going to get excited about social lives that revolve around their parents. Furthermore, many of us would find our development stunted if we relied only on our parents' instruction. (My mother is one of the finest players in Unit 139, but my goal is to be one of the finest players in the world.)

Bridge is a wonderful game, and you don't need gimmicks to lure kids into it. Even though my days as a junior are waning, I plan to enjoy everything that remains available to me and all players in the game for the rest of my life. But there are so many additional opportunities in bridge for under-26 players that it really should be easy to hook these kids on the game. All we have to do is get the word out – and that's not just the job of the handful of juniors in the ACBL right now – that should be a priority for all ACBL members.

Kudos to those who are already working hard on behalf of young bridge players. The first Youth NABC in Atlanta earlier this year was a great success, and if all districts had dedicated members like the Atlanta crew, you'd see a lot more young faces at the table. If you'd like to keep this discussion going, please email me at Meg@DoubleSqueeze.com.

Meg Myers

Charlottesville, VA

Board Member – Unit 139

Tournament Chairman – 2009 Charlottesville Regional

Co-Editor – www.DoubleSqueeze.com

Fun Hand from the Las Vegas NABC

Playing with my friend Tammy in a morning Swiss match, I picked up the following hand (first seat, all white):

862 AKQJ63 --- QJ74

Never mind the auction -- we had a misunderstanding about a piece of our system. But we stumbled to 4H. Dummy hits with:

KQJT954 T92 742 ---

On the lead of the Spade 7 (from 73), this is ice cold for 6, off three aces. Ironically, our bidding mishap kept us out of 4S, which only made 5. Win one. Go team:)

How would the auction go at your table?

0-5000 Spingold, Day One

I played in the Mini-Spingold in the Las Vegas NABC last week. My team was me, Paul, Buffy, Tomb, and LCC. Tomb and LCC had met for the first time a few days prior to the event, played the Life Master Pairs, and placed a very impressive 59^th overall. Tomb, LCC, and I would be anchoring, and Paul and Buffy would be platooning with me, generally Paul the odd quarters and Buffy the even.

1^st quarter:

With 99 teams in the field and a need to get down to 64 for the next day, the bulk of the matches were three-ways with two survivors. We were the 42nd seed and would be playing one much higher seed and one much lower seed.

1^st eighth, vs. the low seed:

We bid a pushy red 3N-- pard opened a strong NT with his good 14, and I forced to game with KJT85 76 AT86 J2. Lose six. One other small partscore swing their way, and afer seven, we were down 12-1.

2^nd eighth, vs. the high seed:

Pard severely underdefended 1N – lose six; 3N – lose 11; 3N – lose 10. Ouch.

The opponents had the auction 1D (1S) P (P) 3D (P) 3N. Dummy (the 1D-3D bidder) held A T9x AJT9xxx xx. Down 4, for 11 back. Dummy chastised his partner-- “You knew I didn't have a good hand- I would've doubled with a good hand!” This is the high seed? We also gained 6 back for staying out of a bad white game, going 170 opposite -50. We were down 30-17.

2^nd quarter:

3^rd eighth, low:

I'm starting to get the feeling that these players have well over the equivalent of 5000 MPs in their home country. I don't know that we're going to be able to beat them.

They bid everything that moved-- getting to two games that LCC and Tomb didn't. The last board, I thought we needed a pickup, so on the last board, all red, holding 976 Q8 Q9873 AQ7 over pard's 1H, I bid a forcing NT, then an invitational 2NT over his 2C call. I guess pard was in the same mindset, because he raised to game with xx AKT9x Ax JT9x. They led the five of diamonds. I played low from dummy, and righty took the king. I dropped the nine looking for a continuation, and I got one-- LHO played the jack under the ace. It turned out lefty led low from JT5! This filthy, filthy game came home (with an overberry!) for win 10. Down 30-11 after 14.

4^th eighth, high:

This was the most ridiculous board of the event:

First I held 8754 AQ86 85 AKQ and opened a strong NT. Lefty passed, pard transferred to hearts, and righty overcalled 2N, both minors. I bid 3H, lefty 4D, pard 4H, and righty 5D. I thought we were in a game-forcing auction, so I doubled to show diamond losers... pard didn't think we were in a forcing auction, and figured me for a diamond suit like my actual club suit. So he sat, and they were cold for 6-- minus 650.

At the other table, they also opened a strong notrump. My teammate made some sort of a conventional double, Buffy's counterpart bid a systemically natural 2D meaning it as a transfer, and everyone passed. E-W took the same twelve tricks on defense as they did on offense at our table, and our teemies went +350. Lose 7. Would've been only two if I hadn't doubled... so, as usual, double of a making game cost 5 imps... just in a ludicrous manner.

Other than that, we were pretty on. We cracked an unfavorable notrump for 500 and win 9, and we bid a good grand. I held KT42 KQT654 A 62 over pard's 1S. I bid 2H, and over his 2S (not neccesarily extra length) I splintered with 4D. He checked for keys and bid 7S with his AQxxxx A KQxx Ax. Win 13.

When all was said and done, we were down 40-39 at the half.

3^rd quarter:

5^th eighth (I'll stop the low/high stuff-- team 1 is certainly much stronger than 2.):

We won 11 when the opponents missed an easy slam-- they keycarded and found out they were off one, and stopped. This is one of my biggest pet peeves (by partners, not by opponents.. I love when opponents don't know how to bid). If you're not strong enough / don't know enough to bid a slam when you're off only one keycard, you weren't strong enough to Blackwood in the first place!! A few other imps fell on the table for various reasons, and we ended the quarter down 34-25.

6^th eighth:

I opened an intermediate 3H in third chair at all red with – AJT986 AT63 962. Lefty doubled, and righty pulled to 3N. This is untouchable from that side-- doubler had Qxx of hearts, and notrumper Kx. At the other table, it went pass – pass – 1H – 1N – 2S – all pass, down three. Pard held king-seventh of spades and out. Not much else of interest happened, and at the ¾ mark, we were down 59-46.

4^th quarter:

Buffy and I turned it on and had a wall of a card.

7^th eighth:

We pushed a white game; we won 7 for a good white game, 450 opposite 170; then, I picked up at all white the best four-count ever:

52 9765 J3 KT643.

I passed, and pard bid 2C. I coughed up a positive response of 2D. He bid 2S, I bid a natural 3C, and he came out with 5H! What could this be but Exclusion Keycard? So I duly responded one without the queen (our response structure is zero, one without, one with, two without, two with, etc) and he bid the club granny. His hand: AKQJxx – Ax AQJxx. Cold for 13 tricks in clubs, but only 12 in spades. We hoped the opponents would get to the spade grand and go down... it was almost as good, though-- they stopped in 4S and made 6! Win 12. We picked up one when our teemies pulled an overtrick in 6H, and 13 more when the opponents missed a red slam. Then came:

KT7 JT9 T975 976. Pard opened 2N (red) and I figured my good spot cards were worth a lift to game. Pard was staring at a “Bridge Master 2000 Special” of Q32 AQ2 AKQ A432. Note the lowest spot cards possible. He impressed all at the table by bringing home ten tricks. The seven of spades was his ninth trick, and his entry to the 13^th diamond for his tenth. Nicely done. Win 11.

On the last board, we got to the only game with a chance at making-- 4S on the 5-2. Splits were foul, and I went down two. The other table took a line of play that guaranteed down one, for lose 3. So in seven boards, we won the set 36-3 and the match 71-37.

8^th eighth:

We continued our mooseish ways, tacking on 26 imps and giving away none. My favorite board from this set:

I held QJ8762 53 J4 AQ9 at all white. Pard passed, righty opened 1D, I leapt to 2S, lefty doubled, righty bid 3C, lefty cued 3S, and righty bid a confident 3N. Auction over? Nope-- pard's in there with a resounding double. I duly led a heart (dummy's first “bid” suit), and dummy was K KJ8xx Qxxx KTx. Pard held Tx AQT9x T9x Jxx and we put it down 3 for a win 10 opposite 3N -1 at the other table.

We won this set 26-0 and the match 72-59. The tally for the final 14 boards was 62-3.

This is why I love playing with Buffy.

The weaker but higher ranking team lost, so we assumed the 29 seed going in to day two.