A strange new holiday season is upon us. How will we negotiate Thanksgiving and all the other end-of-year celebrations? Most of us won’t be able to be with family in this “new normal.” While this is so difficult, what I find encouraging is the creativity and courage people are showing. Setting up their devices so they can “be at the table” together, each making one favorite dish. Planning ZOOM gift-opening sessions. And so many other ideas.

Our spirits are undaunted!

And there’s a bridge role in this. People are in touch and staying (somewhat) sane, thanks to our wonderful game.

And if you’ll forgive me for getting a little “preachy,” I have some pretentious words of advice for newer players.

If you bring that same creative and courageous spirit to our game, YOU can learn to play bridge–eventually!! That’s the easy part. The hard part is having the courage to plunge right in there and DO it! We learn a little piece at a time, and it’s not like a jigsaw puzzle– you (fortunately!) can play without all the pieces. If you wait until all the pieces are there, you’ll be too old to hold the cards.

Be brave! Be fearless! Sooner or later, the math and mechanics will come. Till then, have fun and bid em’ like you’ve got ‘em.

You may have noticed that sometimes the Big Dog players don’t like playing with you. Have you wondered why? You may think it’s because you are slow, or hesitating. Not really! There’s more to it. Once at my club, a strange reversal happened. It was a 49ers game. A lovely pair of more experienced players with close to 300 points each wandered in by mistake. We had a half-table, so they stayed and played marked ineligible so their scores didn’t count. As they were leaving, I teased them about being like a pair of swans at a duckling convention.

But listen to this: The ducklings had “fixed” the advanced players but good. The Swans came in close to the bottom, hardly knowing what hit them. They were reeling from strange events, like jump shift bids made without the partner having any idea if they were weak or strong, bids that didn’t even resemble the hands that were holding them.

To their credit, they were laughing as they staggered into the parking lot, with one of the lowest scores they’d ever had. One said, “I sure hope I don’t run into them again until they know how to play this game right!”And speaking of playing the game right, here’s an email from one of my Faithful Readers.


Marti -

A strategy question came up today and I said that I would ask you. Is there any advantage for a beginner to playing NS or EW? Since NS must do the scoring, I would think that the less experienced players would chose to sit EW. If a better player were to sit EW then wouldn’t they have easier competition? 

-Alan

Hey Alan! Good morning. Your seemingly-simple question is interesting on more than one level. First, I’ll answer very quickly and simply. The job of the director is to “seed the field.” A good director makes sure that an equal number of less- and more-experienced sit each direction. As people arrive for the game, the director is sizing up the field, and may ask people to switch direction to ensure that the same number of, say, people under 100 pts are sitting each direction. It’s an art form... good directors do it almost unconsciously.
NOW. Let’s talk. I encourage my less-experienced players to choose N/S and force themselves to keep score. There is nothing like keeping score to ensure you see, and internalize, the difference between bidding 4 and making 4, and bidding 3 and making 4. Does that make sense? It is more work, but it does help the less-experienced BonBon begin to see the nuances of the game.

Sadly, the electronic scoring systems we all seem to be using currently, we don’t have to “know the numbers” so I encourage you to count them out as you automatically score. It will help your game grow.

So there you have it. Some bridge advice, but more importantly, a sincere wish for holidays that are as joyous as possible. We have a lot to be grateful for, and we should celebrate it.

-Marti Ronemus

Marti Ronemus has created online interactive lessons on the BridgeBee platform. Click Here to browse her selection and play sample hands!

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