Introductions and the Like

[jvage]

My name is John Våge (hope the Norwegian letters works....). I am 39 years old, working as a civil engineer for our national railways. This has given me the chance to play (and win!) the last 4 European Railway bridge championships :)

 

I started playing bridge relatively late, converting from chess during my last year at university. I consider myself an OK player, playing in our Premier league (top 10 teams, we did well last year but dropped out this year) and qualifying for the last 6 national pairs finals (several placings just below the top 10). I am fortunate to play in the same club as most of our national Open, Junior and Schools players. Together with some other very strong players they provide many good partners and opponents even at the local tournaments.

 

I am also an occasional tournament director and the NPC of the Norwegian Schools team.

 

John

[Mr. Dodgy]

Well, it's about time I introduced myself in a little more detail too, I guess, as I'm currently rather intoxicated and feeling especially social for once...those few who already know me this is, I hope, no great surprise - I like to have fun but maintain a rather aloof attitude much of the time.

 

I am Justin, MrDodgy on BBO. I am perilously close to turning 37 years old. I Currently live in Brisbane, Australia.

 

I was first introduced to bridge by my grandmother, 'Oma', in my early teens, but she was a hard taskmaster and my unknowing mistakes were met with some lack of sympathy which deterred me from pursuing the game.

 

I did enjoy playing 'Oh Hell', taught to me by my father in my youth, and later I was taught Five Hundred by a family freind and eventually played it regularly with freinds.

 

Back at Oma's I then found myself engrossed and intrigued by a few of the books she kept on the subject; Victor Mollo's "Bridge in the Menagerie" and one by Charles Goren / CC Wei on Precision. I dealt myself hand after hand to bid and play, and started cleaning up at the weekly 500-and-pot evenings :)

 

So I read more, even joined a club, then discovered bridge on Yahoo, Pogo, and eventually BBO. I've been stuck here ever since :D

 

I work in IT&T support, my other hobbies include 8-Ball, ten-pin bowling, dancing, girls, and fantasy fiction/art.

 

I consider myself a good intermediate player; my knowledge probably surpasses my real skill, but I'm improving :). Next week I will attend my first big Congress on Australia's Gold Coast. God help them.

 

I love my freinds on BBO and the game in general. Also rain, sleeping, Kahlua, girls, chocolate milk, and reading old BBO Forums posts.

 

Thanks to Fred et al. for a great second home. G'nite.

[Lemm1ng]

Hello, I suppose this thread is as good as any for my first post here.

 

My name is [Edited]. I was born in China but emigrated to Southeast England aged 5; so culturally I am very much British. Now 20 years old, I am a second year Economics undergraduate with a little too much time on his hands. On BBO, my moniker is "Lemm1ng", originating from my like for lemmings :)

 

I stumbled upon bridge during break times in Sixth Form (high school equivalent) when I would play with friends. None of us were any good and we knew nothing about bidding systems; it was merely a casual game where people rarely bid beyond the 3 level and nobody bothered to keep score. This all changed after I left for university.

 

I began to read bridge columns (Andrew Robson's in the Times is a particular favourite) and learned everything I know about bidding from Karen Walker's excellent bridge library; http://www.prairienet.org/bridge/ Essentially I am entirely self taught, learning to run before I could walk by reading about elaborate declarer play and defense. This is perhaps why I am occasional fallible to the most rookie errors!

 

SAYC is my bidding system of choice and I play all sorts of gadgets. I am a willing student of the game and would love the opportunity to improve my skills, but this is difficult because nobody else my age seems to play bridge (at least nobody near me). Age is important I think because I need to be able to relate, to build a rapport. My inability to find a partner has hurt my interest in the game, and I seem to use BBO less and less nowadays.

 

As a person, I am very talkative with a less than conventional perspective to everything, and full of random trivia. I work part time as a teaching assistant at the local Sixth Form College. I love British sitcoms, namely Blackadder and the Office, and personally I have a dry sense of humour. Chopin and Liszt make up my music of choice, though I also enjoy British rock (n roll). Cooking and following cricket make up my other main hobbies :)

 

Good job if you read all that.

[gwnn]

Hi everyone :) I just saw this topic and I thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself.

 

My name is Csaba Daday (albeit my very funny bbo nickname is the abbreviation from "guy with no name"). I am 19 years old. I was slowly but surely persuaded by my parents to pick up playing bridge :) I used to play chess competitively but I lost the passion for it etc. From the first hands I got hooked and I am not going to be unhooked for a long, long while, I think.

 

Currently I study Physics @ Cluj, Romania, a little less than 100 miles from home. In our dorm port 9999 is blocked so basically that's why I started coming here. Also, I tend to read bridge books in my free time. I must say I'm now thankful for the blocked port - playing a lot of bad bridge doesn't improve it very much, or it improves it all too slowly. In weekends I am on BBO a lot (from home). The Forums are a great great help.... I cannot stress it enough how wonderful EVERYONE here is. Thorough, helpful, funny, incisive responses, advice and so on. I can't imagine any other domain in the world where there are so many helpful, wonderful people like bridge. It really is amazing.

 

I must admit I'm not much of a card player (yet) but I really like bidding much more. (communication between two people through a code, you know, inferences, negative inferences, ... I think it's really nice and it helps in life also) It's a junior's plague I guess, but I am very much drawn to conventional bidding... (Andrei Sharko's symmrel version) Actually it's because I found that it's a whole lot easier to be bidding sequences that are known to be understood by both parties than so-called natural bids that can be very ambiguous.. Of course, a natural system ought to be discussed and then it becomes equally clear, but somehow (most average) players overlook this aspect and say something like "KISS". My p (Lorserker on BBO) told me this funny story: when his father had finally persuaded him to start playing, after a while he started to tell him about bidding... 4 card majors, la longue d'abord etc etc. He didn't really understand anything. Then his dad sighed and told him "you don't like all this stuff? Here's a system where u don't have to think at all." and he gave him a 30-something page long (super?)precision sys. Lori was relieved and learned it all :)

 

Anyway I think this was a very long and boring introduction. I apologize from anyone who read it all. :)

[Apollo81]

I'm Noble, 25 and from Maryland near Washington DC. I am better at doubling making contracts than making doubled contracts. Thankfully my 15% slams always make, or I would never score above a 42%.

[markleon]

Greetings BBO'ers

 

I'm Mark Leonard, from Ypsilanti, MI (right outside of Ann Arbor), where I live with my partner, Scott (who is violently opposed to learning anything about bridge), and our two cats. I'm 41 as of this posting. I work as a project manager/consultant for an internet services company involved in automotive financing, which right now requires a lot of travel to the Los Angeles area. So, I'm would love to hear from players in Southern California.

 

I learned bridge as a freshman in college, when my best friend that year told me that I had to learn in order to continue to hang out with him.

 

My best bridge results have been in the 0-5000 GNT's (Flight A), where I was part of teams that went to the finals in New York (2004) and to the semi-finals in Chicago (2006). As of the last day of the Nashville nationals, I am a brand new Gold Life Master.

 

I have a lot of different partners, so by necessity, my bidding theories are simple and pragmatic. I strongly believe that the most underrated part of bridge is the ability to be a good partner and elicit the best game out of parter that you can get.

 

Looking forward to lots of interesting discussions with the brilliant and fun crowd and haunts this forum.

[kfay]

Hey-

 

I'm Kevin Fay. I'm a recent graduate of the University of Michigan where I studied biophysics and biochemistry and still live in Ann Arbor. I am currently working in a biochemistry laboratory that does research in endocrinology, specifically with sex hormones. Although in a few weeks I'll be going back to a lab that I've been working in for a number of years in the pathology department that does research on collagen degradation in the skin due either to aging or other pathological causes. I will be applying to medical school next year (2008).

 

My biggest achievement in bridge must be that I was a member of the U of M bridge team that won the collegiate national championships in Chicago (2006). While the level of competition in this event isn't too great it was still fun to represent my school and meet a few other kids my age who play bridge around the country.

 

I'm not a great bridge player, personally, but I'm working hard to get better. I only began playing a little more than 4 years ago right before I came to college and only began to play duplicate 3-4 years ago so maybe I have an excuse for how bad I am :P .

 

Anyways, I enjoy very much taking part in the discussions on this site and learning from what the rest of you have to say so thanks for everything!

 

GO BLUE!

[PassedOut]

My name is Lynn Torkelson and I live on the shores of Lake Superior with my dear wife Constance Petersen. Now that our youngest son has flown the coop, we are gradually adapting to life as empty nesters. For me, that includes taking time out to play bridge 3 or 4 times a week on BBO.

 

Like many, I started to play bridge in college during the 1960s. Until the late 1970s I played quite often and got my gold card in 1976. Then the pressures of business and family life took over and I gave up serious bridge. During my 20-year residence in Atlanta, I made some life-long friends and arranged to play duplicate 2 or 3 times a month with one of them for the a few years, plus an occasional regional or national tournament. After I moved back north, he introduced me first to the MSN Zone and then to BBO, where we now try to play once a week.

 

Although my playing has been very limited, I never lost my love for bridge and made it a practice regularly to add new bridge books to my library and to read The Bridge World from cover to cover every month. (Early on I bought a lifetime subscription and still have every issue from 1964 to the present.) A fun moment for me (back in 1975) was scoring 800 in the Master Solvers Club and being invited as a guest panelist for a month.

 

My first bridge book, Bridge Is A Partnership Game, by Al Roth and Tobias Stone, was a gift from my first regular partner and remains a sentimental favorite. Although I do like bidding systems, I have to say that I most enjoy the challenges of declarer play and defense. My favorite bridge books of all time would have to be Master Play, by Terrence Reese, and Bridge Squeezes Complete, by Clyde Love.

 

Favorite bridge memories include the opportunity to compete at the table with many top players (and I still remember some of the more interesting deals). But my most satisfying moments have come at the table when I've solved a tough problem in play or defense. The first such moment (40 years ago, but I can remember it like it was yesterday) came in a 3NT contract where it seemed that I'd wind up a trick short. But I knew where the all the cards were and it suddenly dawned on me that I could duck a trick to my RHO, and my LHO would be squeezed.

 

As I think back on it now, the sheer fun of playing tournament bridge comes back to me full force. People do such amazing things!

 

Once I saw a player in a slam contract agonize over his play for quite awhile. Then he led the eight of diamonds (from ♦A-8 alone) toward his hand, saying grimly, "This finesse has got to work." Sure enough, the jack held. His next play? He led the king of diamonds, overtaking with the ace. (He had started with ♦K-J alone.)

 

Another time I was playing a spade game, and the last 8 cards were:

 

Dummy

♠ -

♥ Q-J-4

♦ Q-J-10

♣ 8-6

 

Me

♠ 9-6

♥ A-7-5

♦ A-8-7

♣ -

 

In my hand, I cashed the heart ace and my LHO played his singleton king. When the diamond finesse worked, I had two overtricks. No big deal, but my LHO angrily asked me, "Why did you play the ace of hearts?"

 

I explained that I expected to lose a heart trick but planned to use the later heart entry to try the diamond finesse. He was not buying it for a minute though, even after a couple more detailed explanations. Finally I gave up and said, "Next time hold your cards back."

 

"I thought so!" he shouted.

 

I've read that mind sports like bridge can hold off dementia, so I plan gradually to get my game up to speed. Thanks to BBO and to all the posters here!

[skjaeran]

Never discovered this thread before.

 

I'm Harald Skjæran, 42 years old, living in Oslo, Norway. Been married for nearly 14 years, but we're separating now - moving into a new apartment in a couple of weeks. Two sons, 10 and shortly 13. Will be a part-time dad. I'm working in the Norwegian Bridge Federation's office - been there 16 years now. 2nd in command, have been acting Secretary General a couple of periods.

 

I started playing card games at 2 YO, dropping in at bridge when my parents lacked a 4th from the age of 8 I believe. Playing in a club since I was 12. Reprensented Norway internationally at the Nordic Junior Teams championships in 1987 partnering Geir Helgemo (he was 17 then), winning the under-23 class.

 

Played a lot during high school and as a student, some less since having children. I've been playing in our national 1st division on two occasions (last season and three years previous), dropping down to 2nd division both times with a clear margin up to 7th place (where you survive). Silver medal in the national club teams championship once (2001) and three medals in the national swiss teams championship (2001, 2003, 2005). My whole team played badly in the 1st weekend of the 2nd division two weeks ago. Need to play far better the 2nd weekend (early February) to aviod dropping to 3rd division.

 

I'm spending more time playing f2f than online, but more boards online. I'm skjaeran at BBO (skaeran due to mistyping here on the forums). I've been commentating irregularly on the vugraph broadcasts for some 2 years (maybe more - can't really remember), probably spending more time that way than playing on BBO.

[nick_s]

I'm Nick Southwell, 51 years old, living in the NW suburbs of Chicago.

 

I started playing at boarding school in England - I was 12. At 16 I went to the local bridge club, got partnered with a LOL and played my first duplicate game. We won, and I was hooked. At this point I had never heard of a bidding system. I went to the local library and devoured all the bridge books I could find.

 

I went to college at Cambridge and Leeds, and played for the Yorkshire team several times.

 

In 1985 I moved to the US and didn't play at all until earlier this year.

 

I'm pretty comfortable with SAYC now, but have yet to play 2/1 with anyone. Back in the UK, I played acol, several versions of Precision, and Blue Club.

 

I'm teaching my wife to play. That seems to be working out well, but it's still early days yet.

 

I'd really like to find a regular f2f partner that's interested in working seriously on the partnership. Please send me a message if you're interested: nicksouthwell at yahoo.com

[GeeGee]

Very belated post. Could have done it ages ago.

 

My name is Geoff Gray, 59, just retired, I live in Northwood, NW London. I'm secretary of the Sobell Bridge club, http://www.sobell-bridge.org.uk/

 

My bridge is rubbish, but the club we play in raises around £40,000 a year for the

local hospice, http://www.michaelsobellhouse.co.uk/

[jdaming]

Jason Daming age 20

 

Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri.

School: University of Missouri-Rolla (Missouri S&T now) (engineering school)

Major: computer engineering

 

Graduating in May 2008 (the day after I turn 21).

 

Moving to Austin, TX to work for National Instruments in June 2008.

[Elianna]

Welcome Geoff and Jason!

[Roupoil]

Hello everybody,

 

I'm Guillaume, 26 and french (well, it happens to fine people). I was lurking around for a few weeks and decided tonight to try to post a few non too stupid things.

 

I'm not really an expert bridge player, but I'm playing for a few years now (I learned the game at 12 and really began to play seriously at around 20) and interested especially in bidding theory, which can be a little bit frustrating in my country since a huge majority of the players play more or less the same system.

 

In real life, I'm a maths teacher and love classical music. I'm living in Paris, the most beautiful city in the world (well, it's just my opinion :) ). Ah, and last important thing, my nickname Roupoil means "red hair" in french, I am confident you will all understand why it was given to me.

[y66]

Hello forum mates. I'm Mark, intermediate, baby-boomer, USA (DC metro area), married, software developer, BA econ, INTJ.

 

Bridge goals: play competently against tough opps; read and get most of Kelsey, Reese, Woolsey & Robson/Segal; complete BridgeMaster Level 4 without errors (ha!).

 

Favorite bridge book: At The Table by Bob Hamman.

 

Favorite commentators: Kit Woolsey, Patrick Huang and any commentator who makes an effort to help average viewers appreciate the finer points of play and defense.

 

Other interests: golf, hiking, reading.

[jjbrr]

I'm also INTJ

[olegru]

Hi all,

 

Never noticed this thread'before.

My name is Oleg Rubinchik. I am almost 40.

Currently I live in Brooklyn, NY, originally from Russia.

[larryberle]

my name is Larry

My wife and I will be in Salzburg Austria from June 22 until the end of august 2010 we are looking for partners and people to play bridge with (live not on line) while we are there if you know any bridge players in Salzburg please let me know

Larry Berle

lberle@sropro.com

[W Kovacs]

Looks like I managed to jump into the forums without giving a proper introduction.

 

My real name is Rob. I live in the greater St Louis area. I started out playing rubber bridge on Yahoo about 6 years ago, and then started playing duplicate (MPs) 4 years ago. Like most Americans, I started out on a standardish system.

 

2 years ago, one of the opponents I played against in the club started to work at the same place I did, and we became partners. We started out playing Acol (with weak 2s), which I found much better than standard American. We eventually tried out Precision (Berkowitz & Manley), and have been hooked ever since.

 

Then the economy took over. I lost my job, and was out of work for over a year. Due to lack of funds, I have been unable to play bridge much in the past year, so now I'm scraping some rust off.

 

My partner also lost his job, and has since moved to a different city, so I am also left partnerless.

 

Currently I am focusing on improving my defense over all other aspects of the game. My thought process is that you bid on 100% of your hands (and I bid reasonably well), you declare 25% of the time, but you'll defend 50% of the time. Hence good defense is imperitive.

[kfay]

Hey Everyone-

 

I used to post on the forums a lot. I may be wrong but there are possibly a few people who might be wondering, "where did KFay go? I miss making fun of him."

 

Well, I finally was accepted to medical school. I've been really busy studying and my time for bridge has been limited to writing a few things for a website, which you can find here and here, if you're interested. But even now I'm beginning to think that I won't have time for this in the future either.

 

Hopefully I'll be able to come back to the game some day more seriously because I definitely feel like I have unfinished business in the national/world championship area :-). But I'll lurk from time to time.

[y66]

Very best wishes to you in your medical career. A lot of work ahead for you but hard to imagine a more challenging and gratifying career field.

[Free]

Lol, I just read my own piece again. "I hate UDCA" :lol: This is no longer up to date.

[awm]

I'm Adam Meyerson; my user ID is my initials which conveniently also stand for "Appeal without Merit." I've been happily married to Elianna (also on these forums) for almost a year now (we were dating for a long time before though). Currently I am 35, which I guess makes me young for a bridge player.

 

For the last nine years or so, I've been a professor of computer science at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). This has also included the position of honorary cat herder for the UCLA bridge club. However, this is all about to change: I'll be moving up to Santa Clara, CA to start a job at Google in a few weeks. I'm told that the Palo Alto club has a good barometer game on friday nights and maybe I will find time to try it.

 

I've won a club game or two, which qualifies me as an Expert on BBO. My favorite partners are my wife (who carried me into the overalls in several mixed teams and open pairs events at NABCs) and my friend Sam Ieong (who put up with me through three days of platinum pairs). I've also managed to inflict myself on both the forum Joshes (jdonn and joshs) from time to time, with occasionally non-disastrous results. Sometimes Carol (h2osmom on BBF) will play with me online if no one better is available.

 

Back in my college days I used to play all kinds of crazy systems and conventions, but I've come to the conclusion that sometimes less is more (especially when time to practice is pretty sparse).

 

I used to get into bridge arguments on the forums all the time, and maybe this somehow made my game better, but I wouldn't bet on it. You see, before BBF I used to be able to follow suit...

[JLOGIC]

I love reading the old ones from the now regular posters. It's kind of interesting.

 

I think it's funny that I wrote that in 2005. It's really fun reading them now in 2011!

 

Congrats to Adam on his new job.

 

Also FWIW I = Guest_Jlall from this thread.

[hrothgar]

 

For the last nine years or so, I've been a professor of computer science at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). This has also included the position of honorary cat herder for the UCLA bridge club. However, this is all about to change: I'll be moving up to Santa Clara, CA to start a job at Google in a few weeks. I'm told that the Palo Alto club has a good barometer game on friday nights and maybe I will find time to try it.

 

 

Good luck with the new job!

 

If you like sushi, there is a decent place called "Kitsho" in Cupertino

 

Make sure to sit at the sushi bar and order the omakase.

Once Howard (the main chef) figures out that you know what you're doing (NO drowning fish in soy sauce / wasabi) you'll start getting some good cuts.

 

The aji tataki is very good.

The tofu dishes are also not to be missed