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Thought I'd use it to introduce myself and describe my experience so far with this wonderful game we call bridge.My name is Colin, I'm 32 and from the UK but I emigrated (permanently) to NZ last year. I much prefer it here in NZ (working conditions aside) and currently play bridge once a week at the Wellington Bridge Club. I'm a software engineer, working on telecoms systems. Here in NZ I continue to work for a sub-branch of the same company I worked for in the UK.
A book on bridge on my uncle's shelf piqued my interest in the game, and one night he sat down and guided me plus a couple of other family members through a hand. Having a grand slam bid and made against you on your first ever hand is probably not the most appealing introduction! At 19 I found myself in hospital for a while with a pack of cards, a book by Klinger and... erm, someone else I forget, and very little to do; I was hooked and my bridge "career" started soon after. Attempts to learn bridge locally failed due to the teacher being rather unwelcoming, so I joined BBO, and played mostly online and at Avenue Bridge Club in Hove where a lovely lady named Gwyneth mentored me a while. A highlight was finishing 4th, where on one hand I jumped to 4D, she looked puzzled, bid 5D and said "what are you going to do now, bid 6?" and I did - making! My first club win was also at that club, playing with a pickup partner. I made 6C on a crossruff on the last board, which remains one of my favourite bridge memories.
I tried to teach my brother bridge, but despite scoring up a 7NT, he was never really keen on the game - no doubt not helped by my tendency to invent over-complex systems, nor the attitude of some rather unkind individuals at the club in Eastbourne. It was a shame, as his cardplay was pretty good. I went to Cambridge Uni to study maths, and afterwards moved to Hertfordshire for my job. There I found a regular partner named Ian and we played together for about 5-6 years, enjoying a good amount of success locally including winning a couple of Swiss team events. We represented our county at the Pachabo Cup and managed to hold our own against the likes of Jeffrey Allerton and Victor Silverstone. We also came top at an Open Pairs event at the EBU Summer Congress one year (I pulled off a triple squeeze on one hand), and might have put in a good showing in the teams too if it wasn't for a couple of... erm, ambitious* bids on my part.
*When you overbid, it's "ambitious"; when partner or team-mates overbid, it's "reckless" or "crazy", of course.
Ian and I developed a 5cM "clubs or balanced" system with transfer Walsh and a weak NT, which remains my favoured system to this day. Strong NT I don't mind, but I am not a fan of 2/1 due to the wide-ranging 1NT response which really cramps your ability to open light. I have also dabbled in strong club (but feel you need detailed agreements on handling aggressive pre-empts which are all the rage these days), as well as a "tribal" aka "split range balanced" system, which I think could be a very powerful system if a serious partnership were to invest time with it.
My bridge has since progressed significantly - I can now spot a simple squeeze or endplay at 50 paces, but am yet to pull off my first double squeeze (I almost managed it once, only by the time I'd spotted it, I'd messed up the entries!). I hope one day to play for NZ, but first must really work on some weak spots such as my declarer play and bidding after opposing pre-empts. I'd also like to teach just about every single player in NZ that a TOX does not just mean "an opening hand" but also a shortage in the opened suit and 3+ support for everything else...! For some reason I find defence easier than declarer play - I think a lot of it is because declarer is often kind enough to tell you quite a lot about his shape during the auction.
My current life goals are to save money to buy a house, and find a partner both in bridge and in life. If you're in the Wellington area and want a regular partner for local play/tournaments, please do send me a PM. I'm also a keen musician, having learnt piano from a very young age and taught myself guitar at uni. I wish I had more spare time so that I could write some music (and play more bridge, of course!).
So, that's me, looking forward to building my life here in NZ and the next 2500 posts. This forum is a great place to talk bridge - you get kind, detailed, insightful input on any problem or subject, and I'm very grateful to all who have helped me develop my game so far. I also love BBO, particularly vugraph which is where I picked up almost all my knowledge on bidding. I had the pleasure of doing some vugraph operating last year and plan to help out again at the NZ Congress in October. I'm considering registering over at Bridgewinners as well, perhaps those who are registered there can recommend it (or advise against it?!).
ahydra
