by Matt Betts

Marge – “Which part of the morning paper are you reading Homer?”
Homer – “The bridge column…[laughing] Oh, that south – you never know what he’ll do next”.

As the new communications officer at the English Bridge Union – the national membership body for bridge, I
have to admit that I knew less than Homer did about bridge, but I had every intention to learn as soon as
was possible. Within my first week I realised that this was going to be an interesting learning curve and one
that would last a life-time and immediately I understood why the game was so appealing – in the end
challenges are extremely alluring. Many of the passengers I sit with on the tube each morning play challenging mind games like sudoko and I could always see the appeal on a dreary weekday morning.

Bridge seemed to be the same – a great challenge and a chance to win a wonderful game! Here is my story
of how I started to learn bridge..

It all started very obscurely. After getting home one night in my first week, I noticed that an episode of the
80’s comedy: Terry and June was on pause. A small note was stuck to the television from my housemate
advising that I must watch it. The episode sees Terry trying to learn bridge, because he had offered to
partner with his boss – which he hoped would aid him in a promotion. Of course, Terry could not play, but
was adamant he could learn bridge in two hours. After getting confused about North, South, West and….June the dummy, Terry stopped and decided that he was going to bluff his way through a bridge game. However, as suspected by the viewer this did not work out! Quite right, I thought – this game looks
impossible! I was starting to despair.
How hard was this game and would I ever understand even the basics?

Luckily help was at hand: Ned Paul,
a member of the English Bridge Union Teachers Association (the body of bridge teachers) had sent me an
email in my first week, with the simple words: “I see you want to learn about bridge…have you thought about
learning it in just a weekend?” I was intrigued at this and I signed up immediately for Learn Bridge in a
weekend, held at the Young Chelsea club.

Learning bridge in 2 hours is not really possible, as evidenced by Terry Scott; but learning bridge in a
weekend – was that possible? I was fascinated by the concept, as were thirteen other students in
September. The group were a good mix of people and we were all keen to learn and play in the future. Our
teacher, Ned is an interesting figure in the “classroom” - he has an air of knowledge about him; a bit of
eccentricity and humour; whilst also being very charming and engaging. One of my fellow students, David
Holden agrees, “he likes to throw as much mud as he can, because he knows most of it will stick. This
course really makes you want to play again”. The whole course was very fast paced, but at the same time
very durable. Ned also has extremely useful ways of picturing bridge, such as imagining we were landing a
helicopter or helping to have the concept of a fairy tale cottage surrounded by a flowery meadow when
thinking about reverses.

Ned has seen the benefits of learning bridge quickly before, “every time I have done LBIAW at least one
participant, sometimes several, have come to supervised play or other bridge lessons that I have organised
and several of my learners have gone on to be club players.” I know many of my fellow students have
already continued their learning, and David told me that “by the end of the weekend, despite the fact I had a
headache and bids kept circling in my mind, I think I am probably hooked.”

The weekend was a physically and mentally stimulating experience, but I feel challenged and ready to keep
learning about bridge. Obviously Ned Paul’s course is not unique and anyone can find a course near them. I
agreed with Ned when he told me, “Bridge is about playing the game, not learning it. Learning is never
finished, and no-one has learnt it all.”

That’s the beauty of bridge – the constant challenge. Perhaps Terry
and June should have tried to learn bridge properly!

This article was printed in various magazines.