Grab a partner or come solo to play a little Bridge! Bring your own beverage of choice and a snack to share. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned Bridge player, you are welcome to join in the first Monday of every month at Blakely Hall, starting at 7:00 pm. RSVP: Chuck Leininger at: cleininger@seattletimes.com or David Trowern at: dtrowern@gmail.com.
Bridge Club
Monday, November 7th
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Issaquah Highlands’ first Bridge Club met in September 2014 led by Nelson and Julia Woo. When Nelson and Julia Woo wanted to take a break hosting the club, Chuck Leininger and David Trowern stepped up to run the club. Nelson and Julia are still part of the club and join the play whenever they can.
Chuck and David stepped in to co-manage the club initially just to keep it going. They have succeeded in doing just that, but now they wish to grow the club. They’d like to have more players at each meeting and wonder why more haven’t come yet.
Chuck speculates, “One of the reasons I think people are reluctant to play with us is that they feel they might not be good enough to play with serious players.” He thinks that as a Bridge “club” they might not welcome novices or beginners.
News Flash! None of the club members are expert bridge players! To give you an idea of how laid back they are as bridge players, they call their type of bridge “kitchen table bridge”. Most of the time they don’t even keep score.
They welcome beginner and novice players as well as players who are better than average and know all of the bidding systems, better known as “conventions” in the world of Bridge.
“Another reason why bridge players in the community may not want to join our club is that they don’t have a spouse, or friend to bring with them to be their partner,” Chuck further ponders as he strategizes getting a bigger following for the club.
News Flash #2! It doesn’t matter if you come with a partner or come solo because they pair you up anyway, and make you switch partners throughout the evening. In most cases, by the time the evening is done, each player has had the chance to play with every other player that night.
Chuck invites, “We welcome all bridge players in the community who may have wanted to play bridge in a group setting, but who have been reluctant to do so, for whatever reason. Come to a Bridge Club meeting this fall and have some fun! If you make a mistake bidding a hand, or make a mistake playing a hand, no one will care, because, as we say, ‘What happens at Blakely Hall stays a Blakely Hall.’”
