Henry Vandiver - Story from a ACBL Junior Master

Dear Rebecca Brown,

I would be happy to share my story.

I began playing bridge about three months ago after stumbling on a YouTube channel called Learn Modern Bridge while doing my regular internet surfing, and the game looked cool. So I thought to myself, why not try it out? I then went to Bridge Base Online and started playing things like the 7 tricks challenge. After that, I wanted to play some of the other tournaments the site had to offer, so I got an ACBL membership, and started doing the daylong tournaments, which is most of what I did. On the in-person side of things, I started by emailing a guy named Harvey from the Broken Arrow Bridge Club wanting to take part in The Longest Day, and write about my experience for my column. (Link enclosed to column page, I did not end up writing about it, sadly.) I ended up going to my first tournament, and got rolled by a bunch of Life Masters, but it was fun and everyone was amazing, and I ended up starting to go to the club in Tulsa for their 0-50 game.

Bridge was not my first experience with mindsports, as I played chess as a kid in the Gifted and Talented program in elementary school, and played mahjong off-and-on for several years after watching the first few episodes of the anime Saki. I wasn't very good at chess, but I was decent at mahjong, especially during my time in Stillwater where I could hold my own against a lot of the Japanese players in the league mode on the site I used to play.

My next goal is the next rank, and to get a consistent partner, as I think that will help me improve, along with more studying. I still have some trouble playing offline and adapting to the physical cards and play.

One thing I would like to see is more esports involvement. The current tournament is a start, and I hope it goes well, but I wouldn't mind a team tournament series with the computer (four players of any nation, with at least one non-male player and at least one player over 60), ending at next year's Esports World Cup, as I think it will drive attention to the sport. Chess is already represented there, with this year's winner being Team Liquid's GM and Former World Champion, Magnus Carlsen winning, though I see some difficulty in adapting the two-room setup into the Qiddiya Arena that would most likely be used for bridge.

Thank you for your congratulations,

Henry Vandiver