Story by BBO: Souvik0612

I began my bridge journey on BBO. I live in a village in India where the internet connection was poor, but just good enough to install BBO. My maternal uncle (BBO ID: R A J A) installed BBO on my mother's phone to help me play bridge. At first, I was only watching him play, and I asked, "What is this game?" He replied that it was bridge, an "intellectual game"—"not child's play." I remember the first time I opened BBO on my mother's phone. Holding six spades, I opened the bidding with 6 spades. My partner, understandably upset, left the table—not without leaving some unsavory comments. This prompted me to call my uncle, asking him to teach me how to play bridge. He explained the concept of the HCP count: "A = 4, K = 3, Q = 2, J = 1. Add up all the points, and if you have 13 HCP and five cards in a suit, you open at the one level in that suit."

The next time I visited my uncle’s house, I shared my recent experiences on BBO. It was then that my late maternal grandfather (ID: mintusagar) gave me my first real taste of bridge—how to analyze the game, how to play the cards, and how to open the bidding. It’s worth mentioning that the version of bridge commonly played in my village was 'Auction Bridge,' an ancient predecessor to our beloved 'Contract Bridge,' which is still played in certain remote pockets of India, insulated from the developments in bridge over the last 100 years. The scoring in Auction Bridge is completely different, and one doesn't need to bid for games or slams to score bonus points. For example, if you bid 1♠ and take 10 tricks, you score the bonus for a 'game' contract. It's amusing to think back to when I didn’t understand the difference between the locally played 'Auction Bridge' and the 'Contract Bridge' on BBO. Later, after some internet research, I realized that 'Auction Bridge' was introduced to India by the British during the colonial era and has survived in some parts of the country as a relic of the past.

Afterward, I noticed unfamiliar terms in the profiles of other players on BBO, such as "2/1 GF," "standard carding," "Jacoby," and so on. I didn’t understand them, so I googled these terms, which led me to the ACBL website, where I found tutorials and articles with clear explanations. That’s when I began self-learning bridge in my early teenage years. For the most part, I relied on conventions and systems as rules, but I didn’t fully grasp the logic behind them. The local Auction Bridge players were unaware of these newer methods, as bidding plays a smaller role in that old version of the game.

Fortunately, I met some wonderful people on BBO who were kind and helpful. There were fantastic public clubs that held teaching sessions, and the Beginner Intermediate Club ("BIL") stands out in my memory. I also connected with Indian players, including Tapas Roy (Tapesroy), who generously sent me many wonderful books, such as Mike Rodwell's Rodwell Files and Mike Lawrence's Takeout Doubles. However, lacking a consistent partner, I didn’t feel motivated to improve my bidding much. Instead, I continued to read books on card play whenever I could. Surprisingly, reading those books also improved my English, opening up opportunities for higher education. Sankar Das (sankardas) was another person who helped me deepen my understanding of the game. For a long time, I played with Rekhapen, who was a wonderful partner.

After finishing high school, I moved to Kolkata, the nearest metropolis, to pursue a college education. Kolkata happens to be one of the hubs of the Indian bridge community, and I visited several clubs to get a feel for duplicate bridge.

Having completed college, I now play bridge regularly. I also found a somewhat regular partner in Sounak (sounakn). I’ve restarted my learning journey with him. We’re learning systems and card play techniques together, and it’s a lot of fun. We play exclusively on BBO. Every now and then, I make connections between bridge and math I learned in college (e.g., the 'principle of restricted choice,' which is related to Bayes' theorem), and It is fascinating to discover the depths of this beautiful game.

Through playing bridge on BBO, I met many wonderful people from all over the world and developed a great reading habit.

Thanks to BBO for providing me with this incredible opportunity.

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