Story by Markham Ahn  (BBO: Genghisx)

Many years ago, in a different life, I was a regular backgammon player at the Cavendish West. One day, there was no action, and the bridge game needed a fourth. The only thing I knew about bridge was that the people who played it were fanatics. I got drafted into the game at 10 cents a point. Compared to backgammon stakes, it seemed like cheap entertainment.

I had never played bridge before, but I was familiar with trick-taking card games. The rules were explained in five minutes, and then—play began.

It felt like playing with a new toy. I had a great time learning the game… not so sure about the other three players. I was an equal-opportunity random score generator and was quickly marked as their “third” opponent—whatever that meant!?

Only much later did I realize I was learning from some truly great players: Fred Hamilton, Larry Cohen, Barbara Hammond, and many others. Sometimes, Grant Baze, Harold Guiver, and others would ask me to fill a seat for a round or two before their regulars arrived, or to turn dummy cards while they took a quick break.

Larry and Danny Kleinman often gave me bidding and hand puzzles to track my "bridge development IQ."

As hopeless a player as I was, all of them were exceptionally kind—always encouraging, never frustrated. Truly class acts, and I’m forever grateful. My play did earn me two nicknames: “Genghis” for my aggressive style, and “EB” for being, as one partner put it, “erratically brilliant.”

But my favorite bridge memories from those days were partnering with the late Don Adams. Don and I were both completely hopeless, which led to some wild results and scores rarely seen in competitive play—depending on whether we were in sync or not. Eddie Kantar’s home game stories had nothing on us.

After one deal, where I compressed us by three or four tricks, Don left the table. When he came back, he was soaking wet, dripping water everywhere. I asked what happened. He said, “After that last hand, I needed to cool off—so I dunked my head in water.” Don had a terrific sense of humor. Great times!

We also had some wonderful conversations about life’s ups and downs. I was a huge Get Smart fan, but in all the years we knew each other, we never once talked about the show or acting.

Those were the days…

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