Editor's note: Terence is one of BBO’s most dedicated ACBL players. He has been earning more than 1200 ACBL online points in 2025, through his regular play in ACBL Daylong games in ACBL World.
I started playing bridge in high school when, like a lot of us, a friend's parents showed us how to play. I really looked forward to playing with them, but opportunities were few and far between, what with high school students like myself typically having lots of other activities, both required and optional. A few years later, while a student at UCLA in the late 1970's, I connected with another student and started playing at the Wild Whist Bridge Club in Westwood, which was at the time the largest club in the country. Eventually, I started playing regularly and became employed as one of the club's several directors, beginning with the UCLA game on Thursday nights and progressing to directing the regular open games.
After graduating from UCLA and trying several careers, I finally joined the U.S. Navy and married a non-bridge player, which put my bridge playing on hold for about 40 years. All the moves with the Navy caused me to lose touch with the ACBL, as the post office eventually missed forwarding the bulletin and other membership info to my many new addresses. With more pressing career and family matters, I didn't really notice until many years later.
Fast-forward to the late 20-teens. The HOA in the housing development where I now live, having finally settled in the Naples, FL area, ran its own ACBL-sanctioned duplicate game on Wednesday afternoon, where I started playing with my brother-in-law and developed a few other partnerships. I started playing regularly again both there and at the Naples DBC, but then along came COVID and those games ceased, just as they did most places. As older folks worry about their health a lot more than younger players, the HOA games never started up again. However, during the time while the ACBL suspended face-to-face bridge games, I became aware of online bridge, specifically BBO. I started playing solitaire to see how it is to play with the "robots," and I found I could do it pretty well. Eventually I moved on to the robot individual tournaments, and I play fairly regularly now. It keeps me entertained when I'm not working as a realtor, which has become my 3rd career here in Naples. I don't play much face-to-face anymore, because most of my partners from the pre-COVID era have moved on, one way or the other. My career as a realtor also occupies a lot of my time.
I look forward to many more years of playing with the robots, even considering how unpredictable they bid and play sometimes, but I do also hope to return to playing fact-to-face again. Playing individual robot games is a great way to keep your skills sharp, but it's really no substitute for interacting with other people, and F2F is a fun way to meet like-minded people. I just need to find a little time in between selling houses to get away to the club again and find some partners willing to put up with me.
