Gold Cup

Just a quick note to keep the blog alive. The 2010 Gold Cup is in mid-stream in England. This is the premier teams contest in the UK, and I carry some fond memories of it from my early years of bridge. This year I'm trying to keep an eye on the Nick Stevens team (Nick Stevens, Paul Bowyer,
Jim Mason, Duncan Happer, Gary Watson, David Jones). Gary Watson and I went to the same grammar school, and taught ourselves bridge there, and were partners for our first few years of duplicate play. When we eventually parted ways (more a case of growing apart, rather than a sudden divorce), Gary formed a partnership with David Jones. I don't know how often they play together, but that means their partnership has been extant, at least off and on, for more than thirty years. I find that slightly amazing, and somewhat admirable. Gary was a great talent, very quick when it came to calculations at the card table, and when combined with his extrovert personality and good sense of humor, that made for some interesting bidding. Probably the ensuing thirty-odd years of experience have calmed him down a bit, but I haven't seen him in all that time, so I'm hoping that the team makes it well into the final weekend and I can watch him on BBO.

Nick Stevens actually went to the same school, a year below us. He didn't play in our card school, though. He learned from his parents, at home and in the clubhouse at the golf course. But the three of us became friends at Hinckley bridge club (the local club, frequented by Nick's parents and several teachers from the school, who were all complicit in making us both more frequent and better players). I have a feeling that Nick first played with Paul Bowyer back at that time too, so that would be another very long-standing partnership.

The team is the 14th seed. I think they are actually capable of winning the event, and I'll be rooting for them (from a distance). For now, I'm just watching for results on BGB
(http://www.bridgegreatbritain.org/goldcup/default.htm).