Lindsey is a Silver Grand Master: a bridge player who has accumulated more than 2500 A and B points. She has been playing bridge since 1972, mostly with her life partner Steve Gray who she eyed over the bridge table all those years ago. The Bridge Club is ‘the place to meet the love of your life’.
What would you say to someone who asked you ‘why play bridge?’
Because it is the most fabulous card game you can play. You meet interesting people and it keeps your brain active. I like being competitive.
It is important to be nice and helpful to junior players. Remember how scared you were when you first started:
One club.
Pass
Two Clubs
Me: do you have a four card major?
Yes.
Me: then bid it.
But its only got 4 wee spades
Me: Doesn’t matter, still bid it, it’s more helpful to your partner
How did your bridge career start?
I married into a card playing family. My husband, Jim Murray and his father were two of the top bridge players in the Northeast of Scotland. At the age of 23 Jim and I came to Huntly, New Zealand as young teachers.
Jim gave me some basic bridge lessons and then we went off to the Huntly Bridge Club. After the school day, we would come home and he would teach me some more. I remember him teaching me how to finesse. We started playing in tournaments after that.
We moved to Blenheim in 1981 and that’s when I met Steve. He and I moved to Wellington together. We won our first A point by winning a session at the Hutt Open in 1981. Our second A point was 18 years later in 1999. We then went to our first Congress in 2000 and won 3 more. In those days inexperienced players only won an A point in the Teams event and only if you beat a team by 25/0. We beat a top Wellington team and were stoked.
It wasn’t until we started playing with Rod Dravitzki and his wife Sandy that our bridge really started to improve. They first taught us five card majors and then we progressed to Precision. They mentored us for many years and played with us in Team tournaments. We learnt a lot and we had lots of fun.
Can you describe a bridge highlight?
We used to be regular attendees at the Gold Coast Bridge Congress and back in 2011 we won the Seres McMahon Trophy in a mixed team’s event. A more recent second highlight was becoming Silver Grand Master last year, that felt really special.
Apart from competing at the table what else have you done for your bridge club?
For years I was on the Nelson Bridge Committee. I took the role of the secretary for the Match Committee responsible for competitive play and tournaments, and I am still on that committee. I organise the Teams event and the Swiss Pairs for the Nelson Club and I am a Club Director for the Richmond Club. I enjoy having the naming rights to the Swiss Pairs Cup for Nelson. I loved introducing Nelson to Swiss Pairs. I do the organizing and Steve does the scoring.
What are some bridge tips you would give an aspiring bridge player?
Find a mentor. Rather than ask to play with someone better than you, find a partner you enjoy and want to improve with, get a system sorted and then ask a senior player to mentor you as a pair.
Find a system that you and your partner can learn which will help you to converse over the table. Learn how to ‘signal’ to your partner, have a clear discard system, work out what your leads are and what they mean. Bridge is a partnership. Go over the hands the next day and discuss what needs improving. Do not play the blame game.
Use the digital bridge world to your advantage.
Keep track of the suits that matter. The trick to bridge is counting the cards. Trumps are important but the second suit is also very important. You may have to lose a trick in the side suit before cashing trumps. In No Trumps, lose your losers first.
Always enjoy your Bridge.
You can play bridge almost every day of the week in Nelson. ‘I love the Top of the South bridge tournaments. It’s like one big family’.
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