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Finish this sentence...Long reply from a new player

Posted By: Fatboy
Date: Friday, 6 March 2015, at 4:53 p.m.

In Response To: Finish this sentence... (Stick)

I didn't know bridge is a gambling game. And I been around action my whole life. I know it's a game of skill and like anything could be bet on, like which bird will fly of the power line first.

I remember the first time I saw BG being played it was in a pool room in the late 80's. They were playing for $100 or $200 point. I asked the normal question, "Whats the idea here, how do you win?". They briefly explained the concept to me. I loved it. Both guys were BIG action pool players. I watched for 8 hours, Went home around 8am game lasted 24 hours. I knew then I liked BG. I couldn't find anywhere to play, no internet, no BG in Sacramento Ca.And I wanted to learn back then, I knew it was for me.

Enough with the story, there are 2 points to it. #1 is weak, #2 is more important.

#1. I'd like people here to know me a little better so this is a wordy post and also i'm the one of the people the BG community needs to grow. Why? I bought the books, XG a couple boards, take lessons and donate at tourneys, and donate gambling with superior players. I'm paying my dues and am committed to playing for a very long time.I also have a fresh set of eyes, i'm 48 yrs old and this ain't my first rodeo in life.

Believe me BG ain't in bad shape compared to pool. It ain't the 70's but it isn't as bad as some people here think it is, it's not on life support. Be glad it ain't like pool or all your work learning BG for X years would be worthless as has become the case in pool-nobody to play. There are still places to go and play BG the internet, tournaments often, local clubs. In pool that's pretty much gone in most areas. So please realize it could be much worse off

#2. When I sweated the 8 hours of BG in the pool room that night, I was drawn to the game, like I was pool, I don't know why I just was, that's a human nature thing I think, I wouldn't play Gin for anything not my bag.

Ok!! To my important point. We all have the same version of the internet, for the most part. And we all know that after 15-17 years of the internet we can go to the "answer box" and find what ever we want within reason. Had the internet been available in 1988 when i watched BG for 8 hours, there is no doubt that I would have figured out where to go play BG and learn to play if I could have found a place to play-I couldn't and I tried too. I could tell after 10 minutes it is a game of skill with some luck-some people might not make that observation, and that's cool. I did and was attracted from that night.

Since we have the internet now and IMO it's the most powerful tool to promote BG which gives people a chance to find a place to play, discover BG, play BG(social, action, PR obsession, what ever their reason or motivation is). I stated before people spend their recreation time differently now and that cannibalizes some of the time people could be playing BG. However I believe that with the efforts I see and the utilization of the internet by the "Leaders" in BG it's helping BG in a big way. I figured out where to buy my boards, take lessons, BGO to learn and figure out the tourney thing. NONE of which was possible in 88-my first exposure to BG.

Ergo the "General Public" has more access to BG more than ever before. Getting them online is the tricky part of the whole thing. Bottom up, top down either way. The internet is helping and its far from it's full potential.

Sorry for long winded thoughts, but as a new guy in BG, not just a social player I hope some of you might get a good idea reading my thoughts. I know there are many people here smarter than me, however the 3 minutes this took to read, if it gives 1 person a idea it was worth while. I hope I can help, I was at the NYC tourney and met a real nice guy, I showed him how to shake his dice correctly(as Neil told me), told him his POS board had to be upgraded in a nice way, I'm the new guy, and helped a newer guy. I'm doing my part with the little knowledge I have.

I'm a intermediate, intermediate FWIW and this is what I have seen and experienced over the past year +/-.

Last thought, everyone (so far) has treated me with respect-even the people I haven't donated to. I been hustled and hustled by many people-I can tell when someone is fishing, because i done that a million times in pool. With that said, I have met people who are not working that angle with me and are still very nice, that right there makes me want to come to tournaments and see them again. That too is very important-making the new player not feel stupid. In pool its the opposite and that's hurt pool to a big extent.

Sure BG isnt doing as well as video games or poker-so what, I don't see it going backwards(discount the 70's), and it shouldn't as we have the internet etc as I mentioned. I see more good than bad-with fresh eyes. But I'm new so I could be missing something. Or fresh eyes might see things burned out people don't see-i been one of those people as well.

thank you for your time to read this

Eric

PS: sorry for my poor writing skills, i speak much better than I write.

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