BECOMING A RUBY LIFE MASTER
by Rick Rosenthal | July 2017

Hi Carlos and district 3.....what a great way to take care of your membership's rank changes. I'm proud to say that I crossed to Ruby LM while winning the GNT FLT B event in Allendale, NJ in May. The 15 gold points put me over the 1500 line. It was a great feeling to accomplish the 2 things together and I couldn't have done it without my regular partner (and close friend) Jason Fuhrman and our teammates George Browne and Ruth Yeselson. We overtook the team that was leading the event all day in the last round and only because we won 2 game swings and 1 slam swing. A super sized comeback. 

I'd also like to mention Tim Baird and Jay Sloofman as regular partners and teammates and friends. 

I expect to continue trying to represent our district in National Level events for a while. I am proof that you can have a job (in NYC) and kids and still keep yourself involved in playing enough to enjoy the game and stay reasonably sharp. I will play bridge - my favorite game - for the rest of my life. If I move out of district 3, it will be near a place that has a full-time bridge club that I can go to. 

What can district 3 and the ACBL do to make the game better? 2 things that are already in progress are very important. Continued use of technology to expand the game. I like the use of BBO for events and I think the nationally rated individual event on BBO is a great idea. And second, outreach to potential younger players. Even if they don't pick up the game full-time when they're young... many will remember how interesting bridge is and play when they're older. We need to keep the game vibrant by sharing it generationally.