Hi everyone! I wrote a bridge poem and would like to share it to you!
I hope you will enjoy reading!

The bridge poem
The two sides of bridge – teacher and student
Bridge at the very beginning

If I am the King, you are my Queen.
If I am a game, you play to win.

I am at the bridge table for very first time.
Haven’t heard of this card game? This is a crime!

You are the teacher, you explain me the rules of the game.
In the next few lines, I will try to describe the bridge frame..

If I have the skills, you bring me the luck needed.
Bridge is a great game – and we all believe it!

If I am the basics, you are the improvement.
We are playing in a Tourney with clock movement.

Scoring is MPs, each trick matters.
But there is one thing that bothers:

Am I good enough? It’s hard to say.
But I try to learn and grow day by day.

Back at the bridge table, we are competing.
Many good players visit this meeting.

I look at my bidding box, wondering what to bid.
You remind me, only with look, that I shouldn’t quit.

If I play certain convention, you are the logical explanation.
If I overcall at some point and play bad..
You just smile and move on, without getting mad.

If I misplay, you win the next contract.
If I forget I play in No Trump, you look at me, silent.

If I am too many down, you make overtricks.
Bridge is a card game, sometimes we do take risks.

If I ask for undo, opponents allow it for me.
You gave me advice: Think and always count to three.

If I attack, but you want another lead..
Some days I feel as in court, I ask for a plead.

Defense is getting better, we are improving.
All other tables are moving.

Together we are sitting at the bridge table.
It seems our partnership is becoming stable.

This is bridge at the very beginning –
We all make mistakes, before winning!

Written by Diliana Aleksova
Meant to inspire and encourage youngsters and new players to join the bridge community!

Hello! Today's topic is about our favourite bridge books. I have to confess, I don't read many books for bridge. Or at least not as much as I want to. But I do have favourite ones. I  remember the first bridge book I read - it was a gift to me from a friend. The book is called: "Blocking and unblocking plays in bridge" by Terence Reese and Roger Trezel. My friend gave it to me and said something like: Use it well. Another favourite bridge book, which i took from the bridge club is called: "Famous bridge disasters" by David Bird. I still have this book and I find it very useful. I think that bridge books help us to understand different points of view about the game itself. Right now, I am reading one bridge book from Mats Nilsland, its called "Competitive bids The Scanian Way". And you? Do you have favourite books about bridge? Please, share with us!

I still remember the time I tried to create profile on bbo. I tried with several names but they were all taken. Then, I decided to write something like hi bye, hoping it won't be taken. And there it is - my bridge profile. I have had many questions about where my nick name comes from. I used to think that it comes from hi - hello, nice to meet you and bye - goodbye, in the end. In this life, we have many hi's and bye's. The truth is that it was created spontaneous, without much thinking I also found out there was one man who had similar profile to mine. He doesn't come much online, but when I have the chance, I talk to him. Have you ever met people on bbo with similar profile to yours? Did you talk to them? What is the story behind your bridge profile? Share with us!

Have you ever had the feeling that your partner is playing against you?
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, just remember that if one person behaves in a certain way, there is a reason.
We are human. We have our worries, problems and regrets. But how does our own problems interact with the way we are playing bridge? This is a question that has its answers. I am still trying to find out how the problems of our life are related to the way of our play. I've come to this conclusion: playing in a bad way doesn't mean you are bad. It simply means that we are human and we make mistakes. So if your partner has a bad day, just tell him how much you care. We all have personality that is unique. We have to catch the mood and the emotions of our partner, and transfer them into something positive. I discovered that encouragement and praise give me more motivation that saying something like: You are not good. Instead of that I'd say: You have much to learn. We all have had bad partners. Or we all have been bad partners. The way we accept the reality and our attitude towards it shows who we are. And you? Have you ever played so bad but you couldn't do anything about it? Or had some partner who was playing in a bad way? What did you do and how did you react? Share with us!

Di stories welcome tourney starts this Thursday (20.02.2020) at 19:00 UTC.
There will be a short story after each tournament. Please, plan to join us!