While the card game bridge may seem intimidating to those who don’t play, it need not be, said instructor Bob Somppi.
And it’s not just for people of a certain age.
Somppi is hosting Beginner Bridge Classes at Durango-La Plata Senior Center next month, and anyone interested in learning the game is invited.
A quick internet search for a summary of bridge turned out to be anything but, so we tried out that newfangled ChatGPT thing everybody’s talking about, and here’s what we got:
“Bridge is played with a standard 52-card deck in deals of 13 cards per player, so that the entire deck is dealt out each hand. After the deck is dealt, players make bids. The final bid determines the importance of each suit as well as the overall goal for each deal. Deals are then played card-by-card in 13 sub-rounds known as ‘tricks.’
If you go
WHAT: Beginner Bridge Classes.
WHEN: Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, May 4-18 (exact times vary).
WHERE: Durango-La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.
COST: $45 (books and supplies).
MORE INFORMATION AND TO ENROLL: Contact Bob Somppi (instructor) at thebridgeaddict@gmail.com.
NOTE: All ages welcome, no partner needed (singles welcome).
“The game has two main parts: bidding and playing. In the bidding phase, players take turns making bids for how many tricks they think they can win during the play phase. The highest bidder becomes the declarer and gets to choose which suit will be trump for that hand. In the playing phase, players take turns playing cards in an attempt to win tricks and score points.
“The game ends when one team reaches a score of 100 or more points (or any other agreed-upon number). The team with the most points at that time wins.”
Not bad.
Somppi said he began playing the game in 1990, when he was about 50 years old. He was living in Albuquerque and happened upon a game in session at a club.
“I was there one afternoon having a glass of wine and over in the corner were four guys sitting at a table playing cards,” he said. “I went over and said, ‘what you’re doing?’ ‘We’re playing bridge.’ I had heard of it but never played it. I watched and it went from there. I immediately went to the library and found a book on how to learn bridge in eight hours, which is humanly impossible. And I got hooked.”
He eventually moved to Durango and then up to Colorado Springs. And while he’s a member of the bridge community there, he still participates in Durango’s Bridge Club.
Along with the social aspect of the game, bridge has been shown to promote health benefits as well. According to the World Bridge Federation, the game can help raise test scores in children who play by helping in the development of inferential thinking. In older people, the game helps with maintaining working memory and reasoning and may even lower the risk of dementia.
“It’s somewhat intellectual and you got to do some thinking; it’s not like canasta where we just move cards around,” Somppi said. “You’ve got to do some thinking. So as a result, studies have proven that playing bridge as you get older, improves your lifespan and helps your brain from deteriorating because you’re doing something with it.”
For Somppi, his passion for teaching others to play the game also is personal.
“I want to pay back to bridge. What bridge is given to me, it’s saved my life, really,” he said, adding that while learning to play can be challenging, it’s important to remember that it’s for fun. “You can’t forget that bridge is a game, it’s just an intelligent game, which doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.”
Preregistration for Somppi’s upcoming classes is recommended, he said, although chances are if you show up the first day, he probably won’t turn you away.
“If someone – if five people walk in the day that I start, and I have to set up another table, I’m in heaven. I’m in heaven. I don’t care,” he said. “If people aren’t having fun, and if people don’t want to play bridge after I’m done with them, I’ve done something wrong.”
katie@durangoherald.com
