Mimi Levison was pleasantly surprised when she became Life Master after entering the North American Bridge Championships last month.
NABC ran Nov. 22 through Dec 2 in Honolulu and is a national-level competition.
Levison gives credit to her teammates for her recently achieved title.
“I had wonderful teammates who encouraged me and gave me the confidence needed to try for this thing,” the Kauai woman said.
Bridge is a trick-taking card game which uses a 52-card deck and is played in a basic format with four players involving two competing partnerships.
Two players team up and depend on one another’s ability to read each other’s hand to communicate and form strategy toward winning the game.
The challenge and potential to continue to learn strategy over time is appealing to Levison, who plays with the Sunset Bridge Club which meets in Lihue on Mondays.
“No two hands are the same,” she said.
To become a Life Master, one must earn 16 gold of points. Levison has played bridge for at least 35 years and earned more than enough points to win the title. Her tally was 20 gold points by the end of the competition.
There’s been plenty of excitement playing bridge over the years and Levison is happy with her accomplishment.
“Now I can relax and help other people to enjoy it and become Life Masters as well,” she said.
She looks forward to seeing younger generations joining the game, saying that popularity for playing bridge is growing.
Levison compares bridge to chess, and says one of the benefits of the strategy game is also good for your mind. It’s one of the main reasons she started in the first place.
Levison and some friends tried switching gears one day and swapped out playing tennis for bridge, and she’s been hooked since.
She encourages people on island to join in the fun and look into joining a bridge club on island.
“It’s a very demanding game, and there’s always something new to learn,” she said.
