My bridge beginning happened in Tucson, Arizona while attending the University of AZ. A good friend of mine and his parents would invite my girl friend and I over for dinner on Sundays, where (conveniently) the 4 of THEM would play bridge as they knew how to play. I had no idea.
 
One night they insisted I play a hand.  I had no idea what I was doing, and vowed I would never play again. Well, the following weekend they made me play again - dreadful! Vowed I was finished with the game...and the pattern continued one more week - THEN I went to the University library and borrowed Goren's New Bridge Complete and read it cover to cover over the next six days so when they insisted I play again, I would be ready - and so I was.
 
After enjoying myself because I had some idea what I was doing, I decided to take my girl friend to the club in Tucson. One night, after beating up on someone who I considered my nemesis, he asked me to play bridge with him sometime. As he was much better than I was, I obviously agreed, and for the next 8 months, we traveled together and I learned the game - it was great.

I moved back to Buffalo, NY and quit bridge for a few years to finish my degree. In early 1998 I earned my Bachelor's and remembered that I wanted to play bridge badly. I called a local player that I had heard was good, his name was Joel Wooldridge. I told Joel I wanted to play in the US Jr team trials that summer in Chicago, and could he help me get a team (he agreed). That summer, my team was fortunate enough to win the US Jr team trials - a chance to represent the US. My coach was GS Jade Barrett, NPC was the late Anne Hoffman. For the next year, I played frequently with my teammates, among whom were Kevin Bathurst and John Hurd.
 
After the world championships in 1999, I stopped playing bridge again to raise my family as my wife and I had already given birth to our first child - and in 2002 our second child arrived. By the summer of 2004 we had 3 children, and I went back to the tournament trail, playing with Tournament Bridge Services in Pittsburgh - August 2004 - and thus began anew a relationship that exists today.