The big dogs of duplicate bridge started filing in to the new G & G In Between club in Sarasota shortly after noon on a recent Friday.
Intermediate and advanced players checked an oversized TV screen displaying table assignments, grabbed some snacks and settled in for an afternoon of competitive card playing with their partners.
The club, in the southeast corner of Palm Plaza, offers 80 four-person tables. During season, the Sarasota club is one of the largest in the country for duplicate bridge, in which the same 24 hands or boards are played daily at clubs all over the country.
Izrail “Izzy” Gorian bought the former In Between club from longtime owner Michelle Golden. He and partner Jim Gordon moved the club to its new location and reimagined the space, creating a bright, lively clubhouse. Oversized king and queen cards hang on one wall and new card tables with bidding boxes are surrounded by comfortable, matching blue chairs.
Gorian, a computer scientist who left the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, said he was looking for something to do when he retired and moved to Port Charlotte. He had played bridge in Russia when he was in his 30s, but put the game on the back burner while he was working and building a successful business in Boston.
First he turned to golf, but then the bridge bug bit again.
“It was so boring,” Gorian said in a heavy Russian accent. “I bought this club because it was boring life. I wanted to do something.”
He and other players acknowledge the game is addictive, with most showing up at the club four or five days a week. They might be folllowing the lead of Omar Sharif, who famously gave up his acting career to become a world-class bridge player. “I’d rather be playing bridge than making a bad movie,” Sharif said, according to his 2015 obituary in the London Daily Mail.
Duplicate bridge is competitive but collegial, and a red sign announces a “Zero Tolerance” policy for arguing, “for the love of the game. Have fun, be competitive but play nice.”
While contract bridge evolved from Whist, a card game developed centuries ago, G & G is high tech. Handheld computer transponders on each table allow players to upload their scores locally and to the national American Competitive Bridge League.
Players get notified of their scores and standings, and get pointers on what they could do better with the hands they were dealt. The goal is to improve, learn from the masters and socialize with other players. Most plan their lives around the morning and afternoon bridge games, and some come from as far away as Venice and the Tampa area.
“I call it my adult day care center,” said Jane Huerta, who has been playing since she was 8 years old.
She is one of the directors who walk around and intervene when players raise their hands to ask for rulings on situations that arise during play.
“One of the reasons people like to play here is because we do have so many good players, so it’s very competitive,” Huerta said.
Last summer, the club offered bridge instruction to middle school students. Learning to play can help develop math and critical thinking skills.
Club players are welcoming and encourage newcomers to take classes from Golden, who offers instruction for all levels. Huerta, Gorian and other avid players are eager to share their knowledge, and will review hands and bids after the games if others ask them for advice.
Les-Lee Roland said she played bridge 40 years ago, and returned to the game after her husband died a few years ago. Golden matched her up with a duplicate bridge partner, and she’s been coming to the club regularly ever since.
“This in Sarasota is the place people go when they don’t play golf,” Roland said. “People become friends with one another and the social aspect of it is really very important.”
When avid tennis players Susan and Ed Maier were looking to retire and move south, they narrowed their choices down to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Sarasota. Because of the high level of competition offered almost daily at In Between Bridge Club, they came to Florida.
“I play four days a week. My husband plays every day,” Susan Maier said. “This is one reason we came to Sarasota, plus for performing arts, which we’re huge supporters of.”
Gorian advises baby boomers to check out the game for its cognitive and social benefits after they wear out their joints playing sports.
“I played tennis a lot. I was Alpine skier,” Gorian said of sports that took a toll on his shoulder and knees. “My advice to you, try to learn bridge. Your life will be 80 times much, much better than without bridge.”
Vicki Dean is a freelance writer based in Venice.