Today’s column is a bit unusual in that it celebrates one of our long-standing members, though not because of a tournament win or some other specific success, but for the remarkable achievement of playing great bridge week in and week out with a series of partners, of which I am one.

And what is special about that? Well, last Monday Jean Johnson hit the 100-year mark! It seems the traditional letter from the King has arrived and she was well celebrated by the members of the Bridge Club where she had been a presence for some 50 years.

Jean lived in Bermuda until about ten years ago and then moved back to England from where she still plays her online bridge each week with regular partners Diana Diel, Stephanie Kyme and your columnist from Bermuda , and ex- residents Bill Souster and Frank Wharton, who now live in the UK.

Jean has always been in the top echelon of Bermuda Bridge having won multiple titles at the Bridge Club and has represented Bermuda in Teams and Pairs events at an international level, including two Olympiads.

She is strong in all parts of the game, and her greatest strength is her judgment and discipline in the bidding, and at the top level that is where you earn the points. Jean made Life Master many years ago and is now well on her way to Diamond Life Master with over 4,800 master points.

Bridge players typically age well, but putting it all down to “it keeps the brain sharp” is in my opinion, a mistake. It certainly does that, but what it also does is provide a great social connection and, perhaps most importantly, keeps the emotions alive.

Any bridge player will attest to feelings of joy, despair, elation, depression, love and sometimes no love at the bridge table - I can put a couple of other emotions in there but I won’t. All that is so much better than slipping into a sedentary existence with no highs or lows.

This is so true of Jean who can, in a space of one game, be charming, acerbic, encouraging and obdurate! The good part is that five minutes after the game is over (yes, a cooling-off period) things always get back to normal. As you will see from the photograph in the column, which was taken last week, she has thrived on all of that!

So, huge congratulations to JJ from the entire bridge community in Bermuda , most of whom sat at the table with her at some point.

It is only fitting that I end the column by giving you a hand played by Jean some years ago in Bal Harbour, Florida , I think it was 1987. I’ve played a lot of hands with her and this one (see Figure 1) stood out.

Jean was South and I was North — she opened one spade and West overcalled 1NT showing 15-17 HCP, which was surprising, given my 10 hcp!

It was clear that East had zero but I wasn’t tempted to double — we were vulnerable and on this hand normal defence would beat 1NT by one trick and double dummy defence would beat it my two — not enough, so I bid four spades also knowing that if West had a single spade honour it was finessable.

West started by cashing two top hearts and then made the sensible play of the Ace of diamonds and another diamond , an excellent passive defence forcing declarer to make the hand with no help.

Jean won in hand and played the King of spades, knowing West had the Queen — as expected East showed out and it was easy to pick up the Queen — this was now the position after trumps were drawn (see Figure 2).

All that seemed left was the club finesse, but since West had shown a 15-17 point hand in the bidding, and at this point had only shown up with 13 hcp, the Queen had to be “wrong” and the finesse was doomed to failure.

Seeing this, Jean decided that her only hope was that East had the ten of clubs , as she had the very valuable nine in her hand. So she played the Jack of clubs, East covered and the King won in dummy, and now the A9 of clubs sat over East’s 10-6 and the contract made.

Great play, and a hand I’m unlikely to forget given how many times I’ve been reminded of it!

Jean is not alone in playing great bridge at an advanced age - there are a number at our Bridge Club who are not only still excited by the game but are still trying to unlock the mysteries of this unfathomable pursuit. I won’t name them as I am sure to leave someone out, but they know who they are.

So to all of you out there — use this as an inspiration, keep playing, keep getting happy when you do well and sad/mad when you don’t, and realise that there is always room to learn something new at this game.

David Ezekiel can be reached at davidezekiel999@gmail.com

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, February 13

1 Gertrude Barker/Judith Bussell

2 Elysa Burland/Magda Farag

3 Diana Diel/Stephanie Kyme

Monday, February 16

North/South

1 Richard Gray/Wendy Gray

2 Louise Rodger/Molly Taussig

3 Gertrude Barker/Caitlin Conyers

East/West

1 Lorna Anderson/Heather Woolf

2 Sancia Garrison/Jane Smith

3 Judith Kitson/Gil Butterfield

Tuesday, February 17

North/South

1 Ross Cooper/Desiree Woods

2 John Thorne/Vivian Pereira

East/West

1 Julia Tadman/Joshimar Hussey

2= Colin James/Anna White

2= Tim McKittrick/Keri McKittrick

Wednesday, February 18

North/South

1 Elizabeth McKee/Margaret Way

2 Betsy Baillie/Sharon Shanahan

East/West

1 Judith Bussell/Stephanie Kyme

2 Sheena Rayner/Molly Taussig