Learning the game Harriett started playing bridge more than 40 years ago, when her daughters were in college. She took lessons from Jerry Smith, a popular North Shore teacher in “those days” says Harriett, who loved the game from the start. “It was fun, but it was also a mental challenge.” She played a regular foursome with friends, “but we were really bad.” So, she went back to Smith, who encouraged her to play duplicate to improve her game. Harriett tells the story of her first duplicate game as if it happened yesterday. “My partner led a suit. I didn’t know anything about signals, so I played low from a doubleton on the first card, high on the second and trumped the third one! Declarer was outraged—and I decided I was never going back.” But Smith challenged her not to let one person ruin her enjoyment of the game, and the rest is history. Harriett became a life master in less than three years—no small accomplishment during those years. “You got .06 points for winning a game…and the first few points I won, I threw away. They were on these little pieces of paper and I figured they would never amount to anything.” Teaching…and beyond After Harriett began playing duplicate, she taught her daughter Roseanne how to play…and recruited a few friends to join her. Before long, she had eight tables of students at her Swampscott home and neighbors started complaining about the traffic. She moved her classes to Temple Israel in Swampscott and later to Marblehead, where her club currently runs regular duplicate games on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and on Tuesday nights. On Thursday evenings, Harriett runs a special “newplicate” game to give her students exposure to duplicate without the pressure of competing against more experienced players. She teaches individuals and groups by special arrangement, both at the table and online. For more information about Harriett Leavitt Bridge Club, including a list of games and results, go to http://marblehead.acblemba.org. See the current issue of Quick Trick in color click the thumbnail, for past issues go to "Quick Trick" in the left navigational bar. If you have an item that you want included in the next issue of Quick Trick, please contact Peggy Malaspina at embamail@aol.com. Deadline for all submissions is March 6, 2010.
Club manager and teacher extraordinaire, Harriett Leavitt still loving it after 40 years

