Players from Minnesota are frequently in the news and racking up accomplishments. Unit 178 President Marv Riedesel kindly wrote and forwarded this great story about Wayne Gergen.
Please take the time to find out how newer players are falling in love with our game - and achieving national success at the same time!
Here is Wayne (on the right) with Cliff Lundberg:
If you happened to look at the National leaders in the Mini-McKenny races for 2006, you noticed a few Minnesota players ranking in the top 100 of several of the categories. The highest-ranking Minnesotan was Wayne Gergen of Coon Rapids who finished 5th in the nation in the 100 – 200 master point category. Wayne more than doubled his masterpoint total by earning over 313 points in 2006.
Wayne started playing bridge in 2002 when he took a 4-hour class that covered the basics of bridge. He frequently played at Senior centers in the northern suburbs and started to take the game more seriously. A small duplicate club started in Elk River, where he met Cliff Lundberg. Wayne asked Cliff if he would be interested in partnering in some duplicate games. That was the beginning of a success story that continues today. Wayne and Cliff played in their first tournament at Spirit Mountain in September of 2004 – They got hooked. They took lessons in Elk River from Don Kelly and their game continued to improve. They played in the October Harvest tournament and then it was Rochester, Des Moines, Lake Geneva, Hayward, and the list goes on. Cliff was the Unit 178 winner in the 50 – 100 category for the Mini-McKenny in 2006 and Wayne was first in Unit 178 in the 100 – 200 category.
When I asked Wayne if he had advice for beginning players, this was his response: “Respect the game, your partner, the director, and your opponents.” I think that he has reminded all of us of a fundamental axiom to which we should adhere. Wayne also believes in asking better players for advice, finding partners who are willing to learn new things, and discussing the errors that his partnership makes. Another important point that Wayne makes is “When you make a mistake, don’t take yourself so seriously, move on to the next board. You are a beginner and beginners do make mistakes.“
Wayne sees the strength of his game as his ability to find good patient partners who share his philosophy about bridge. His biggest accomplishment so far at the bridge table is becoming a life master at the Omaha tournament, along with two of his teammates.
His most immediate goal is to learn 2 over 1 and to be quieter at the table.
Wayne is married to a non-bridge player, who is a professor at Bethel College. He has an adult son who lives in the Twin Cities.
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