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The third member of the Bridge Blacks travelling to Salsomaggiore to compete in the Bermuda Bowl, Nick Jacob, is profiled below.   Nick and his partner Ella have recently moved from Tauranga to Sydney and both will be travelling to Italy to compete.  Nick with the NZ Open Team and Ella in the Australian Women's Team.

 

Name:   Nick Jacob

Age:  32

Home club:   Akarana

When did you first started playing bridge:  12 years old

 

 

What/who got you into playing bridge?   Mum and Dad both play. They would come home late on Wednesday after bridge at Akarana. I would be waiting for them to ask if there were any interesting hands. Dad's grandad also played at Te Aroha [eds note – the Jacobs were founding members back in 1953 of the Te Aroha Bridge Club]

 

When did you first represent New Zealand in the Open Team?  Susan Humphries and I played on the youth team in 2008 and 2009. The first time I represented New Zealand in the Open was at the APBF in Bangkok in 2015 with Glenn Coutts. We also played the Bermuda Bowl later that year in Chennai. GeO and I began our partnership in 2019. Our partnership has been unusual in that most of our bridge has been online due to the pandemic.

 

Who is your main competition at the Bermuda Bowl and why?  It is important to not focus too much on individual matches. Instead view the qualifying as a match of 368 boards. If your team plays those 368 boards well, your team will do well. Whether you beat the strongest team or lose to the weakest team is not super relevant. A lot of random things can happen over 16 boards, and a lot of (on paper) weaker teams can play great bridge for 16 boards at a time.

 

What are your goals/collective goals of the Bridge Blacks in this competition?  We want a medal. To do this will require us to play consistently strong bridge from board 1 until board 656. That's an enormous amount of high level bridge. It is exhausting and taxing which is why having a supportive team and partner and a relaxed atmosphere is so important.

 

What are you looking forward to about the event in Salsomaggiore?  How do you think this championship will differ from pre-Covid events?   Looking forward to playing at the highest level our partnership and team can play at. No one really knows what it will be like due to Covid. Players need to have their temperature taken before entering the venue which could cause a lot of disruption if makeshift partnerships need to be formed.

 

What do you know about Salsomaggiore and the region?   Do you have any plans (in addition to playing bridge) whilst in Europe?  My partner Ella won a silver medal in the under-26 women's in Salso in 2016, and Salso was where Dad debuted for NZ at the Olympiad in 1992, so it is a happy hunting ground for the family. It is small but pretty. No plans to travel - as Ella is playing in the Australian Women's team, we need to dash back to Sydney to look after the kids.

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