How did you get started in Bridge? At what age? Who do you learn from?
I started playing in 2024 when I was 21 – my dad taught me how to play on a family trip. I moved to Surry Hills soon after this so it felt like fate that the Sydney Bridge Centre was so close to home. I have learnt from playing with my family at home, and attending regular Youth Nights at SBC.
What do (did) you do professionally?
I am doing my PhD in Chemistry at UNSW – my research focuses on light control in DNA Origami systems.
Who is your partner and for how long? Longest Partnership?
My partner is Ida Andersen – we have been playing together since 2025. She is a lovely person and great to play with. My longest partnership is with my brother – Hamish – I really like that bridge allows us to spend time together and play a game we both enjoy!
If you had a choice who would you like to play with? Australia and Internationally – living or dead.
Probably my grandma – Valerie Cummings – I was really close with her, but sadly she died when I was 12. I hear from everyone that knew her that she was not only a great player, but a great teacher, and I like to think it would make her happy that I’ve started playing too. I think there’s so much she could teach me, not only about playing the game, but about being a good sportsman (she probably would’ve hated that word).
In your playing career, what is the bridge success that has the most meaning for you?
To be honest – the moments in bridge that I’ve enjoyed the most aren’t the results in competitions – but more so moments where I’ve had a super thoughtful auction or a killer defense and enjoying that with partner after the match.
The ones that stand out the most are when my dad complements my declarer play (rare), because I must have done something right if that happens!
And your worst moment in bridge?
There was a point last year where I really doubted if I wanted to keep playing. I was finding it really hard not to take losses as a metric for how intelligent I was. And I was really stuck in the mindset that I should be better given how long I’ve played. But I think reminding myself why I play – to spend time with my family, to solve cool puzzles, to have epic defensive hands – reinforced to me that I can be kinder to myself and give myself space to improve without letting shitty boards define me as a player.
What do you do between sessions to put you in the best frame of mind for the following sessions?
I think not ruminating on bad boards is really important. I like to talk about the most fun hands with my partner and with friends after a tournament for sure, but I know that I need to avoid talking about hands that made me feel stupid (there’s usually at least one!). I like reflecting on gaps in system, but not directly after a game – I’ll make a note to myself for later.
Do you have a favourite and least favourite convention?
One of my least favourite would have to be Bergen raises – it just makes it so easy for opps to make a lead directing double and limit raises can just achieve the same result in my opinion. I don’t want to be at the three level with my flat 4333 shape opposite partners minimum opening hand. I think my favourite convention is 4th suit force – I just think it’s really elegant and so useful in so many situations.
Would you prefer to have more system or less?
This is a tough question for me – I think for the last couple of years I’ve really tried to focus on understanding how to think about cardplay using minimal system and be really considerate in bidding based on shape and negative inferences. I think I’m at the stage where I want to start building more complex system into my repertoire and play around with what I do/don’t like, that being said I think there is a lot of rote learning involved and adding new conventions also means learning all of the bidding down the line from there. So I guess the lazy (?) part of me says less system, but I would like to put in the time to learn more complex system soon.
What do you to do to improve your game?
Bridgemaster is probably my go to – but I also like to (gradually) read through bridge books, play games weekly (usually at least 3 times a week!), practice system on cuebids, play with mentors (Peter Newman, Liz Sylvester, Ben Thompson, etc.), discuss interesting hands, and sometimes if I’m going through a particularly bridge-heavy period of life, I will have my own Queen’s Gambit moment and think through ways to play suits whilst staring at the ceiling. Gotta be fairly sleep deprived for that one though.
Favourite bridge book
I’m going to be basic here and say Card Play Technique – it’s helped me so much
What interests or hobbies do you have besides bridge?
I love cooking, reading, playing board games, going to the beach, playing sports (soccer, netball, basketball, gym), doing crosswords, going to live music (any and all genres).
What is the number one thing that bridge has done for you as a person and for your life?
I think it’s brought me a lot closer to my family in a really meaningful way. But it also is a safe space for me where I can rock up to bridge and either just have a fun night solving puzzles (hands) or I can get some nice low pressure socialisation out of it – it’s become a part of my routine and makes my week just that bit better :))
Bridge results and awards
State Novice Pairs NSW 2025 – 1st place
Spring Online Pairs League 2025 Div 3 – 1st Place
