Hondo717, or Howard Schutzman, is known
to many BBO beginners, as he's been involved with various teaching
activities on BBO for years. He's a Beginner Intermediate Lounge (BIL) club mentor,
and still teaches 2 free classes each week. (For more information and
some free Bridge material, please visit Howard's own website, http://www.bridgesights.com/hondobridge/)
He also assists popular North American teacher/writer Marty Bergen
in his monthly BBO class. Here's a short profile to introduce the
energetic and kindly Howard to everyone!
Taking a Bridge Break
Hondo717 has been bridging for 50 years. He
started in the 1960s by reading Goren.
He armed himself with 4 Card Majors, Stayman, and Blackwood, and played
for years with just these. The modern player will probably feel naked
if asked to do the same, but Howard theorizes that requiring beginners
to memorize complicated bidding rules probably led to Bridge's decline,
since it just discourages a lot of would-be Bridge players.
The first time he attempted competitive Bridge was in high school. He had 3 friends who played, and the three of them decided to draw straws to determine partners...with the loser partnering Howard! Howard was infuriated and determined to show them what he's capable of. He spent the weekend practicing intensively with a computer program, and his pair actually made the team whereas the other pair did not. Howard started to play a once or twice a week around this time. A regular player asked him whether he played a lot, and being young, he said "Yep." He soon realized the regular player's definition of "Playing a lot" means almost daily games!
MIT is known worldwide for being one of the world's best universities. Bridge players understand this was because MIT produced some of the world's top players. The glory years in the 1970s saw Chip Martel, Bart Bramley, Mark Feldman and Steve Sion all attending college together, and Howard got to play with them all. Sort of like golfing with Phil Mickelson before he got famous!
After he attended college with these future Bridge stars, Howard decided there was no way he could play like them, and perhaps have a career as a professional bridge player. He therefore subjugated his competitive impulse and forced himself to see Bridge as a purely social pastime. This enabled him to develop into that rarest of experts - a gentle one.
Howard goes against conventional Bridge axiom, which basically states that a couple should never play with each other if they want to maintain their harmonious relationship. He has been partnering his wife Ava for 35 years, but credits Ava with being the most forgiving partner in the world. Howard and Ava both help Marty Bergen in his work, and are good friends of Marty now.
Howard and Ava
After a career teaching Computer Science, Howard is still working. He's a self-employed computer programmer, and believes this to be as interesting as Bridge.
In fact, he's been known to go around
telling people he'll still code as a hobby, even if he was not paid.
Overall, Howard seems to be deeply interested in all facets of life. Leaving aside his professional interests in Computer Science and Bridge, he's also an avid sportsman. His current sporting interests are Golf, Bowling and Tennis, but in college, he once participated in 24 sports one year! He also loves his dog Taffy, and manages to combine his interests by bringing Taffy to the Bridge club often. What's next? Taffy teaching a Programming class?
Taffy the Golfer
Family Portrait! Joyce, Ava, Howard, and Taffy
The proof, so to speak, is always in the pudding. Throughout this article, I've mentioned Howard is a really nice and kind man. But don't take my word for it. Talk to any of the regular BIL club members or Howard's many students. One of his students, BBOer
Nome says it best - "Howard is a great teacher, a
great person, and a great role model". Nome is 73, so he knows what
he's talking about!