Raymond Cole is the youngest director in Unit 359. He is also the youngest Life Master in our midst. It's no wonder Raymond was so helpful with his BBO blogs (Tips and Tricks) as he was playing bridge online way before most of us. His first exposure to bridge was on a computer—at age14 he started playing from a CD of multiple card games. He was entranced and from there learned both from books and by playing on Swann Bridge. By age 15 he had migrated to BBO (this was back in 2008!) He joined ACBL that year and persuaded his mother to join him in live play as well. Less than 10 years later he became a Life Master representing D17 at the Toronto Nationals and making it all the way to the quarter-finals—putting him in the small group of Unit 359 players who have played "behind the screens." Only one year later Raymond added becoming a director to his bridge resume and was ready to take over a local club as well as add one of his own in 2020. During the pandemic Raymond was a regular member of the director group keeping Unit 359
alive and now he is co-directing the live Thursday game, for which the other director is extremely grateful due to his superior tech and movement skills. When not playing, directing, teaching, and mentoring at bridge games, Raymond is a student at CU, majoring in math and minoring in music. He contemplates becoming a teacher—helping others learn that math is not a scary subject. He also enjoys playing complicated video/PC games (no surprise there) but is not particularly interested in social
media