CAVENDISH V
2017, FEBRUARY 14-19 MONTE-CARLO, HOTEL LE MERIDIEN
www.cavendish.bridgemonaco.com
Cavendish 2017 Facebook Bulletins
By Stephane Tardy for the daily bulletin
British David Mossop wanted to play in the Cavendish. Naturally he looked for English team-mates – and who thinks England thinks automatically of the Hackett family: father Paul and twins Jason and Justin.
It must be said that the team captain has played regularly with Paul for the last 26 years.
“He isn’t my regular partner but I’m very happy to find him with me at the bridge table.”
To complete the team, the twins, who have played together for the last 35 years.
What’s their main advantage?
“It’s because they have played together for so long” says Paul. “They practically never quarrel. You never hear them raise their voice at the bridge table; when we compare the scores after a match nobody even thinks about blaming someone in the team.”
The twins agree “We play to win, not to quarrel between ourselves”.
The team hopes to finish in the last four and dispute the semi-finals. Jason and Justin are just back from Japan where they won the NEC. Before that they played in the final of the Reisinger.
Being all three professionals, they are obliged to travel all over the world to play in prestigious tournaments. England does not offer enough scope for their ambitions.
What do you think of English Bridge?
“There are a lot of players in England, but only about a dozen have the ability to play at international level.”
Jason et Justin are in that category. 35 years playing together makes for a very strong pair. Being twins strengthens their complicity. With time their style of bridge has changed…
“When we were younger we had a very aggressive approach to bridge. Nowadays we are more conventional and serious.”
From time to time the duo splits up. Justin plays sometimes with Paul. Jason thought he might play with his wife Barbara, who is in the German Ladies’ team.
“But it’s a bit too dangerous to play as a couple” he says.
It’s all about preserving family unity…