UCT student dealt a winning hand in SA bridge

University of Cape Town (UCT) first-year actuarial science student Aras Apteker (18) and his brother, Jude (25), are helping to inject fresh talent into South African bridge, a game where experienced players have long dominated the competition.

Walk into almost any competitive bridge tournament in South Africa and two things quickly become apparent: the level of the game is exceptionally high, and young faces are few and far between.

That is what makes the recent success of brothers Aras and Jude Apteker particularly unusual.

Among the youngest players in the room at the Gauteng Bridge Union Mini Congress – which took place from 10 to 12 July – the brothers did far more than simply make up the numbers. They helped secure victory in the teams event before winning the second session of the pairs competition – competing against players with decades more experience at the bridge table.

For two young players in a game where experience is often considered one of the greatest advantages, the result was a significant one.

Aras has been playing bridge since he was just 10 years old.

“When Jude and I walk into a tournament, we’re very often the youngest people there by a long way.”

Nearly a decade later, that early promise is beginning to translate into notable results.

“I think people are always surprised when I tell them I play bridge,” Aras said. “There is definitely this perception that it is an old person’s game. When Jude and I walk into a tournament, we’re very often the youngest people there by a long way.”

The age gap, however, disappears remarkably quickly once the cards are dealt.

Holding their own

Bridge is a game in which thousands of hours of experience can provide an enormous advantage. Players develop an instinct for patterns, probabilities and positions over decades of play. To compete successfully at a young age therefore requires a rare combination of analytical ability, memory, partnership understanding and composure.

Those qualities have allowed the Apteker brothers to increasingly hold their own against some of South Africa’s most experienced players.

Aras was already appearing in adult regional bridge tournaments as an 11-year-old. A 2018 report from a tournament in Knysna described him as a “future champ” after he competed against established adult players.

Since then, his bridge career has continued alongside school and, more recently, his studies at UCT.

For Aras, the connection between the two worlds is difficult to ignore.

“You can play a hand incredibly well and still find out afterwards that there was something you could have done better.”

“There is definitely an overlap in the way you think. In bridge, you’re constantly working with incomplete information. You make assumptions, you get new information, and you have to keep updating what you think is happening,” he explained.

“That’s probably part of what I love about it. You can play a hand incredibly well and still find out afterwards that there was something you could have done better.”

Jude has developed into a formidable player in his own right, and the two brothers now form part of a remarkably small group of young South Africans competing seriously in the game.

Their success at the Mini Congress is made more notable by the fact that bridge has historically rewarded longevity. Many top players reach their strongest level only after decades of tournament experience.

Yet the Apteker brothers are already producing results in open competition.

It runs in the family

Bridge also runs through the Apteker family. Aras has previously enjoyed success playing alongside his father, Alon, with the father-and-son partnership finishing third in the pairs event at the 2025 Festival of Bridge in Cape Town.

For Aras and Jude, however, there is something particularly special about competing together.

“Jude and I are obviously incredibly competitive,” Aras said. “But being able to sit down together and compete against players who have been playing longer than we’ve been alive is pretty cool.

“And winning makes it slightly better.”

Where are the next young players?

Their results also raise an important question for South African bridge. Bridge is internationally recognised as a competitive mind sport, demanding logic, probability, memory and highly disciplined communication. Yet despite those qualities, the game continues to struggle to attract younger generations.

The Apteker brothers suggest the problem may not be that young people cannot excel at bridge. It may simply be that too few are ever introduced to it.

“I genuinely think bridge is one of the best games in the world,” Aras said. “Most people my age have just never had the opportunity to learn it.

“I’d love to walk into a tournament one day and see 20 or 30 people our age playing. At the moment, two brothers our age winning an event is unusual enough to be a story. Hopefully, one day, it won’t be.”

For now, Aras will return to Cape Town, while both brothers continue to build reputations as two of the country’s promising young bridge players.