The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players

Andrew Robson is a giant, in both height and bridge; he is 6 feet 6 inches tall and has won a slew of titles, including back to back Reisingers in 1998 and 1999. On top of all his bridge accolades, he has met the Queen of England, received the prestigious "Other Buggers' Efforts" award, and survived a 100 foot fall. If you want to learn more about Andrew and his bridge adventures, there is a great...

Al Bender is an extraordinarily dedicated teacher for Bridge For Youth, a nonprofit organization that promotes youth bridge in the Seattle area. After the pandemic struck, Bridge For Youth and Al switched from a face-to-face teaching model to solely virtual instruction. He caught my attention through this Bridge Winners article on the benefits of teaching online. To say the article brightened my d...

Meet Greg Hinze: Three time North American Bridge Champion, world champion and he also has a world class sense of humor! After first hearing there was such a thing as a professional bridge player, Greg made it his five year goal. He played a lot, read lots of books, practically went broke and now is a highly desired pro.  Episode Highlights: 1:35 - How Greg first decided to pursue his goal of beco...

At the age of 10 years and 43 days Adam Kaplan set the record as the  American Contract Bridge League's youngest ever life master. A subsequent article in the ACBL Bridge Bulletin, commemorating Adam's achievement, inspired his successor Richard Jeng who broke Adam's record with ease at the age of 9 years, 6 months, and 12 days. Both Richard and Adam are members of the USA1 Under 21 team whose jou...

Our latest guest, Andrew Chen, is our youngest ever, by a lot! 8-year old Andrew is the ACBL's youngest ever Life Master , a feat many spend decades striving for. In May 2020, Andrew, at the age of eight years and three days, smashed the previous record holder's mark by more than a year. He also was the first to set the record since the requirements for being a Life Master moved from three hundred...

Didn't get enough of Ronnie? He's back! Ron Smith returns to the show, bringing with him more hilarious stories. Episode Highlights: 6:05 - Ron's opinion on Real Bridge 12:30 - When your teammates go for minus 4600 in 4Cxx down 8 so you lose 24 IMPS, but you still win the match 15:35 - Ron learns from his teacher who went minus 5800.Twice 16:05 - Story of the only person to win the Vanderbilt whil...

Among US Juniors, few adults' names are as well-recognized as Ron Smith. But don't let his title of "Honorary Junior" fool you; Ron began playing bridge back in the Roth Stone era, when he only would open the bidding with 14 points—3 points more than what he needs to open today. A true perennial all-star, Ron stands out for his work in fostering the rising young stars of our game. He's also a pret...

While Scott Hoffer professes to be the worst player yet to appear on The Setting Trick, he caught my attention as the developer of an iOS app called Tricky Bridge. Presently only available on iPhones and iPads, Tricky Bridge has become my go to destination for anyone who is interested in learning the game. The ACBL Education Foundation helped make the app's series of 37 beginners lessons free. Hat...

I first saw Nabil Edggton at the 14th World Youth Team Championships in Taicang. I remember being in the Vugraph room and hearing fellow Aussie (Nabil is from Oz) David Stern say something to the effect of, Andy (Hung, Neil's junior and current partner) likes to bid game and let Nabil play it. It still strikes as the type of compliment on which I would love to be on the receiving end.  Nabil and I...

On March 13th Walt Schafer began organizing bridge games on BridgeBase in response to the global shutdown. Walt continues to organize what has become known as "The Schafer Game," selflessly out of his love for bridge. I got to play with the legendary for Bob Hamman for the first time in Walt's game and we went on to win. Beating Episode 23 guests Finn Kolesnik and Jacob Freeman among others.  A fr...

In August of 2012, Tom Carmichael and I spent 12 days together in Taicang, China. Tom as the non-playing captain (NPC) of the USA1 Under 21 team, and me as the executive producer of a documentary film with the working title Lost in the Shuffle . We decided to focus on Tom's team owing to the appeal of the players on it and their chance to win the first ever medal for the US in the Youngsters (Unde...

Not all professional bridge players are world class. I will comfortably posit that Chris Willenken is. Having watched a director ask Chris about a bidding problem at an NABC I've been dumbfounded about how much Chris knows with just a few words introduction. Demand for playing lessons with him has skyrocketed during Covid as bridge players seek to improve their games online. I love the role Chris'...

Jacob Freeman and Finn Kolesnik are 20 and 16 years old respectively. They first proposed the idea of appearing on The Setting Trick, seemingly as a lark, at the 2019 Fall North American Bridge Championships. As the podcast's founder and host, I was delighted that it mattered to them, and amused by being asked during a chance run in on a street corner! Find out the amazing story about how these tw...

Phil Clayton is a regular listener. When he recently won the first ever Premier Pairs we decided to invite him to be a guest. Phil wrote this post on Bridgewinners describing his win with his regular partner Andrew Gumperz . The ACBL's ultimate masterpoint reward is Grand Life Master. Unfortunately for Phil, none of his major wins will qualify him for the distinction. Nonetheless, he says the Prem...

Jack Zhao is a two time world champion in pairs and one of the funniest men in the bridge world. While this is an audio program, when Jack laughs wholeheartedly, it looks like his face is going to explode. I've had the pleasure of partnering Jack for a week long regional tournament and visited him in his home city of Tianjin, China.   In this conversation we discuss Jack's improbable journey to li...

Kim Frazer is an Olympian , three time Commonwealth Games gold medalist in rifle shooting and author of Gaining the Mental Edge at Bridge . Seeking a hobby in retirement, Kim took up bridge in 2005 and in 2018 made the Australian women's team in her first attempt.   In this episode Kim shares how the mental techniques that brought her such success in shooting are just as applicable in bridge. Kim...

Equal Justice Initiative   Black Lives Matter Bridge is one of my favorite subjects. I love hearing stories about how people got started, a great play or how they approach a hand. The Setting Trick podcast is the forum where I share conversations with world class bridge players and fellow lovers of the game. As the host and founder, it is my pleasure to share highlights from Seasons One and Two in...

Anam Tebha is a professional bridge player, who learned the game during summer school as a teenager and fell in love. Shortly afterwards, her and three classmates went to the junior world championships knowing "only KC." Afterwards, she returned home and "must have logged like over 50 boards a day" on Bridge Base Online, playing with any and everyone. Her hard work and passion paid off when she wo...

When I invited world champion Geoff Hampson to be a guest on The Setting Trick, he shot back, "What's the Setting Trick?" Crushed, I sent him a link to our website along with question marks and exclamation points. To which he responded, "I just bust chops, I'm down."    It's a pleasure to welcome one of the finest bridge players in the world with a sense of humor to match. Highlights from Episode:...

Steve Weinstein speaks highly of his partners, demands a lot out of his students and plays to win. As a 17 year old, Steve became the youngest ever winner of a North American Bridge Championship, winning the Life Master Pairs with his stepfather Fred Stewart. While Steve is one of the best professional bridge players in the world, he considers himself "lucky that I have gotten to do things that I'...

Jeff Meckstroth needs no introduction. His name is synonymous with winning. When I first laid eyes on him, some eight years ago, at the Williamsburg Regional, I thought, "Wow, there's Jeff Meckstroth!" Now, amazingly, here he is, full of good humor, stories and even some encouragement for my own game on The Setting Trick podcast. In our wide ranging conversation, Jeff shares about meeting Eric Rod...

Originating from Denmark, Kare Gjaldbaek is our next guest. Kare is currently pursuing a PhD in mathematics. This coupled with the fact that he has new children to take care of means he is forced to take a hiatus from bridge. But once life calms down for him, he plans on "returning to the bridge scene with a vengeance."    Similarly to our previous guest, Bart Bramley, Kare has interesting stories...

Being on our longest interview yet, Bart Bramley, a world-class bridge champion, delivered throughout the entirety of the podcast. This episode was not a typical interview. Indeed, it was Bart who steered the conversation, captaining the exploration of his fruitful life. As a master storyteller, Bart recounted innumerable adventures and provided an incredulous level of detail in each of his storie...

Best known for being the inventor of the now famous game, Hool , and other bridge-related apps - like Kida -, Amaresh Deshpande is our next guest to share his thoughts. Originating from India, Deshpande began his career as a math teacher, but he now finds himself mainly teaching bridge. Concerned by the current difficulty in introducing bridge to short-attention-spanned children, Deshpande had set...

James Holzhauer is, by far, the most famous interviewee we have had on the show. Breaking several records in the game show Jeopardy! , Holzhauer and his massive win streak have astonished the world. During his winning streak Jeopardy! viewership grew from 10.4 million to 13.3 million a week. He is already in the Jeopardy! Hall of Fame . Holzhauer is more than a Jeopardy! champion; he is also a bri...