Ep. 109: Tim Verbeek on 28 Years of Bridge, Catching Cheaters, and Learning to Lose

In this episode of The Setting Trick, I sit down with Tim Verbeek, professional bridge player and Chairman of the Dutch Athletes Committee, for a wide-ranging conversation about competitive bridge in the Netherlands and beyond. We open by reminiscing about a dinner in Lyon at the 2017 Transnational World Championships, where he helped pull me out of my post-elimination funk. From there we get into the remarkable depth of Dutch bridge talent, and the origin story of Tim's partnership with Danny Molenaar, which started when they were 12 and 13 years old and has now spanned 28 years.We also dig into one of the most uncomfortable topics in competitive bridge: cheating. Tim walks through real cases, from the Lotan Fisher scandal to an online incident during COVID to a player at the Dutch Bridge Federation who duplicated a key to access hand records. He explains how he developed an eye for suspicious patterns, and why the standard of evidence required to convict in bridge is so much higher than for doping in other sports. We close on the emotional toll of losing, raising a four-year-old daughter while traveling the circuit, and the surprising lack of a definitive beginner's guide to the game.__________________________________________________Key Highlights🇳🇱 The Golden Era of Dutch Bridge: Why the Netherlands keeps producing world-class pairs every five to ten years, and Tim's bet that the Dutch will be world champions again within the decade.🏆 From Fill-ins to Full-Time Teammates: How Tim and Danny Molenaar went from last-minute fill-ins at a US National to permanent members of Patty Cayne's team, thanks to an Israeli pair's bad manners.🔍 Catching Cheaters in the Bridge World: From Fisher and Schwartz to an online player who sent strategy messages to the wrong group chat, how Tim developed his instinct for spotting cheating.⚖️ Bridge vs. Doping: Athletes get banned for trace substances, while bridge players suspected of cheating often walk free because federations demand an impossibly high standard of proof.💔 The Emotional Weight of Losing: My tearful near-miss at the Lyon Transnationals, Tim's moment of self-doubt in Belgium, and how even top professionals lose far more often than they win.👶 Life as a Bridge Pro and a Father: Two-week tournaments away from his four-year-old daughter Rosa, and coming home to find that "everything in our life is done by Mommy."📚 The Missing Beginner's Guide to Bridge: Berry Westra's untranslated book, apps like Tricky Bridge, and why the game still lacks a simple learning path for new players.__________________________________________________Resources & Next Steps🎴 Learn more about the Dutch Bridge Federation (Nederlandse Bridge Bond)📱 Try Tricky Bridge, the bridge learning app by Scott Hoffer📖 The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge, recommended for beginners🏅 Follow the Dutch Athletes Committee and their Olympic qualification work🎧 Subscribe to The Setting Trick on Apple Podcasts