Leveling Up

Owen Lien grew up in Hickory, NC, and now live in Oak Park, MI. He started playing bridge at 9 and now has over 20,000 masterpoints. He was a member of the US Junior Bridge Team from 2006 - 2014, winning the World Junior Championship in 2013. He worked in Real Estate Appraising from 2011 - 2015; now he works as a full-time bridge pro.

Kai Eckert learned Bridge in July 2018 after his grandmother refused to teach him. He learned on vacation to surprise her, and then Bridge turned into being a little bit a lot. He could never seem to get enough Bridge in his life, so he found clubs, tournaments, SIVY, Twitch (V8mama’s livestream) and the USBF Jr. Training program. During this time, he also is working on an online business administration degree but, that doesn’t really matter, his primary major is Bridge. He hasn’t had any outstanding playing achievements yet, but he is immersed in many aspects of Bridge. He is a teacher in the San Francisco Area, an ACBL Associate Tournament Director, and an online content creator. He made the Bridgin’ With Kai YouTube channel and you might have seen him all over, on the ACBL YouTube Channel, BBO YouTube Channel, on the Funbridge webpages, as a celebrity daily challenger on IntoBridge, or collaborating with many other Bridge content creators. His main goal in life is to help spread Bridge and facilitate the growth of a fun and enthusiastic player base the likes of which the Bridge hasn’t yet imagined!Please don’t forget to go give his work some support but subscribing to Bridgin’ With Kai (IT’S FREE) and check out a few videos! His enthusiasm for Bridge is infectious!

David Gold started as a top junior chess player before her learned bridge at school around age 16. David has been a fixture on England’s open team since 2004, winning a silver medal in the World Bridge Games in 2008. He won bronze medals in world championships in 2017 and 2022. In the US, he won the Vanderbilt in 2023 and the Mitchell BAM in 2017.David has won many events in the UK, including victory in the Gold Cup five times, Premier League nine times, and Spring Foursomes three times. He was the winner of the inaugural Player of the Year Championship for the 2014/15 season.

Josh Donn (or Jdonn, as he is commonly known in the world of bridge) is a professional bridge player, teacher, and writer. He was a member of the winning US junior team at the World Junior Team Championships in 2006. He won the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams recently in St. Louis, the Blue Ribbon Pairs in 2011, and the Roth Open Swiss Teams three times, in 2008, 2016, and 2019.Josh first learned bridge in 1996, playing exclusively with his parents and grandparents for the first several years. He graduated from the University of Rochester in 2004 with a double major in mathematics and economics and a minor in actuarial studies. He moved to Los Angeles for two years and worked as an actuary, before finally settling in Las Vegas in 2006. He worked as a supervisor and manager in the Casino Accounting departments of several major casinos for the next eight years, jumping from the Bellagio to the MGM Grand to the Cosmopolitan. He resigned to become a full-time bridge player at the end of 2014. He also worked for BBO for the next four years, helping improve GIB and do cheating investigations.Along with playing and teaching private lessons, Josh has co-written a book, written numerous columns, taught seminars, volunteered on several committees, and regularly gives free lectures at regionals.

Adam Wildavsky is a retired software engineer and lifelong bridge enthusiast. An MIT graduate, he is an avid skier, swimmer, and Lindy Hop dancer. A student of Objectivism—the philosophy of Ayn Rand—he believes its principles are especially valuable for bridge players. When not traveling, Adam divides his time between Colorado in the winter and New York City, Paris, and Sarasota in the summer.Adam is a two-time winner of the Blue Ribbon Pairs (1992, 1997), a Reisinger BAM winner (2003), and a Bronze Medalist in the 2003 Bermuda Bowl. He has won multiple national and international titles, including the USBC (Open Team Trials) in 2003 and 2009, the Lebhar IMP Pairs and Fast Open Pairs in 2008, and the inaugural JLall Memorial online event in 2020. He has over a hundred regional victories and has represented both the United States and Switzerland in international play.Away from the table, Adam serves on the WBF Executive Council and chairs its Technology Committee. He is the Vice-Chair of the ACBL National Laws Commission and has held numerous administrative roles advancing fair play and tournament innovation. As a writer and theorist, Adam has contributed to The Bridge World, Bridge Today, and the ACBL’s Magazine and Daily Bulletins. He co-created the “Keller” convention and is an authority on the Kaplan-Sheinwold bidding system. His advocacy of Ayn Rand’s ideas in relation to bridge led to a 2003 New York Times Magazine profile titled “Ayn Rand in Spades.”

Frances Hinden started playing bridge seriously at Cambridge University, where she won the Portland Bowl, the Junior Camrose, and gained a silver medal in the first European Universities Championship. Since then she has won many UK events, including multiple Camrose trophies and the Premier League, Gold Cup and Spring Foursomes twice each. She played with Graham Osborne in the Open team for the Mind Sports games in Wroclaw in 2016 and she and Graham are now regulars on the English mixed team. Frances is also vice-chair of the EBU’s regulation committee and a member of the EBU Board. Frances is retiring from full-time employment in April and is looking forward to a more relaxed lifestyle involving travel, eating, drinking and bridge.

Joyjit Sensarma is a coach to many high-level partnerships. He was the coach of the USA Seniors teams that won the world championship in 2024 and finished third in 2025. He has also coached the Indian and Irish national teams.

Gonzolo Goded started playing on Spain’s junior team in 1996 and joined the open team in 2008. He studied computer science and worked as a programmer before he became a full-time pro. He is currently working on the Bridge Owl system, which uses cameras at clubs and tournaments to create a full and (hopefully) accurate record of the bidding and play. I first met him at the NABC in San Francisco, where he was doing a test of the system in the Soloway.

Sjoert Brink is one of the top players in the world. Together with his partner Bas Drijver, he has won the Bermuda Bowl three times—once for the Netherlands (2011) and twice for Switzerland (2021 and 2023)—and the Open Olympiad for the Netherlands (2016). He also won the Mixed world championships playing with Barbara Ferm in 2022. He has won many European and North American championships as well. Sjoert has 2 kids—Daan and Froukje—and studied economics at Tilburg University. He plays padel tennis, runs, and always goes wrong in the stock market.

Kim Frazer was an international rifle shooter who represented Australia at all levels of competition over a 28-year period from 1978 to 2006. She competed at the Olympic Games in Athens as well as 4 World Championships, 4 Commonwealth Games, winning Gold medals on 3 occasions and multiple World Cups. She became interested in the mental side of sport following an introduction to the subject during a training camp in 1985 and she used mental tools extensively during her shooting career.She played cards with the family as a child and first played a few games of bridge at lunchtimes while at university in the late 70’s and really liked the game. After retiring from international shooting, she returned to bridge at a local club in 2005 and applied the same passion and competitiveness to the game that she had brought success with her shooting career. She represented Australia on the women’s team in 2017 in Orlando Florida, and has represented her home state of Victoria on Open, Women’s and Senior teams since 2014.She started writing a series of articles for Australian bridge magazines on Mental Management for bridge in 2014, and these articles became the basis for her book Gaining the Mental Edge at Bridge which won an IBPA award for Book of the Year.Professionally, Kim held management roles in marketing and business development with Kodak & Telstra. Since retiring from corporate life, she has served on committees at her shooting club and the state & national bridge associations. She is currently treasurer of the IBPA.She lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband John and blue heeler Zoe. Outside bridge she still enjoys shooting, and also cooking, reading, and watching TV series & movies.

Alan Shillitoe is the current England U16 Squad Leader and a former U21/U26 Coach and England junior international. In over 20 years working with the squads, he has coached more than 200 players to have played internationally, many of whom have won medals at Euro/World level.He also developed the English national Junior Award Scheme and curriculum for youth players and in 2024 was a recipient of the EBU Silver Award for his outstanding service to junior Bridge.

Gavin Wolpert is a 43-year old Canadian American Pro Bridge player turned online teacher. He grew up in a bridge playing family in Toronto. From age 14 he began traveling the world playing bridge. In 2001, he became a full-time professional bridge player and has never looked back. During the pandemic Gavin began teaching online and has developed a large following of players playing the system taught in his “master series” on wolpertbridge.comGavin currently lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with his wife Jenny and their 3 children. Two of his kids have turned into bridge players and are part of the USBF Junior Program.Gavin is a World Grand Master and ACBL Grand Life Master with over 27000 Masterpoints.Gavin is a world champion, an 8-time NABC Champion with 7 different partners including the Blue Ribbon Pairs with his then fiancé Jenny, and most recently the 2025 Soloway KO. He believes his success with so many different partners comes down to keeping a simple but modern system and being a good partner.

Per-Ola Cullin is a member of the Swedish Open team and lives in Stockholm with his wife and two kids. He is an associate judge at the Court of Appeals in Stockholm, currently working at the office of the Ombudsman of Justice monitoring the legality and appropriateness of the activities of public authorities. Some impressive results include wins in the Life Master Pairs 2011 and World Mind Games 2012 and third place this year in the Bermuda Bowl 2025.

Jason Feldman is an immigration attorney and accomplished professional bridge player. Raised in a bridge-playing family, he learned the game at ten and went on to win the World Junior Championship (2006), the NABC Open Swiss Teams (2008), and Canada’s CNTC titles in 2023 and 2025, along with numerous additional top-ten finishes. Beyond the table, Jason co-founded BridgeWinners.com, a leading online hub for players, teachers, and fans.He also leads a successful immigration law firm with his mother—expert player Lynne Feldman—helping clients, including many bridge players, pursue their dreams of working and living in the U.S. A longtime San Diegan who later lived in the ski town of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Jason now spends most of his time in Florida. When he isn’t working or playing bridge, he’s with his wife, three kids (ages 6, 9, and 11), and two dogs—or out chasing adventures like surfing, skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey, and disc golf.

In 1991, Jeff Ferro performed the rare feat of playing in two world championships: he represented the USA in the Bermuda Bowl and the junior world championships. His team made the quarterfinals in the Bermuda Bowl and won the youth championships. Two years later, he added on a bronze medal in the junior world championships and a win in the Grand National Teams. Then followed a 25-year hiatus during which he played very little as he focused on his advertising career. He won the Masters Mixed Board-a-Match in 2000, but that was about it for his bridge until 2020. Since coming back, he has won several online events, including the two-day pairs event during the online summer NABC in 2021.

Jill Meyers has won 8 world championships: four Venice Cups, one mixed team, one McConnell, and two women’s pairs. She currently ranks 10th on the WBF’s women’s all-time list. She has won 17 NABC+ titles and finished 2nd an additional 23 times. She was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2014.Jill only plays bridge part-time, because she has a career in Hollywood: she is the music supervisor on movies and TV shows including The Voice and was formerly Vice President of Music at Tri-Star Pictures.

Daniel Korbel was born in Toronto, Canada, but currently resides in Las Vegas. He has won four Canadian Championships and four NABCs. He has 7 second place finishes in NABCs, a world championship silver, and two world championship bronze medals. When not playing bridge, you can find Daniel in the gym, at the piano bench, or at the Texas Hold’em poker tables.

Geoff Hampson was born and raised in Toronto Canada and emigrated to the USA 31 years ago. He has lived in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the last 18 years. Seen above with his wife Lindsay and their golden retriever, Charlie. Geoff has won 25 NABC+ championships, with an additional 15 second place finishes. He is a World Grand Master, with wins in the Rosenblum in 2010 and 2022. He and longtime partner Eric Greco joined the Nickell team in 2020 and are considered one of the top pairs in the world.

Almost every top player I’ve had on the podcast has mentioned that one of the key tools they use working on their partnerships is Cuebids, an app that was developed by Emanuel Unge and Daniel Koval Gullberg. So I wanted to have them on the podcast to talk about it.The episode comes off as a bit of an advertisement for Cuebids, but I think that’s appropriate—it’s such a great app and has become an essential tool for any serious partnership. Greg and I use it every day. I encourage you to check it out!Emanuel Unge is the founder of Cuebids. He discovered bridge at the age of 25 and quickly fell in love with the game. Passionate about technology and gadgets, he also enjoys playing all kinds of games—video, board, and card games alike. He occasionally takes on the challenge of golf, though he admits it’s a tough game. Emanuel lives in the south of Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife Erika and their three-year-old daughter, Saga.Daniel Koval Gullberg learned bridge in high school in Stockholm. On the Swedish junior team he won gold in both European and World championships. Daniel works as a software engineer. He recently moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bill Neumann learned bridge at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, becoming an ACBL Life Master in 1972. After a long break from tournament play, he returned eight years ago and has since posted several NABC+ top-10 finishes in the last two years. A decades-long daily reader of The Bridge World, Bill writes about skill acquisition in bridge; he created the Red–Green framework and a companion flash-card system used for training and as a concise alternative to traditional system notes. He lives in Columbia, MD, and works full-time as a Principal Solution Architect and Systems Engineer at Connection (Microsoft Azure & Microsoft 365). Read his series on Red-Green at billneumann.substack.com.

Ida Grönkvist played her first international bridge tournament for Sweden when she was 12 years old and hasn’t been able to stop since. Now 30, Ida lives in Stockholm, where she works as an acting associate judge at The Svea Court of Appeals. Since 2022, she has served as a member on the executive council of the EBL and the chair of the EBL Youth Committee. Outside of bridge, she enjoys reading, running, hiking and choir practice.Though she couldn’t make time to play the Venice Cup this year, Ida has been a mainstay on the Swedish women’s team since 2016. They won the Venice Cup in 2019 and were second at the World Bridge Games in 2024. She also represented Sweden on several gold medal junior teams.

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Brian Arlinghaus is the head golf coach at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and also consults as a sports psychologist. Brian has a master’s degree in sport and exercise psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and owns and operates Cincinnati Sports Psychology. Brian started working with bridge players when he was contacted by Matthew and Pamela Granovetter, who put me in touch with him.If you’re interested in learning more about him, you can contact him via email.

World Grand Master Janice Seamon-Molson is the 6th-ranked woman in the history of the WBF. She has five world championship victories and has four silver medals. She has won 23 North American Championships and finished second 20 times. Janice was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2024. Janice will be representing the USA in the Venice Cup at the upcoming World Championships in Denmark in late August.

Bob Hamman is one of the all-time greats. He was elected to the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1999 and was the ACBL’s Player of the Year in 1990, 1993, and 2006. He has won the Bermuda Bowl 10 times, with an additional 6 silver medals. He has also won the World Open Team Olympiad, the World Open Pairs, and the Senior Team Championships. He has 54 NABC wins, including 6 Vanderbilts, 15 Spingolds, and 11 Reisingers. Bob was a member of the famed Dallas Aces and one of the original members of the fabled Nickell team.

Ralph Katz was born in 1957 in Pittsburgh, PA, and raised in Steubenville, OH. He started playing bridge at 16. After completing college, he moved to Chicago to trade options. At 22, he won his first NABC title, the Life Master Pairs, and at 24, he won both the Spingold and the Master Mixed Teams at the Summer NABC. Ralph was the ACBL Player of the Year in 2001 and won the Fishbein Trophy in 1981 and 2001. Some of his many wins include the Bermuda Bowl (2009), the Rosenblum (2002), the Vanderbilt (1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2017, 2024), the Spingold (1981, 2001, 2002), and the Reisinger (2000, 2009, 2021). In 2018, Ralph was a first-ballot selection for the ACBL Hall of Fame. Ralph and his wife, Martha, herself a World Junior Champion, have an adult son, Sam, who was King of Bridge in 2006. Sam and his wife, Jenni, have given Ralph and Martha two adorable future players, Ben and Izzy.Next to bridge and family, Ralph’s biggest loves are the Pirates and the Steelers.

Augie Boehm has written for The Bridge World for 25 years and the ACBL Bulletin for 35 years. He has written 10 books, including Bridge Smarts, winner of the 2016 ABTA book-of-the-year award. At 14, he won the first USA Junior Championship in Washington, D.C., 1961, partnered by Hall-of-Famer Michael Becker. Augie is also a concert pianist, classically trained by his grandmother. He majored in music at Columbia and has performed at Carnegie Hall for 45 years. He has composed several art songs and a score for an off-off Broadway play.

Bart Bramley won the first of his 17 NABC+ events in 1980, with a win in the Men’s BAM (as it was known then). He has also had strong results in World Championships, including a win in the Senior Teams in 2007 and second in the Par Contest in 1998. Bart was elected to the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2019.His partners over the years have included Lou Bluhm, Hugh Ross, Sidney Lazard, Lew Stansby, Bob Hamman and Kit Woolsey. Bart has written for The Bridge World magazine for decades; he has been a director of the Master Solvers Club for 20 years and writes tournament reports on major events about once a year.

Chip Martel began playing bridge seriously while in high school in Urbana, IL. He was fortunate to be near the University of Illinois campus where they had good campus games and several strong players willing to help him improve.Later, Chip studied computer science — and bridge — at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a B.S. in 1975. In 1980, he earned a Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley where he met his wife and soulmate, Jan, and great long-time partner, Lew Stansby.In 1981, Chip won his first North American title, the Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams, with Stansby. The following year they won their first world title, the Open Pairs. Since then, he has won five additional open world championships, a world seniors title, and more than 35 North American titles. After playing with Stansby for 35 years, Chip started a new partnership with his old friend Marty Fleisher about 10 years ago with great success.Chip served as captain and coach of the world champion Junior team in 1991 and the world champion Senior team in 2005. He was a long time chair of the ACBL Laws Commission, a member of the World Bridge Federation Laws and System Committees, and was on the drafting committee for the 1997 laws. Additionally, he won the Bols Tip Competition and was named ACBL Honorary Member in 2000.Before he retired in 2013, Martel was a professor of computer science at the University of California at Davis. He helped found the computer science department there and served as one of its first department chairs. In the 1985-86 academic year, he achieved a rare double of winning a world championship and achieving tenure. He continues to work at the college as an emeritus professor.

Judith Weiner graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in math and physics. She had the awesome opportunity to work in the original Friendship Seven space program and the development of the first Airline Reservation System. After several decades hiatus to raise her family, she resumed her interest in serious bridge learning and play.

Joel Wooldridge became the ACBL’s youngest life master at age 11; this record has since been shattered and is currently held by Andrew Chen, who made Life Master at 8 years old. Joel was a fixture on the US junior teams, winning the junior world championships three times. He was the King of Bridge—awarded to an outstanding senior in high school—in 1997, which was the year he won his first NABC+ title, the Lebhar IMP Pairs in 1997, playing with Tom Carmichael. Since then, he has won 12 more NABC+ events, most recently the Platinum Pairs in 2024 with Kent Mignocchi. He also won the Platinum Pairs, the most difficult and prestigious pair event in the ACBL, in 2011, playing with John Hurd.

Adam Kaplan is a member of the USA1 Open team that recently won the USBF trials 4-handed and will be representing the US this summer in the Bermuda Bowl. He has won two U26 World Junior Teams Championships, and has numerous additional medals in Juniors. In open events, he won the 2025 Gold Coast Teams, as well as the 2023 Gold Coast Pairs, and the 2024 European Winter Games Final B. He also stars in the documentary Double Dummy (https://doubledummymovie.com/).  He learned bridge at age 5 and played regularly throughout his teenage years while homeschooled before taking a 5-year hiatus from the game while finishing college at Stanford and starting to work. He returned to the game in Fall 2022, and now plays semi-professionally while maintaining an active career as a trader.

Nabil Edgtton is a member of the Australian national team and regularly attends NABCs. His team was second in last year’s Reisinger. Other impressive finishes include second in the world pairs, second in the world transnationals, and second in the World Bridge Tour final. Nabil has compiled an amazing document that he calls the Mental Edge. It documents all the research he has done about ways to improve focus and performance. He has been kind enough to share it with all of us. You can access it here.

Marty Fleisher is a world champion and was recently elected to the ACBL Hall of Fame. He was the 2013 ACBL Player of the Year, awarded to the player earning the most platinum masterpoints during the year. He took over 20 years off of bridge at the beginning of his career. Since coming back, he has amassed one of the most impressive records in bridge over the last three decades.

Marguerite Levin is a Boston-area clarinetist who performs as an orchestral and chamber musician. In addition, she has had a distinguished teaching career with former students holding noted teaching and playing positions in U.S. orchestras and military bands. She was Principal Clarinetist with the Baltimore Opera Orchestra for over 10 years, a member of the United States Navy Band/Washington, D.C. and performed extensively with the Wolf Trap Opera Orchestra. Regarding her 2011 Weill Recital Hall concert, a writer for The Clarinet stated: "...technically flawless and performs with profound expression." Dr. Levin received her DMA in performance from the University of Maryland in 2006. She and her husband, David, are avid bridge players and both currently hold a Ruby Life Master status in the American Contract Bridge League.

Brad Moss is a father, a husband, and a world champion. He grew up around bridge champions and developed an early love for the game. He won the Rosenblum Teams with Fred Gitelman in 2010 and the Bermuda Bowl with Joe Grue in 2017.

Samantha Punch is Professor of Sociology at the University of Stirling, UK. She leads the research project - Bridge: A MindSport for All (BAMSA). In the study Bridging Minds Sam interviewed 60 world class and top players from the USA and Europe about the non-technical aspects of the game.Based on this research, her book Bridge at the Top: Behind the Screens includes interviews with players such as Meckstroth, Rodwell, Hamman, Rosenberg, Grue, Zia, and Levin. The more recent book, The Art of Becoming a Top Bridge Player, covers various topics from the interviews, such as mistakes, emotions, partnership dynamics, pressure, and how to ‘level up.’Sam won the Lazard Sportsmanship Award for being part of Team Scotland who kick-started a boycott at the European Qualifiers event in 2021. She has played for Scotland every year since 2008, either on the women’s, mixed, and/or open team.

Norman Beck is a gambler. He has worked for Bob Hamman at SCA Promotions for 33 years. Before that, he was a police officer, an insurance adjuster, a security guard, a bartender, a bouncer, a writer, a “psychic,” and a magician. Norman learned bridge in 1977 and was playing duplicate within 2 weeks. He used to hitchhike to tournaments and do a magic show to make money for food. He has played with some of the legends of the game, including Hamman, Meckstroth, Rodwell, Sontag, Goldman, Bramley. I was introduced to Norman by Ribs LaMothe, who spoke highly of him as a teacher and mentor. After talking with him for a couple of minutes at the NABC in Memphis, I knew he would make for a great interview for the podcast.I encourage you to watch Norman’s Ted Talk. It’s the best one I’ve seen.

David Weiss is an emeritus psychology professor specializing in judgment and decision making who has published two books and over 70 academic articles. His most recent research is about objectively assessing expertise when there is no scoreboard. David has written extensively about bridge, publishing two books and over 60 articles in The Bridge World.Good professor that he is, David brought some slides with him, so I encourage you to watch this one rather than listen if you can.

James Holzhauer is a Diamond Life Master. In 2019 he won 32 consecutive games on Jeopardy and recorded the 12 highest single-game scores in the show's history. He has also starred as one of the resident trivia experts on the ABC show The Chase. He lives in Las Vegas.

Ribs LaMothe is a retired training consultant, specializing in sales and communication skills. His background includes instructional design, focusing on helping people learn. He has also used his skills teaching the game of bridge in the Dallas, Texas area.

Larry Cohen is a 25-time national champion, American Contract Bridge League Hall of Famer, former ACBL Player of the Year, and is one of the ACBL’s "Top 10 Living Most Influential Bridge Personalities."

Boye Brogeland is one of the top players in the world. And an awful lot of fun to talk to! For over 25 years he has been a mainstay on the Norwegian national team as they put up a string of impressive results, the highlight being the Bermuda Bowl championship in 2007 and the European championships in 2008, 2018,and 2024. I highly recommend his book, Bridge at the Edge. And, of course, he earned the nickname “The Sherriff” for his leadership eradicating cheating from the game in 2015.

Amber Lin is the 2025 ACBL Honorary Member of the Year, a former Queen of Bridge, and co-coordinator of the USBF’s Online Junior Training Program. Amber won the gold medal in the Mixed Teams at the 2023 World Championships and the silver medal the year before. Her energy and enthusiasm for junior bridge have changed the lives of many young US players. Outside of bridge, she works full time in clean energy.

Charlie Wilkins is a bridge enthusiast who retired in 2021 after a long career in commercial real estate. Since mid-2017, he has been collecting deals from actual play, where non-experts made technically correct bids and plays that gained lots of matchpoints. He calls these deals “Real World Bridge” to distinguish them from deals that occur in all-expert games, deals that require expert skills, and deals that were invented by authors. Since COVID, most of these deals have occurred in large online Open Pairs games with 50+ tables. For more information, see https://realworldbridge.com/“I’ve been working on Leveling Up for almost eight years now, and it’s led to big improvements in my game. I’ve read hundreds of bridge books and studied bridge for over sixty years (yikes), but my game really started to improve when I started getting coaching from Marty Bergen, Dennis Dawson (from 2017 until he died in 2022), and Val Kovachev (starting in 2020), not only about technical skills but about how to play my best bridge consistently.”

Fred Gitelman is best known as one of the creators of Bridge Base Online and its predecessor, Bridge Base Inc., which produced some of the best and most important educational software of the 90s. Fred retired from top-level tournament bridge in 2019, but during his heyday he and Brad Moss were one of the top pairs in the world, winning the 2010 Rosenblum world championship and several national titles. Fred is a deep thinker about the game, and has been tremendously influential to modern bridge.

Brian Platnick, of Evanston, IL is a graduate of Virginia Tech (BS & MS in engineering) and William & Mary School of Law.  He has worked for the past 30 years trading stock options.  He is a founding member, and current President of The EDGAR Association.  Brian served as a member of both the Ethical and Online Oversight Committees of the ACBL and has worked on numerous cheating investigations. As a bridge player, Brian has won 6 NABC+ events and attained the rank of World Grand Master after winning the 1991 World Junior Teams and 2010 Rosenblum.