Shan Huang (technically Huang Shan) is a budding bridge legend. His frequent successes at tournaments earned him multiple Richmond trophies, the Canadian masterpoint race, before he immigrated to the US’ greener bridge pastures. He is in a formidable partnership with Floridian Kevin Dwyer. Link to Video Version: https://youtu.be/yAMvFrjPfp0   Episode Highlights:  1:40- Huang Shan  11:33- Why Shan moved from Canada to USA  19:30- His experience at a Chinese monastery  24:10- Descriptions of Justin Lall (RIP)  28:45- How Shan’s partnership with Kevin Dwyer came to be  32:35- The power of preempts against precision players  35:30- The biggest advantage of strong club systems  41:45- Shan’s mentors  49:54- A tragic hand  1:02:45- Another minus 1660 hand that costed John $1600+  1:07:27- Who does Shan most want to partner with?  1:13:22- How rating bridge hands is like rating peoples’ attractiveness  1:19:00- Shan hates squealing    

42. Shan Huang - Is Better than You!

Hi, my name is John McAllister. I have spent the past six years playing bridge all around the world. My goal is to win a world championship. Doing so requires getting into the minds of the world's best players. 

I can not think of a better, more fun way to do so, than to interview great bridge players and share their insights in podcast format.

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  Today, we're debuting a new format called Event Review, where my partner and I get together and discuss some of the most amusing incidents and some of the best and worst plays from a recent event. It's going to be shorter than my typical long-form interview and also, hopefully, just kind of fun.    I'm speaking with my partner for the District 6 Grand National Teams Qualifying sessions, Sophia Baldysz, a champion player from Poland with many medals in world events, and also my teammate from the 2023 NABC+ Mixed Swiss.

Ep 74: Event Review with Sophia Baldysz

Episode 73: Rise and Fly! Lamont Jones and The Gist of Bid Whist   Normally, this is a Bridge podcast, but today my guest is Bid Whist evangelist Lamont Jones. Lamont recently published the book called The Gist of Bid Whist culminating a project he began in earnest in 2012. He's on a mission to share his love for Bid Whist with a wider audience. If you've ever been curious about Bid Whist, as I have been recently, Lamont and I go through a lot of the differences as well as the similarities between Bid Whist and Bridge. One of the things we don't have in Bridge is trash talk, and that seems to be a huge part of the Bid Whist culture. Whether it's trash-talking about taking your opponents to Boston or telling them to rise and fly, I definitely think Bid Whist has Bridge beat when it comes to talking smack. I could not believe when I read in The Gist of Bid Whist that none other than Bob Hamman said, "Bid Whist is more complex than Bridge." My question to you as a listener, is that a good thing? Overall I've just found Lamont to be a super positive, delightful person, and I'll hope you enjoy engaging with him as I did.  

Ep 73 Rise and Fly! Lamont Jones and The Gist of Bid Whist

John shares his experience of being hired to play bridge professionally for the first time. He talks about meeting and playing with a new partner and the challenges they faced. He also discusses the pressure and self-consciousness he felt as a bridge pro and how he overcame it to improve his performance and gain confidence.

Ep 72: John Got Hired!

Today’s guest is Denmark's Morten Bilde. In addition to being a world-class bridge player with a win and a second in the U.S. Vanderbilt, Morten left his day job in 2015 to focus on getting bridge in the schools in Denmark. Stay tuned to find out why Morten says that's the best job he's ever had, as well as what the challenges are in that undertaking. Morten and his wife, Dorte met through bridge and their son, Dennis, is a real bridge superstar. The three of them teamed up at the recent Icelandic Bridge Festival and won the team event for both the festival and the World Bridge Tour event, which preceded it. Those of you with children might be interested to learn how Morten approached teaching Dennis the game. If you've got a passion for introducing youth to bridge like I do, then Morten is your guy. He's happy to answer any of your questions, and he gives his email address towards the end of our conversation. Please enjoy my conversation with Morten Bilde.   

Ep 71 Morten Bilde: Introducing the Card Game Bridge to Young People

My guest today is Matthew Brown. Matt has been my partner for the last two North American Bridge Championships and for the upcoming March NABC in Louisville. Matt’s partnership with Michael Whibley on team New Zealand has pulled off some big time wins and upsets. Stay tuned to hear how they went from zero to being one of the best pairs in the world. As his partner, I’m happy to put down the dummy for Matt to play. As his teammate, I’m delighted for him to be playing a difficult contract. See if you can see why I think our temperaments are quite different.  

42. Shan Huang - Is Better than You!

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