The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players

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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 our first ever Best of The Setting Trick.

Since we had our initial conversation with Bridgewinners co-founder Gavin Wolpert over two years ago, we are grateful to have spoken with 20 individuals over the course of 18 episodes. A portion of the audio from every conversation, save legendary Zia Mahmood's discussion of a bidding problem, can be found in this Best of.

We started this process with our intern Michael Xu having transcripts created for each episode. Michael read through every transcript and made a list of suggestions for what content should make our highlight reel.

My goal was to include audio from each one of our guests. I chose not to include Zia's discussion of a bidding problem to make this episode more accessible for less advanced and non-players alike. Playing with Zia is the subject of both Zach Grossack and Anam Tebha's segments and he is mentioned by former partner's Michael Rosenberg and Bob Hamman as well.

It has been a pleasure to be coached and encouraged by so many of our listeners. I can remember being in Scotland for a Double Dummy screening at Stirling University and going out for a drink afterwards. It made my day when one of the attendees told me he had listened to my conversation with Migry and enjoyed it.

My practice of how I am approaching interviews has been greatly influenced by listener Leonard Epstein whom I have never met. He stressed to me the importance of having an idea what I want to learn from the guest beforehand, sticking to it and making each guest the star. If you have suggestions, please pass them along!

If you gave up because an episode was "unlistenable" in the words of one friend, please give us another chance. I took Dave Caprera's advice and have edited some of the clips from this episode to minimize my interruptions. We have also hired a sound engineer to optimize this audio.

It hit me as I was putting the segments into place what an accomplishment it is to have recorded and published these 18 conservations. I am giddy at the prospect of sharing it with bridge playing and non-bridge playing friends alike.

These stories go beyond bridge. Eight time world champion and three time player of the decade Jeff Meckstroth, after playing his first ever duplicate, his father said, "you were almost average, that's really good!" Jeff thought, "that didn't sound good to me at all!" (21:40)

Or the focus which Migry had when she was able to break up a squeeze at trick two on the last board of a disastrous quarter to help win an NEC Cup match. (46:10)

You are going to hear Meck talk about the danger of pulling a false card too early (32:50), Bob Hamman size up his partners for a match against Sam Lev and Mike Moss (9:58). Gavin Wolpert talking about how September 11th influenced him to choose his passion for bridge over university (5:55). Nabil Edgtton, briefly, on what it's like to play in the Bermuda Bowl (1:13:05) and Michael Rosenberg, even more briefly on his record playing the Bermuda Bowl with Zia (1:12:45).

One of my favorite arrangements in the entire show was having Steve Weinstein gush about playing with Bobby Levin and Paul Soloway (48:45) (57:40) intermixed between Dave Caprera talking about playing with his wife of 44 years Anne Brenner (51:15). For my own personal safety I made sure to include from the head of the US Junior Program Michael Rosenberg how Dave is the best mentor (1:17:00). Dave, don't forget this!

Kare Gjaldbaek talks about the day he improved the most as a bridge player (40:20) and Adam Wildavsky elaborates on what he calls the Keller convention (42:00). From Adam's system notes: bit.ly/adamw-notes

• Keller
• • We don't discuss hands at the table.
  • No apologies.
  • No comments when dummy goes down.

Finally, here's Walt Schafer's scorecard in what Bart Bramley described as "a hand for Edgar." On board 26, playing with Edgar Kaplan, Geir Hegelmo made six diamonds on a double intra finesse in Kaplan's last ever major win.

If you don't like this episode, then there's not much hope for you as a listener to the podcast. This is the best we've got. We hope to set a standard with this Best of, that will be carried over to future TST interviews, including improved practices for recording audio going forward. 

Please enjoy!

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 won the Mixed Swiss in a spontaneous partnership with Zia Mahmood. In the words of junior star, Finn Kolesnik, Anam "is a beast".

Highlights from Episode:

2:00- How Anam learned bridge

3:45- Anam's parents (disappointing) view towards bridge

6:05- Anam's housemates

7:45- How Anam likes to allocate her bridge questions

9:40- Anam played in the Junior World Championships with a team of people who all had been playing for fewer than 6 months

12:35- Anam's story of playing with Zia Mahmood and winning the Mixed Swiss

23:50- Anam's experience of playing in a regional right before the coronavirus outbreak became very severe

32:10- How Anam played on the Zimmerman team

34:50- How Anam played with Joe Grue in the Mixed World Series

38:25- What Joe Grue taught Anam about opening 1N

41:15- Anam's experience playing against team Kranyak in the 2019 trials

45:20- Is Anam better than Jacek Kalita?

46:05- Why we should all emulate Finn Kolesnik

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:

2:55- Geoff talks about how he is sick

12:10- Geoff's favorite bridge memory

14:00- Geoff talks about Fantunes and how he suspected they were cheating

23:20- The impact of the Covid-19 virus

26:50- A high level declarer play young Geoff made that changed John Gowdy's opinions about him

31:35- Geoff's college experience (or lack thereof)

33:05- Geoff's experience with playing money bridge

37:20- Funny comment Geoff made when he was in the Well

39:20- How Geoff first started playing bridge

41:20- Funny story back when Geoff was still a beginner

42:35- Geoff's initial motivation to get good at bridge

45:10- Geoff's idea of using this time of quarantine to help spread the game of bridge

48:20- John and Geoff discuss golf

55:15- The biggest advice Geoff has for players is to COUNT

1:01:50- Geoff plays Barbu. Here is the site where we play Barbu and the Barbu ladder, currently led by Episode (?) guest Zach Grossack 3/25

1:08:35- Geoff likes to read the Game of Thrones books

1:10:30- Geoff says he isn't even the best player in his partnership

1:11:45- Is Geoff better than Kalita?

If you are interested in joining our online barbu group please apply to join our Facebook Group so that Shireen Mohandes may send you the particular set of rules by which we play.

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've loved and enjoyed and (I've) never had a job."

Today, his regular partner is Bobby Levin whom Steve describes as "without a doubt, unquestionably one of the best players in the world." When asked what makes them such a formidable pair Steve said their biggest strength is they "we consistently hit the ball hard to the opponent's backhand."

A constant theme in our conversation is the importance of focus. From watching the spots at the table to not mixing bridge and poker, which Steve also plays at a very high level. Steve sets an excellent example for anyone wanting to be the best they can be. Make sure your goals and actions are in alignment and enjoy the wins.

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 Rodwell, how he knew Rod was the partner for him, getting started professionally and getting fired by both George Rosenkrantz and Nick Nickell!

One of my favorite parts of this interview came from a throwaway question about Jeff's partner for the upcoming Platinum Pairs. The only NABC event Jeff doesn't play with Rod. Jeff has partners lined up seven years out!

Meck is open about making mistakes, the importance of putting them behind you, underachieving on the Nickell team of late and his appreciation for those who have helped pave the way for his incredible success at the highest level.

Jeff recently befriended Jeopardy champion James Holzhauer. If you only have time for one story, starting at the 3:22 mark, check out how Jeff too quickly pulled a false card, in a friendly match against James and Josh Donn at the recent San Francisco NABC.

Other highlights from the episode include:

6:30- Jeff's advice to James and all bridge players

7:20- How Jeff met Eric Rodwell

10:40- A multi-system that Jeff used to play with Rodwell until it was banned

12:30- How Jeff learned bridge

13:40- Jeff's experience with winning the King of Bridge award

18:25- The 1979 Reisinger

24:30- Jeff's favorite bridge victory

28:00- How Jeff views his titles when he sits down to play

30:30- What Jeff cherishes about bridge

34:00- The aftermath of Jeff's departure from team Nickell

38:20- How Rodwell loves to tinker with their system

49:10- One hand doesn't mean anything

50:30- More on how Jeff started playing bridge

59:40- How Jeff helps up and coming professionals

1:01:00- Jeff's thoughts about the future of professional bridge

1:08:40- Jeff's father's heart attack episode

1:15:20- Jeff's funny story about a creative bid that led to a change in scoring

1:22:25- Jeff's family

1:31:50- Jeff on bridge dreams

1:34:00- Starting out with Nickell

1:41:49- The importance of moving on from your mistakes

1:49:23- Jeff's lineup for the next seven platinum pairs

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 to share. Unlike Bramley though, Kare has more …. wild stories to tell. One particular narrative involves a combination of alcohol and late-adolescence hormones, leading to a lack of clothing in adverse locations. Reflected by a feisty and jolly personality, Kare effectively demonstrates the thrills and vicissitudes of junior bridge.

Highlights from Episode:

3:50- What Kare misses about playing bridge

6:30- Difficulties that prevent Kare from playing in tournaments

8:00- Kare's best accomplishments in grand events

9:20- Kare's story about swimming naked in public

10:30- Another story of dubious-teenage-actions

17:30- A hilarious story about teaching bridge

26:40- Kare's best bridge advice

35:40- Kare's reason for not asking about his teammates' results

49:00- Kare's thoughts on leaving his math career to pursue professional bridge

53:10- A bridge lesson that Kare learned from Bart Bramley

1:13:40- How bridge should be taught

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 stories.

At the age of 71, Bramley has lived life. He may be old in terms of the myriad memories he can reminisce about, but he still has the sharp humor of a young man. Bart invites you, listeners, to experience vicariously his life journey and encounters with some of the world's greatest and most renowned players.

Highlights from Episode:

5:30- Bart's relatively low weight and his experiences with it

12:50- John Mcallister's weight and height

17:00- Bart's recollection of tournaments that he played in

21:10- Stories about Lou Bluhm

37:00- Stories about Bob Hamman

40:10- Bart's outside-of-bridge- career path

48:40- Bart's experience partnering with Bob Hamman

57:40- Bart's explanation for why Bob Hamman is a great bridge player

58:50- The importance of putting a bad board behind you

1:01:15- Bart's love for baseball

1:07:00- A funny space work project

1:27:40- A story about Harold Lilie

1:36:30- Stories about Sidney Lazard and the famous 6D hand

1:45:30- The famous Geir Helgemo hand

1:53:40- Bart's favorite event

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 off on a quest to solve the issue of how to teach bridge in a society governed by distractions and immediate pleasures. He ended up designing Hool: a game that could be a stand-alone experience or a "soft" introduction to bridge. Hool has now taken a life of its own, with there already being Hool tournaments in colleges. Perhaps being our most lively guest, Deshpande turns this interview into a truly natural conversation.

Highlights from Episode:

1:20- Amaresh's career in teaching

2:45- Amaresh's thoughts on when to transition from Hool to Bridge

4:20- the goal that Amaresh hopes that Hool will accomplish

11:05- Amaresh's view on the current problem with introducing bridge to newcomers

12:50- A new game called Double Dummy

17:30- Amaresh's funding for his programs

18:30- Amaresh's current work with other projects

22:45- insights that Amaresh garnished through teaching Hool

31:20- A potential event where Hool and Bridge is combined

35:35- Amaresh's experience with Mahjong in Wuhan 

36:55- Amaresh's thoughts on why the Bridge world needs Hool

39:45- John's current work with his documentary Double Dummy

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 bridge player. James can execute a double squeeze yet prefers to play one way new minor forcing(?).

Highlights from Episode:

2:30- James' first exposure to bridge

3:20- James' relationship with books in general

5:15- James' engagement with bridge today

7:20- James' skill level in bridge

10:20- Las Vegas Bridge World

11:50- James' level of celebrity

14:30- James' tactics in sports betting

17:50- Applications of strategies in sports betting and poker to bridge

19:10- An interesting bridge deal encountered by James

20:10- James' mentors

23:20- James potentially quitting sports betting

24:00- James' aspiration to become a world class player

31:50- Project 150

33:20- James' experience with Jeopardy and his preparations

39:50- James' reputation now as a sports bettor

43:20- The impact his fame has had on his relationship with his friends

Bridge came naturally to Michael Rosenberg.