The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players

Latest Episodes:

23. Chris Willenken - Next Level Bridge Thinking Oct 22, 2020

Show notes

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' mother played in helping him find this lifelong pursuit. Find out how she and bridge communities in both the Poconos and New York City's initial nurturing helped turn Chris into a top American expert.

Episode highlights

2:45- How Chris started playing bridge through his mother

9:05- The Collegiate School and Manhattan Bridge Club

13:40- Chris' relationship with one of his first partners

16:00- Chris' quotation on Ernest Hemingway to describe how he started his bridge professional career

20:05- Chris' heartbreaking story about losing the Blue Ribbons Pair on the last board

25:20- Chris' story of a funny hand played with Roy Welland

30:20- Chris' story of making it to the semifinals of the Rosenblum with Michael Rosenberg, Chris's hall of fame bridge partner for five year

38:20- Chris' mindset on all his incredibly close calls in winning major tournaments

41:30- Chris' answer to when he felt he could be considered a great bridge player

47:10- Chris' epic history with parliamentary debate at Williams College

Amanda Amert, Chris's debate partner at Williams.

51:45- Chris' style of bride with his current partner, Jan Jansma

57:15- How Chris views the use of deception in bridge

1:04:50- How Chris decides with his partner their bidding system

1:07:10- Chris' family and quarantine time

1:15:50- Is Chris better than Kalita???

1:18:45- Youth Bridge Association

22. Jacob Freeman and Finn Kolesnik - Teens that Win Oct 07, 2020

Show notes

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 two teenagers put together the "amateur" F Kolesnik team, calling on four hall of famers each of whom are more than twice their age.

These two up-and-coming bridge players who have already found much success in the game. Even though they are both still teenagers, they made waves in the bridge world when they recently tied for first place in the inaugural NAOBC Knockout.

I got the chance to chat with them about both of their backgrounds and how they got into playing bridge. The two young men tell the story of how they became a team. I ask them about their thoughts on the future of Bridge and about their short-term and long-term goals.

After losing the first 30 minutes of our first recording session, Jacob and Finn were generous enough to chat with me for a second time. In this episode, I have put together both interviews so you as a listener can gain all the insight!

Thanks for listening, and if you like what you hear, give us a review on iTunes.

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Show Notes:

Bridgewinners thread on Andrew Robson and David Gold bidding to 7 diamonds from 2017 Transnational Teams Playoff

Episode Highlights:

2:25 - How the Kolesnik Team came together

15:55 - Finn's and Jacob's favorite tournament

21:55 - Bob Hamman is a hilarious man

25:00 - Finn's college and future plans

27:50 - Jacob's future plans

34:25 - Finn and Jacob discusses co-championing in the NAOBC KO

42:30 - How Jacob and Finn met

46:05 - What it was like after realizing they tied for first and the celebration afterwards

50:25 - Hamman said sorry when Finn placed fourth in the Life Master Pairs

52:50 - How Finn and Jacob became so good at bridge

56:40 - Finn's partnership with Michael Xu

1:00:10 - How Finn and Jacob work on their partnership

1:01:50 - How they decided to play together in the NAOBC

1:09:10 - Why John made Double Dummy and started this podcast!

1:14:55 - Funny story about Finn's dad superstitious occurrences

1:15:40 - Finn and Jacob's professional bridge scene

1:20:45 - Finn and Jacob's youth international bridge plans

21. Phil Clayton - Online Champion Aug 30, 2020

Show notes

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 Premier Pairs is his best result to date.

Phil recently moved to Dallas and seems to be greatly enjoying the bridge culture there. Here's a photo of him and Hall of Famer/ Episode 12 guest, Bart Bramley.

0:30 - Phil Clayton's regular partner and home-grown system

2:40 - what it was like winning the pairs

5:15 - Even a bad session led to a win

7:00 - Phil's environment as a junior player

10:05 - bidding problem and funny system win

15:00 - defensive problem

20:55 - Phil's advice on defensive signaling

30:10 - Phil's prediction on future National events

37:45 - Playing with Hamman

13 pages of notes after 90 minutes of discussion

44:35 - How Phil got back to Bridge after his hiatus

48:30 - Mountain biking with Chris Compton

"Over the falls"

56:05 - Finalist for ACBL CEO Job

1:11:40 - Nerve wracking nature of barometer scoring

1:16:35 - Bidding problem

20. Jack Zhao - Laughs his Face off Jul 23, 2020

Show notes

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 living in America, learning bridge as a teenager and the importance of Jack being welcomed into the bridge scene in Rotterdam. In spite of his team missing the first six boards of the semifinal, Jack won the 2017 Reisinger. In 2006, he won the Vanderbilt as the 44th seed, and the World Pairs, partnering Fu Zhong in both events. He won the World Mixed Pairs in 2014 with Kerri Sanborn.

Jack's ultimate bridge goal is to win a major world team championship, preferably the Bermuda Bowl. In spite of having been asked, he is not yet eligible for senior events.

Highlights from Episode:

1:25- The Edge - "It was like someone lit the touch paper on this bomb. I had never seen anything like it. It was like a switch went on." From It Might Get Loud when he saw the Jam on Top of the Pops.

2:30- Introduced to bridge by a casual player

11:50- 50% slams

14:12- Bridge in Rotterdam

15:25- The importance of bridge books

Kelsey

16:46- Bridge bible, Better Bridge with Bergen

Carried it everywhere with him

19:18- Most helpful was Terrence Reese over my shoulder

23:49- Playing with 1966 World Pairs champion Hans Kreijhns

One club four cards, one diamond four cards, one heart four cards
Underled ace of diamonds
- Only lead to beat the contract

29:40- Jack's lifetime hero, Barry Westra, always curious about what Jack was thinking

36:35- Exams at Erasmus University

39:28- Playing with Fu

43:14- 2nd in Transnational teams

44:25- "Easy" last day of Bermuda Bowl Round Robin

47:19- Dream for all bridge players

52:11- Bridge does not require a lot of calculations

53:54- Reaction when he underled ace of diamonds

He can still see his p's face

56:16- Top players in Netherlands were open to Jack

1:02:00- How Jack learned about Michael Rosenberg

He was the guy who could make THOSE hands

1:04:27- Opponents cards

1:13:08- Winning Vandy as 44th seed

1:16:24- A grand slam in diamonds

1:19:30- Winning the Reisinger

1:30:32- Better than Kalita?

19. Kim Frazer - Represents her Country Jul 02, 2020

Show notes

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 discusses the path she took in writing her book and explains with simple practices how to improve one's mental bridge game. Kim is rigorous about improving hers.

When she encounters a new card combination, she makes sure to look it up in the ACBL Encyclopedia. Her diligence is contagious. Playing in a BBO speedball a few days after we spoke, I encountered AQ762 opposite J954 and wondered, hmm, I wonder if there is more to this combination than I know. (Encyclopedia still in storage)

I played two slams in the same speedball which required careful play and handling. I noticed myself thinking I don't know how to play slams well. Thanks to having talked to Kim, I was able to acknowledge this negative self concept and notice how it didn't serve me. I went on to make both contracts. Thanks Kim!

I echo what Ron Klinger shared in the introduction, "I would just like to bar all of my regular opponents from reading this book."

Here's the fantastic photo of Kim from her shooting days mentioned in the outro.

Highlights from this episode:

19:00 Dont give yourself an excuse to fail

26:24 Ron Klinger's way of writing a forward

43:19 How Kim credits her partner's mental toughness for her first Commonwealth Games Gold Medal

49:47 How Kim thinks about affirmations

1:1:14 Studying card combinations

1:02:34 Shooting results versus bridge results

1:05:15 BLOW

1:06:15 How Kim's partner looks at the dummy as declarer

1:08:09 Kim's method for tracking the bridge if live bridge ever returns

1:14:36 Kim's bridge goals

1:18:27 Kim's cue word

1:22:01 How she started writing bridge articles

1:24:08 Does Kim hunt?

1:25:10 Better than Kalita?

1:26:59 Why she wrote the book

18. Best of : The Setting Trick Seasons One and Two Jun 22, 2020

Show notes

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 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!

17. Anam Tebha - Mixed Champion Apr 06, 2020

Show notes

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

16. Geoff Hampson - Best in the World Mar 26, 2020

Show notes

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.

15. Steve Weinstein - Relentless to Win Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

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.

14. Jeff Meckstroth - All-time Great Jan 03, 2020

Show notes

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