The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
John McAllister
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Amber Lin - Bridge's Wonder Woman Part 2
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
09/30/23 • 57 min
Ep 70 Matthew Brown: High Compatibility in the Card Game Bridge
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
02/14/24 • 77 min
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.
19. Kim Frazer - Represents her Country
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
07/02/20 • 94 min
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
17. Anam Tebha - Mixed Champion
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
04/06/20 • 50 min
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
13. Kåre Gjaldbæk - Talks Danish Coffees
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
12/27/19 • 82 min
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
8. Dave Caprera - Sleeps on the Couch
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
04/30/19 • 82 min
Dave Caprera is the author of the recently published bridge book, Sleeping on the Couch. All proceeds from the sale of Dave's book go towards the USBF Junior Fund. Dave is on the USBF board and serves as a coach for some of the junior teams.
Dave's regular partner is his wife of 42 years Anne Brenner. For all those non-bridge players who are thinking of taking up the game with your, spouse listen to this episode.
Dave averages about 10 points a day at a tournament which has made him a Platinum Life Master. He has also participated in every Master Solver's Club in the Bridge World since 1978 without ever having gotten a perfect score, Dave, we are rooting for you.
The title of Dave's book is a testament to his sense of humor. I first ran into Dave at the Manatee Regional in Bradenton, FL and have seen him as far away as the Gold Coast of Australia and Tromso, Norway. He has encouraged me time and again with Double Dummy and I am grateful to be his friend.
5. Adam Wildavsky - Listener to Guest + Zia discusses a bidding problem
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
06/26/18 • 90 min
Adam Wildavsky is recognized as a Grand Life Master by the American Contract Bridge League. He has represented the United States finishing as high as third in the Bermuda Bowl and won the Reisinger Board a Match teams partnering Doug Doub with whom he had not even planned on initially playing the event.
In addition to my conversation with Adam we have bridge superstar Zia Mahmood discussing a bidding problem shared with me from my friend Anindra Sarkar.
4. Zach Grossack - Bridge Star
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
05/09/18 • 91 min
Zach Grossack can play. He could do so as a fifteen year old star of Double Dummy
Now as a twenty year old, he is developing into one of the world's best. He and older brother Adam Grossack form one of the top young partnerships in the world. In this wide ranging conversation, Zach is both insightful and playful, much like he is at the table.
Here are some highlights:
9:18 - Get Zach’s thoughts on Danish starlet Christina Lund Madsen, including playing with her when she almost called the director on him.
15:38 - How Zach feels like he missed the golden age of professional bridge.
20:33 - On what Zach is doing to help bring new players into the game including starting a bridge club at Tufts, and how it takes so much time before one can even say that they “suck” at bridge.
29:35 - Adam Grossack might like it here where Zach refers to himself as a, “professional projector.”
30:18 - How Zach and his brother Zach recovered from almost not qualifying for the finals of the NAPs to winning in Philadelphia in March, including Adam and Zach’s partnership rule on Adam tanking and what it’s like to play with your brother.
38:38 - How you put into practice the age old rule about not talking about hands during the game.
48:15 - Learn about Zach’s previous experience with podcasting.
51:37 - Double Dummy is going to be available through Tugg.com more likely May 11 for screenings, including Cinema-on-Demand.
59:53 - Zach’s backup plans if being a bridge pro does not work out.
1:07:23 - Best win of Zach’s career to date in his mind.
1:11:05 - Listen as Zach hatches his plan to keep me from ever becoming a Platinum Life Master.
1:19:32 - Zach’s bridge hero, playing against him and with him.
Enjoy!
3. Migry Zur Campanile - My First World Championship Partner
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
04/09/18 • 74 min
I first met Migry at the Phoenix NABC in the Fall of 2013. Shortly thereafter I received an email from Christina Lund Madsen asking if I wanted to hire her and Dennis Bilde for the 2014 World Mixed Teams Championship. My only concern became finding a female partner. Christina suggested Migry and thus a great friendship born.
Migry is no shrinking violet! She has been a best friend, confidante, substitute mother, bridge partner and sounding board ever since we had lunch together on January 27th, 2014, her birthday, in New York City. We agreed to play the Mixed portion of the world championships together and after coming in 12th in the platinum pairs the entire 2014 World Bridge Series and cycle.
I have had some of my best results partnering Migry. She is a pleasure to play with and has a fantastic sense of humor. We love to laugh together. She continues to have great one liners, such as at the when I asked her about playing the Nickell team in the recent Vanderbilt. "We are not here to kibitz the opponents."
I have spent countless evenings at her New York City apartment talking about bridge and life with her and her equally delightful husband Pietro Campanile.
Our partnership almost never got off the ground because I had such difficulty understanding her on the phone initially. Migry did express concern about this for our listeners when I first asked her about doing the interview. One evening, over dinner, a waitress asked Migry what language she was speaking. Migry handled it with her typical grace and aplomb.
Through our time playing together Migry has graciously introduced me to countless friends of hers throughout the bridge world who I am now lucky enough to call friends as well. I am grateful that at no point during the interview did she call me by my one time nickname, "Baby John," and consider this an excellent sign of my increasing maturity.
Double Dummy 2.0 - Introduce your Friends to Bridge
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players
09/18/21 • 8 min
I am excited to share the new version of Double Dummy with all of you. We created this film in hopes of spreading the word about bridge and inspiring a new generation of bridge-lovers. Please watch it and if so inspired do share it with others in your life who might be curious about bridge.
The film features a team of the best American bridge players under age 21, vying for the United States' first ever medal in U21 team play. This is your opportunity to get an inside look at youth bridge at the highest level.
The film is available through our fundraiser with the ACBL Educational Foundation through October 11th.
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players have?
The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players currently has 84 episodes available.
What topics does The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players cover?
The podcast is about Leisure, Bridge, Hobbies, Games, Professional, Fun and Podcasts.
What is the most popular episode on The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players?
The episode title '18. Best of : The Setting Trick Seasons One and Two' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players?
The average episode length on The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players is 73 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players released?
Episodes of The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players are typically released every 18 days, 5 hours.
When was the first episode of The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players?
The first episode of The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players was released on Jan 18, 2018.
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