The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players

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 abo…

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 Champ…

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 regula…

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 ex…

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 a…

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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…

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 championshi…

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 excla…

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, win…

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…

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 …

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 st…

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, Deshp…

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. D…

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 serv…

Samantha Punch started playing bridge as she finished up her PhD in Sociology. Now she is on the Scottish Women's bridge team. Placing 7th in the 54th European Team Championships, allowed her team to…

On the phone with Adam Grossack this May, we started talking about the regional tournaments he plays with Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell and a husband and wife. It's an unusual pairing because Meck…

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 B…

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 …