Drew Ara Casen (born July 6, 1950) [1] is a top 50 ranked professional bridge player.
He is a native of Forest Hills and was raised in the Lenox Hills neighborhood of Farmingdale which abuts Bethpage State Park golf course, site of the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Open and the 2019 PGA Championship. Casen took full advantage of this and became a winning Long Island golf star in high school until a sports-related injury sidelined him. His paternal grandmother had taught him card games in his early childhood, so he decided to develop his skills in this area so as to remain in competitive pursuits.
He is an accountant by formal training, his former careers being the budget director at NYU Medical School and options trading at the NY Stock Exchange. He is an all-around expert games player and has excelled in such games as bridge, poker, backgammon, golf, and bowling.
Casen is an American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Grand Life Master and a World Bridge Federation (WBF) World International Master.
Robert David "Bob" Hamman is an American professional bridge player, among the greatest players of all time. He is from Dallas, Texas.
Robert S. (Bobby) Wolff is an American bridge player, writer, and administrator. He is the only person to win world championships in five different categories. He is a graduate of Trinity University.
Jeffrey John (Jeff) Meckstroth is an American professional contract bridge player. He is a multiple world champion, winning the Bermuda Bowl on USA teams five times. He is one of only ten players who have won the so-called triple crown of bridge: the Bermuda Bowl, the World Open Pairs and the World Team Olympiad. As of May 16, 2016, he was the fifth-ranking World Grand Master. For decades Meckstroth has been in a regular partnership with Eric Rodwell and together, nicknamed "Meckwell", they are one of the most successful bridge partnerships of all time. They are well known for playing an aggressive and very detailed system that derived from Precision Club.
Jacek Pszczoła is an American professional bridge player of Polish origin. Representing Poland, Pszczoła won the 1998 World Open Pairs Championship with Michał Kwiecień. American bridge players often refer to him by the nickname "Pepsi". He was Player of the Year of the ACBL in 2019.
Kit Woolsey is an American bridge and backgammon player. He was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2005.
William Eisenberg is an American bridge and backgammon professional. In bridge, Eisenberg has won five Bermuda Bowl world team titles and he won the backgammon world title in 1975. Eisenberg is World Bridge Federation (WBF) and American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Grand Life Master. He lived in Boca Raton, Florida, as of 1994 and 1998.
North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven days. They comprise both championship and side contests of different kinds in many classes of competition. Host cities in the United States and Canada are selected several years in advance.
Paul Soloway was a world champion American bridge player. He won the Bermuda Bowl world team championship five times and won 30 North American Bridge Championships "national"-level events.
Cezary Jacek Balicki is a Polish bridge and chess player. After 2014 competition, he ranked 17th among Grand Masters by World Bridge Federation (WBF) masterpoints, five places ahead of his longtime partner Adam Żmudziński. They ranked 26–27th among more than 100 all-time Grand Masters by placing points that do not decay over time. Balicki also holds the chess title of FIDE Master (FM).
Robert J. (Bobby) Levin is an American professional bridge player, from Aventura, Florida. He was the youngest winner of the Bermuda Bowl world championship for national teams from 1981 until 2015, when 19-year old Michal Klukowski of Poland succeeded him. Levin is also a five-time winner of the Cavendish Invitational Pairs, the world's leading contest for cash prizes, with his regular partner Steve Weinstein. As of June 2013, Levin ranks number 20 among Open World Grand Masters and his wife Jill ranks number 21 among Women World Grand Masters.
Martin (Marty) Fleisher is an American bridge player, employee benefits attorney, manager of investments in life insurance policies and investment advisor.
Alan M. Sontag is an American professional bridge player. He won six world championships, including two Bermuda Bowl wins. Sontag is also known for his book The Bridge Bum, a book "on everybody's list of the top ten bridge books ever written."
Ralph Katz is an American bridge player. Katz is from Burr Ridge, Illinois and graduated from University of Steubenville.
John C. Sutherlin was an American bridge player from Dallas, Texas. He won the North American Bridge Championships 12 times and received both the Fishbein Trophy and the Mott-Smith Trophy.
James E. Krekorian is a professional American bridge player from New York City. He is an options trader and a graduate from Duke University, where he lettered in track.
Fred Hamilton is a professional American bridge player. Hamilton is a World Bridge Federation (WBF) World Grand Master and American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Grand Life Master and inventor of the popular Hamilton convention used to compete over the opponent's 1NT opening bid.
Fredrick M. "Fred" Stewart is an American bridge player from Bloomington, New York. Stewart has won the Cavendish Invitational Pairs three times and has won 8 North American Bridge Championships.
Sam Lev is an Israeli bridge player.
Ron Smith is an American bridge player.
George Mittelman is a Canadian bridge player. He competed for Team Canada at the 1993 Maccabiah Games in Israel.