The Master Individual national bridge championship was held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC); it was held from 1931 until 1960 after which it was discontinued.
The event was contested for the Karn Trophy from 1931 to 1933 and the Steiner Trophy from 1934 to 1960.
Described as “a magnificent gold cup” by The Bridge World, the Karn trophy was donated by Willard S. Karn in 1931 for the National Individual Masters Championship. While refuting allegations of impropriety in 1933, Karn withdrew his trophy. It was replaced in 1934 by the Steiner Trophy donated by Albert Steiner and Philip Steiner of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Master Individual was contested thirty times with a single winner on every occasion. The inaugural event was played at the home of P. Hal Sims in Deal, New Jersey, 5–7 September 1931 and won by Karn himself. Howard Schenken won in 1932 and David Bruce was the final winner in 1933. [1]
Four people won The Master Individual twice: B. Jay Becker, George Rapée, Harry Fishbein, and Morrie Elis. Becker was the sole runner-up three times and tied once; Fishbein and Elis were runners-up once each. Elinor Murdoch was second in 1933 and first in 1934. Sylvia Klein in 1958 was the only other woman champion.
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Willard Karn | Richard L. Frey |
| 1932 | Howard Schenken | David Burnstine |
| 1933 | David Burnstine | Elinor Murdoch |
| 1934 | Elinor Murdoch | B. Jay Becker |
| 1935 | Oswald Jacoby | David Burnstine |
| 1936 | Waldemar von Zedtwitz | Merwyn Maier |
| 1937 | B. Jay Becker | George Unger |
| 1938 | Richard Ecker Jr. | Harry Fishbein |
| 1939 | Merwyn Maier | Alvin Landy |
| 1940 | Morrie Elis | Lee Hazen |
| 1941 | Lee Hazen | B. Jay Becker |
| 1942 | Harry Fishbein | Olive Peterson |
| 1943 | Alvin Roth | Charles Solomon |
| 1944 | George Rapée | Robert D. Chatkin |
| 1945 | Charles Goren | Albert Weiss |
| 1946 | Robert A. McPherran | Morrie Elis |
| 1947 | Charles J. Solomon | Jack Cushing |
| 1948 | B. Jay Becker | Myron Field |
| 1949 | George Rapée | B. Jay Becker |
| 1950 | Morrie Elis | Robert Appleyard |
| 1951 | Sidney Silodor | John R. Crawford |
| 1952 | Harry Fishbein | Peter Leventritt |
| 1953 | Tobias Stone | Larry Hirsch |
| 1954 | Edward Burns | F. Ayres Bombeck |
| 1955 | Norman Kay | 2/3. B. Jay Becker 2/3. Alvin Roth |
| 1956 | John R. Crawford | Robert Appleyard |
| 1957 | Edgar Kaplan | Ernest E. Karshmer |
| 1958 | Sylvia Stein | John R. Crawford |
| 1959 | Leo Pressburg | Frank L. Jackson |
| 1960 | Robert Reynolds | Arthur Robinson |
Philip Hal Sims was an American bridge player. In 1932 he was ranked by Shepard Barclay, bridge commentator of the New York Herald Tribune, the second best player in the US during the preceding year.
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Harry J. Fishbein was an American bridge player and club owner. He used to be a professional basketball player. In teams-of-four competition, Fishbein was a runner-up for the world championship in the 1959 Bermuda Bowl, playing on the United States team in a three-way round-robin among Europe, North America, and South America representatives. Fishbein was "the presiding genius" of the famous Mayfair club [or Mayfair Bridge Club] for more than 20 years" – proprietor of the training ground of experts from 1943 to 1966. As of 1960 he was also ACBL Treasurer.