The Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Spingold is a knock-out team event that attracts the top contract bridge players in the world. The event typically lasts seven days with each day being a round consisting of four sessions of 16 boards. The event is open and seeded.
The Spingold Master Knockout Teams, first known as the Challenge Knockout Teams, was contested for the Asbury Park Trophy in the early days. The runner-up team in the regularly scheduled portion of the event had the right to challenge the winners to a playoff. This right was never utilized.
In 1934, 1936 and 1937, the Masters Teams-of-Four and the Asbury Park Trophy were separate events, providing two sets of winners. In 1938 the event became the Spingold Master Knockout Teams and a part of the Summer NABC. At one time, the Spingold was a double elimination event, usually lasting nine or 10 sessions. It was scored by International Match Points and was restricted to players with 100 or more masterpoints. In 1965, the double elimination method was replaced by three qualifying sessions (subsequently reduced to two), followed by single elimination knockout matches. The preliminary qualifying sessions were dropped in 1970.
The Spingold Trophy, donated by Nathan B. Spingold in 1934, is one of ACBL's most highly prized team trophies. The event, which attracts virtually all of the world's best bridge players, is widely considered one of the toughest events in the world. Many bridge aficionados consider the modern day Spingold tougher to win than a World Championship.
Nick Nickell's professional teams won the Spingold nine times in 15 years from 1993 to 2007, including four in a row without change in personnel (intact) from 1993 to 1996, and two more 1998–99 after one change. The four-time winners were Nickell, Richard Freeman, Bob Hamman, Bobby Wolff, Jeff Meckstroth, and Eric Rodwell. Paul Soloway replaced Wolff and played on the other five Nickell champions, over ten years.
The champion has defended its title intact on four other occasions, 1965, 1971, 2002, and 2012.
The winners in 2011-12 and the winners and runner up in 2014 and 2015 each had two players who were later disqualified for cheating, this casting doubt on the integrity of those performances.
| Year | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | Ely Culbertson, Josephine Culbertson, Theodore Lightner, Waldemar von Zedtwitz | Michael T. Gottlieb, Willard Karn, Lee Langdon, P. Hal Sims |
| 1931 | David Burnstine, Oswald Jacoby, Willard Karn, P. Hal Sims | S. Garton Churchill, Travers LeGros, Dorothy Roberts, Phillip Stockvis |
| 1932 | Michael T. Gottlieb, Oswald Jacoby, Theodore Lightner, Louis H. Watson | B. Jay Becker, Herbert Lent, George Reith, Anne Rosenfeld |
| 1933 | David Burnstine, Oswald Jacoby, Richard L. Frey, Howard Schenken | Sam Fry, Edward Hymes Jr., Louis H. Watson, Waldemar von Zedtwitz |
| 1934 | Aaron Frank, Jeff Glick, William Hopkins, Charles Porter | Josephine Culbertson, Theodore Lightner, Sonny Moyse, Sherman Stearns |
| 1935 | Sam Fry, Edward Hymes Jr., Theodore Lightner, Merwyn Maier, Louis H. Watson | Mitch Barnes, Huber Boscowitz, Charles Lochridge, Johnny Rau |
| 1936 | Lewis Bernard, Louis Haddad, Alvin Landy, Matthew Reilly, Philip Steiner | Melvin Goddard, Sidney Silodor, Henry Vogel, Derrick Wernher |
| 1937 | David Burnstine, Charles Goren, Oswald Jacoby, Merwyn Maier, Howard Schenken | Phil Abramsohn, Mitch Barnes, Henry Chanin, Morrie Elis, Fred Kaplan |
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.
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.
The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
Mini-Spingold national bridge championships are held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). They were introduced in 2001 and are held at the same time as the main Spingold knockout team championship.
The trophy is awarded for the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams national bridge championship held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Mixed Board-a-Match Teams is a bridge competition held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The North American Pairs (NAP) is a set of annual North American championships for pairs contested over two days at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championships (NABC). The events are restricted to pairs that have qualified through local, regional and district levels within their ACBL Districts.
The Silodor Open Pairs national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Lebhar IMP Pairs national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Jacoby Open Swiss Teams national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Machlin Women's Swiss Teams North American bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Grand National Teams (GNT) North American bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Wernher Open Pairs national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Wagar Women's Knockout Teams national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Truscott/USPC Senior Swiss Teams North American bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
The Sternberg Women's Board-a-Match Teams bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC) and is a four session board-a-match event, two qualifying sessions and two final sessions. The event typically starts on the first Sunday of the NABC and is restricted to female players.
The Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs is a national bridge championship held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The event is restricted to those that have won a blue ribbon qualification and is generally considered, with the Norman Kay Platinum Pairs, as one of the two hardest pairs event on the ACBL calendar.
The Baze Senior Knockout Teams national bridge championship was held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC).
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.
Frank T. "Nick" Nickell is an American bridge player. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, and lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, as of 1994.