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Note one of 9 original hall of fame members
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'''Howard Schenken''' (September 28, 1903 – February 20, 1979) was an American [[Contract bridge|bridge]] player, writer, and long-time syndicated bridge columnist. He was from New York City.<ref name=OEB>{{OEB|5|731}}</ref> He won three [[Bermuda Bowl]] titles, and set several North American records. Most remarkably he won the [[Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs|Life Master Pairs]] five times, the [[Spingold]] twelve, and the [[Vanderbilt Trophy]] ten times; the LM Pairs and Vanderbilt records that still stand today. He was [[American Contract Bridge League]] (ACBL) Life Master #3{{efn|name=LM}} and was inducted by the [[ACBL Hall of Fame]] in 1966.<ref name=ACBLhof/><ref name=HOFby/>
'''Howard Schenken''' (September 28, 1903 – February 20, 1979) was an American [[Contract bridge|bridge]] player, writer, and long-time syndicated bridge columnist. He was from New York City.<ref name=OEB>{{OEB|5|731}}</ref> He won three [[Bermuda Bowl]] titles, and set several North American records. Most remarkably he won the [[Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs|Life Master Pairs]] five times, the [[Spingold]] twelve, and the [[Vanderbilt Trophy]] ten times; the LM Pairs and Vanderbilt records that still stand today. He was [[American Contract Bridge League]] (ACBL) Life Master #3{{efn|name=LM}} and was inducted by the [[ACBL Hall of Fame]] in 1966.<ref name=ACBLhof/><ref name=HOFby/><ref name=HOFtop/>{{efn|name=earlyHOF}}


==Career==
==Career==

Schenken was playing with the Raymond Club team in the late 1920s when he was spotted by the "Father" of the game [[Ely Culbertson]], who invited him to play as a substitute during the much publicized "[[Ely Culbertson#Challenge matches|Bridge Battle of the Century]]" against [[Sidney Lenz]].{{clarify|date=May 2014|reason=what happened?}} In 1932, Schenken formed a partnership with [[David Bruce (bridge)|David Burnstine]] who had left the [[P.&nbsp;Hal Sims|"Four Horsemen"]], the most successful team in tournament play at the time. Burnstine created the "Bid-rite Team" consisting initially of himself, Schenken, Richard Frey and Charles Lochridge. By 1935, roster changes saw the team comprise of Burnstine, Schenken, Oswald Jacoby (from the Four Horsemen) and Michael Gottlieb. They became known now as the "[[Four Aces (bridge)|Four Aces]]"<ref>{{OEB|7CD|7}}</ref> and rose to be the most successful team yet seen at contract bridge. They published a book of their methods in 1935, ''The Four Aces System of Contract Bridge'', and tried to challenge Culbertson into another of his much publicized matches, but he declined. Schenken is recognized by the [[American Contract Bridge League]] (ACBL) as Life Master #3, one of ten named in 1936{{efn|name=LM}} – behind Burnstine and Jacoby.{{cn|date=December 2014}}
Schenken was playing with the Raymond Club team in the late 1920s when he was spotted by the "Father" of the game [[Ely Culbertson]], who invited him to play as a substitute during the much publicized "[[Ely Culbertson#Challenge matches|Bridge Battle of the Century]]" against [[Sidney Lenz]].{{clarify|date=May 2014|reason=what happened?}} In 1932, Schenken formed a partnership with [[David Bruce (bridge)|David Burnstine]] who had left the [[P.&nbsp;Hal Sims|"Four Horsemen"]], the most successful team in tournament play at the time. Burnstine created the "Bid-rite Team" consisting initially of himself, Schenken, Richard Frey and Charles Lochridge. By 1935, roster changes saw the team comprise of Burnstine, Schenken, Oswald Jacoby (from the Four Horsemen) and Michael Gottlieb. They became known now as the "[[Four Aces (bridge)|Four Aces]]"<ref>{{OEB|7CD|7}}</ref> and rose to be the most successful team yet seen at contract bridge. They published a book of their methods in 1935, ''The Four Aces System of Contract Bridge'', and tried to challenge Culbertson into another of his much publicized matches, but he declined. Schenken is recognized by the [[American Contract Bridge League]] (ACBL) as Life Master #3, one of ten named in 1936{{efn|name=LM}} – behind Burnstine and Jacoby.{{cn|date=December 2014}}


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{{efn|name=LM |1=
{{efn|name=LM |1=
Schenken and nine others were named Life Masters by the American Bridge League in 1936. The ACBL was established by mergers of competing organizations, completed late in 1937, and it continued the ABL Life Master title and [[master points]] program.<ref name=LM>[http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/news/bridge-104691.html "Bridge"] (untitled column on the original Life Masters—ten, 1936). Alan Truscott. ''The New York Times''. July 14, 1991. Retrieved 2014-06-10.</ref>
Schenken and nine others were named Life Masters by the American Bridge League in 1936. The ACBL was established by mergers of competing organizations, completed late in 1937, and it continued the ABL Life Master title and [[master points]] program.<ref name=LM>[http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/news/bridge-104691.html "Bridge"] (untitled column on the original Life Masters—ten, 1936). Alan Truscott. ''The New York Times''. July 14, 1991. Retrieved 2014-06-10.</ref>
}}
{{efn|name=earlyHOF |1=
Schenken and eight others were named members of the bridge hall of fame <!-- prefer to quote original wording; also to know whether clearly American in scope --> by ''[[The Bridge World]]'' from 1964 to 1966. (One of them was [[Ely Culbertson]], who had established that monthly magazine in 1929.) It never named another. Almost thirty years later, the American Contract Bridge League established its [[ACBL Hall of Fame]] with the ''Bridge World'' nine as founding members. It named eight new members in 1995 and has inducted others annually since then.<ref name=HOFby/><ref name=HOFtop/>
}}
}}
}}
}}
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<ref name=ACBLhof>
<ref name=ACBLhof>
[http://www.acbl.org/about-acbl/hall-of-fame/members/schenken-howard "Schenken, Howard"]. ''Hall of Fame''. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-22.</ref>
[http://www.acbl.org/about-acbl/hall-of-fame/members/schenken-howard "Schenken, Howard"]. ''Hall of Fame''. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-22.</ref>
<ref name=HOFtop>
[http://www.acbl.org/about-acbl/hall-of-fame ''Hall of Fame''] (top page). ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-29.</ref>


}}
}}

Revision as of 21:56, 29 December 2014

Howard Schenken (September 28, 1903 – February 20, 1979) was an American bridge player, writer, and long-time syndicated bridge columnist. He was from New York City.[1] He won three Bermuda Bowl titles, and set several North American records. Most remarkably he won the Life Master Pairs five times, the Spingold twelve, and the Vanderbilt Trophy ten times; the LM Pairs and Vanderbilt records that still stand today. He was American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Life Master #3[a] and was inducted by the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1966.[2][3][4][b]

Career

Schenken was playing with the Raymond Club team in the late 1920s when he was spotted by the "Father" of the game Ely Culbertson, who invited him to play as a substitute during the much publicized "Bridge Battle of the Century" against Sidney Lenz.[clarification needed] In 1932, Schenken formed a partnership with David Burnstine who had left the "Four Horsemen", the most successful team in tournament play at the time. Burnstine created the "Bid-rite Team" consisting initially of himself, Schenken, Richard Frey and Charles Lochridge. By 1935, roster changes saw the team comprise of Burnstine, Schenken, Oswald Jacoby (from the Four Horsemen) and Michael Gottlieb. They became known now as the "Four Aces"[5] and rose to be the most successful team yet seen at contract bridge. They published a book of their methods in 1935, The Four Aces System of Contract Bridge, and tried to challenge Culbertson into another of his much publicized matches, but he declined. Schenken is recognized by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) as Life Master #3, one of ten named in 1936[a] – behind Burnstine and Jacoby.[citation needed]

Beside his brilliant play, Schenken was renowned for his unbreakable calm at the table. As declarer, it was impossible to tell whether he was in a comfortable contract or an impossible one (and his commanding dummy play often made an impossible one). He was a formidably difficult opponent but a remarkably easy partner. On the Four Aces, for example, he was the only one who played with every other member of the team.

The Bermuda Bowl was first held in 1950 and Howard Schenken was on the winning USA team. He also took part in the successful defense of the trophy in 1951 and 1953, but subsequently played on the US or North America team only in the early 1960s, four times. That was during the reign of the Italian Blue Team, which proved unbeatable from 1956 to 1972. Yet one great compliment came from members of the Blue Team who said, "If your team had had another Schenken, we never could have won."[citation needed]

Schenken was an American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) board member for many years.[clarification needed] In 1943 he took over the Four Aces syndicated bridge column and in 1957 merged it with the column by Richard L. Frey. The two co-wrote until 1970 when Schenken became the sole author once more; meanwhile it became the longest continuously published national bridge column.

Schenken wrote only three books but they presented some important ideas. (Two focus on bidding; one is a memoir.) He is credited with the discovery and introduction to the tournament world of several play techniques and examples of deceptive play which are now considered standard.

In the field of bidding theory, Schenken is credited with the idea of the forcing two-over-one response, the prepared opening bid, and the weak two bid. (The "weak two" was part of Harold Vanderbilt's Vanderbilt Club system, however.) Schenken also developed his own strong club system, the Schenken Club, played with Peter Leventritt.

Schenken died in Palm Springs, California, at age 75 in 1979.

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

  • ACBL Hall of Fame, 1966[3]

Wins

Runners-up

Publications

  • Better Bidding in 15 Minutes, Expert Bidding in a Week (Simon & Schuster, 1963)
  • Howard Schenken's "Big Club": A revolutionary, highly competitive, and accurate way to bid for every bridge player (S&S, 1968)
  • The Education of a Bridge Player (S&S, 1973); London: Robert Hale, 1976

Schenken was a nominal co-author of publications by the Four Aces, or Four Aces Bridge Studio in some catalog records. There were at least two books with mainstream editions.

  • Burnstine, David; Jacoby, Oswald; Schenken, Howard; Gottlieb, Michael T. (1935). Four Aces System of Contract Bridge. New York: Random House., 302 pp.
  • Five-suit bridge, by the Four Aces (Simon & Schuster, 1938), Burnstine, Jacoby, Merwin D. Maier, Schenken

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Schenken and nine others were named Life Masters by the American Bridge League in 1936. The ACBL was established by mergers of competing organizations, completed late in 1937, and it continued the ABL Life Master title and master points program.[6]
  2. ^ Schenken and eight others were named members of the bridge hall of fame by The Bridge World from 1964 to 1966. (One of them was Ely Culbertson, who had established that monthly magazine in 1929.) It never named another. Almost thirty years later, the American Contract Bridge League established its ACBL Hall of Fame with the Bridge World nine as founding members. It named eight new members in 1995 and has inducted others annually since then.[3][4]
Cite error: A list-defined reference with the name "HOFtop" has been invoked, but is not defined in the <references> tag (see the help page).

References

  1. ^ Francis, Henry G.; Truscott, Alan F.; Francis, Dorthy A., eds. (1994). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (5th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. p. 731. ISBN 0-943855-48-9. LCCN 96188639.
  2. ^ "Schenken, Howard". Hall of Fame. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-22.
  3. ^ a b c "Induction by Year". Hall of Fame. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-22.
  4. ^ Hall of Fame (top page). ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-29.
  5. ^ Manley, Brent; Horton, Mark; Greenberg-Yarbro, Tracey; Rigal, Barry, eds. (2011). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge - Biographies and Results (compact disk) (7th ed.). Horn Lake, MS: American Contract Bridge League. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-939460-99-1.
  6. ^ "Bridge" (untitled column on the original Life Masters—ten, 1936). Alan Truscott. The New York Times. July 14, 1991. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
Citations

External links

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