Michael Lawrence (bridge player)

Michael Lawrence (bridge player)

Michael S. (Mike) Lawrence (born May, 1940 in San Francisco, California) is an American bridge player, teacher, theoretist and prolific writer.

Biography

Lawrence started playing bridge while he was a chemistry student at the University of California; as result of a self-inflicted hand injury, he had to postpone the final exams and started playing bridge as a pastime. Bridge became his major interest and he devoted his subsequent life to it.

In 1968, he was invited by Ira Corn to join the newly-formed Dallas Aces team. He formed a partnership with Bobby Goldman, with whom he played a 2/1 game forcing system. They started by winning several North American Bridge Championships and, after a long Italian Blue Team reign, returned the world crown to America by winning the Bermuda Bowls in 1970 and 1971. Lawrence and James Jacoby left the Aces in 1973.

Under Ira Corn's mentorship, Lawrence started teaching bridge and subsequently writing books. He has written more than twenty books since. He received numerous book-of-the-year awards starting with his first book, "How to Read Your Opponents' Cards". He contributed to the theory of 2/1 game forcing systems, and his "2/1 semi-forcing" approach competes with Max Hardy's "unconditional forcing" approach. Together, they wrote the book "Standard Bridge Bidding for the 21st Century" in 2000. He also helped develop educational bridge software with Fred Gitelman. In addition to his world championships with the Aces, Lawrence has won another Bermuda Bowl in 1987 in partnership with Hugh Ross along with teammates Hamman, Wolff, Martel, and Stansby.

Awards

* Herman Trophy 1965

Tournament record

Wins

* Bermuda Bowl (3) 1970, 1971, 1987
* North American Bridge Championships (16)
** Vanderbilt (5) 1967, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1985
** Spingold (1) 1969
** Chicago (now Reisinger) (1) 1965
** Reisinger (3) 1970, 1977, 1980
** Grand National Teams (1) 1987
** Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1964, 1968
** Master Mixed Teams (1) 1992
** Life Master Pairs (1) 1984
** Men's Pairs (1) 1984
* United States Bridge Championships (3)
** Open Trials (3) 1969, 1971, 1989
* Other notable wins:
** Cavendish Invitational Teams (1) 1985

Runner-ups

* Bermuda Bowl (2) 1973, 1989
* World Open Team Olympiad (1) 1972
* North American Bridge Championships (14)
** Vanderbilt (1) 1970
** Spingold (4) 1970, 1976, 1980, 1985
** Reisinger (1) 1983
** Men's Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1969
** North American Swiss Teams (1) 1996
** Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (1) 1994
** Blue Ribbon Pairs (4) 1965, 1968, 1971, 1983
** Life Master Men's Pairs (1) 1978

References

* [http://www.michaelslawrence.com/About/about.html Biography, Lawrence's home page]

External links

* [http://www.worldbridge.org/people/person.asp?qryid=559 World Bridge Federation profile]
* [http://www.bridgeguys.com/Books/LawrenceMichael/MLBooks.html Complete bibliography, BridgeGuys.com]


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