The Ekeblad team (with Greco-Hampson instead of Martel-Stansby) lost a close and exciting final match to Jacobs last year. This cycle, the team reached the round of 16 in the Spingold, finished second in the Reisinger, and tied for 5-8 in the Vanderbilt,  earning a Quarterfinal bye for the USBC

System Information

Ekeblad-Rubin System Summary Form, 2 opening and defense , 2 opening and defense , 2005 WBF Card

Gitelman-Moss System Summary Form . 2005 WBF Card

Martel-Stansby System Summary Form , ACBL convention card. 2006 WBF Card page 1 , page 2 , supplementary sheets

About the Players

Russ Ekeblad

Russ Ekeblad was born August 17, 1946 in Evanston, Illinois. In his youth, he was interested in and pursued the play of various sports, but never played bridge. He attended Brown University, graduating 1968 and then went on to Graduate School at Columbia. Russ also went to Coast Guard Officer Candidate School and served 3 years of active duty, stationed at headquarters in DC. He started to get interested in bridge at that time – learning with the likes of Woolsey, Manfield and Capelletti Sr. Russ met his wife Sheila through bridge, and the two were married in 1974. Russ started his own company, Kennilworth Creations in 1976, and it becamee very successful. Russ is now semi-retired, spending his winters in FL, summers in RI. Besides bridge, Russ’ passions are boating and golf. Russ has won two National Pair titles, two Spingolds, and two USBCs. He won bronze medals in the 1990 Rosenblum and 2005 Bermuda Bowl. He and Michael Seamon won the World IMP Pairs in Lille France in 2002.

Ron Rubin

Ron Rubin was born May 7, 1948. He learned Bridge from his parents and grandparents as a kid. Ron became involved with tournament bridge at 13, playing, caddying, then becoming a Regional Director of the ACBL. He started trading options on the floor of American  Stock Exchange in 1977. Over the next 10 years, he was responsible, with Mike Becker, for hiring over 100 games players on the option's exchanges. Playing a relay system with Mike Becker for 20 years, they won 5 Vanderbilts, 4 Spingolds and one national open pairs. In 1983, the last Aces' team, including Rubin, won the Bermuda Bowl in Stockholm. Rubin's new partnership with Russ Ekeblad, playing a canapé, relay system, has enjoyed recent success as Rubin became a World Grand Master in Portugal last year by finishing 3rd in the Bermuda Bowl. Rubin currently resides in the U.S (most of the time) with his wife of 12 years, Patti.

Fred Gitelman

Though only in his early forties, Fred is the uncontested computer guru of the bridge world. Born in Toronto but now residing in Las Vegas with his wife, Sheri Winestock and dog Magic, he has revolutionized the hobby with a profusion of innovative concepts making the game available to people worldwide through cyberspace. A University of Toronto computer science student, he dropped out to play bridge and soon afterwards became a programmer for a bridge player operated software company. Together with Sheri, Fred founded Bridge Base, Inc. originally concentrating on educational bridge CD-ROMS but soon turning their attention to Bridge Base Online (BBO), the world's most successful online bridge service, as well as software for producing vugraph shows for live audiences and the Internet.

Brad Moss

Michael Brad Moss was born in 1971 in New York City. It should come as no surprise to find that he took to bridge like a duck to water - his parents are Mike Moss and Gail Greenberg. Brad was named the ACBL King of Bridge at the age of 18. Two years later, he became the youngest player ever to win the New York Player of the Year title. Also in 1991, he was a member of the USA team that just missed out on a medal at the World Junior Teams in Ann Arbor, Michigan, finishing fourth, and won his first National title - the Master Mixed Teams. In 1993, he added to his tally by winning the Grand National Teams and the Life Masters Open Pairs. His current partnership with Fred Gitelmanhas shown great promise from its inception. In 1998, their team won the NABC Board-a-Match Teams and they finished third in the Cavendish Invitational Pairs. Since then, the pair has had much success, most recently winning the Bronze medal in the 2005 Bermuda Bowl.

Chip Martel

Chip Martel is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Davis. A World Grand Master, ranked tenth in World lifetime ranking (thirteenth in current performance ranking), Chip has won five world championships and placed second three times. He has also won over 25 North American championships and U.S. Bridge Championships (“Trials”), most of them in partnership with Lew Stansby. In January 2007, Chip and Lew will mark the thirtieth anniversary of their partnership, one of the longest running in bridge history. Chip also has an outstanding record with other partners, including wife Jan, USBF president. Chip and Jan recently teamed with Lew and JoAnna Stansby and Kit and Sally Woolsey to finish second in the North American Open Teams in Chicago. Chip is currently chair of the ACBL Laws Commission. A favorite hobby is revising his bidding system (“Chip abhors a bid without a meaning,” friends say) and devising defenses to methods played most commonly outside the United States.

Lew Stansby