JACOBS TEAM - Jacobs - Katz, Garner-Weinstein, Rosenberg-Zia - Seed 3

The GEORGE JACOBS team earned a bye to the Quarterfinals of the 2006 USBC because 4 of the team's players reached the quarterfinals of the 2005 USBC and four players reached the semi-finals of the 2005 Spingold and finished second in the 2005 Reisinger.

SYSTEM INFORMATION

Jacobs-Katz System Summary , 2000 WBF card
Garner-Weinstein System Summary and 2000 WBF card
Rosenberg-Zia System Summary . Announcement Forms: 1D-2H ,1m-2S ,1H-2S . 2004 WBF card

ABOUT THE PLAYERS

Biographies of George Jacobs, Ralph Katz, Howard Weinstein & Steven Garner written by George Jacobs.

 George Jacobs


 At the age of 26, I was sleeping in cars or wherever I could. No permanent residence, no friends, no money, no place to go. I am a compulsive gambler. I spent 2 years staying with a friend and sleeping on his couch. I was estranged from my family, stole credit cards, checks and money. At the end, I would cash winning tickets at the track for strangers and accept the tax liability. 32 years ago I joined Gamblers Anonymous and have not gambled since. I have a pretty nice life today but never forget where I came from. There are meetings every week and I go regularly. Because I choose to speak about this, many bridge players and directors have gotten help for their own problems. That makes me so proud.In 1992, I was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Illinois. This was an Academy Award type of production and I was shocked that I won. They ask you to give a speech in front of thousands of people. I started out by saying that I had lots of experiece with speaking but it usually went like this: "My name is George J. and I am a compulsive gambler." The tribune carried a feature titled; "Ex gambler wins award".If you are looking for bridge history, I have won 5 majors, 3 reisinger 2nds, won the trials once with 2 2nds, 4 other national titles. I was captain of the olympic team in Salt Lake City, played in the China Cup twice, played in the IOC olympic showcase in Lausanne. I have a bronze medal in the Olympiad and I own 3 records in bridge:1) the 21 1/2 in the final of the national BAM for 82.69%
2) the largest national pair game score in history at 78.31%
3) the largest lead ever lost in the spingold semifinal of 71 impsI am the auctioneer for the Cavendish and a viewgraph commentator at both live and on-line Vugraphs and once MC'd the Hall of fame dinner.

 Ralph Katz 

Ralph has probably the biggest heart in all of bridge. He makes it a point to comfort, aid and abet all those who are in any way troubled. He is a terrific father and a great husband who dotes on his son. Their entire basement is a professional batting cage. Son Sam was named King of Bridge this year and his wife Martha has a world title.

Howie Weinstein 

 
  Howie is everybody's favorite guy. He is a former options trader who retired a few years ago so he could pursue every hedonistic avenue known to man. To Howie, a good day is spending the day on the golf course, smoking a few cigars, finishing up with a Chinese dinner with a few nightcaps. To make it a GREAT day, there is a lady involved in the dinner and the nightcaps.
 
At the Nationals in Minneapolis, Howie once ate Chinese food 11 straight nights. This would have been an unequaled record but for the 4 other people who accompanied him.
 
He has one strange phobia; cheese. Apparently he was attacked as a young boy by some neighborhood cheese bullys and to this day he eats cheeseless pizza.


 Steven Garner

Steve has a vicious, wicked and biting sense of humor. Plus he is actually funny. Steve, like Howie, emigrated to the U.S. from Minnesota landing for 20 years in Chicago. He recently moved to Florida where he says that he was singled out by 11 hurricanes that attacked him in his first 6 months. He recently lost his life partner, Cort, as well as his great friend Richard. This would bring down a lesser man, but Steve has a Patton-like fighting spirit. While most who know him at the bridge table see an affable, pleasant, c'est le vie kind of a guy, try taking him on at the Acquire table where he becomes mean, sadistic and intolerable. Drew Casen was reduced to tears by this seemingly gentle man.
 
Steven is the best when it come to fashion, decorating, dieting and health tips. He even helps with the occasional bridge tip. But his absolute forte and passion is drinking fine red wine that has been graciously provided by Roy Welland. Steve learned early on that one did not need to dirty one's hands with lucre to enjoy the pleasure of great red wines.
 
Steven has 3 dogs and two wineglasses that travel with him wherever he goes. (not the dogs, the glasses)

Zia Mahmood, by Michael Rosenberg

 

 Zia Mahmood needs a bio less than any other world-class bridge player.  His name is probably the best known in the game, and his countless successes have been widely publicized.
His triumphs have come with many different partners. It seems that he plays each National Pair game with a different partner, yet his name is always up there on the leaderboard - often on top. And lest you think his main skill is taking advantage of some of the weaker parts of the field, you should note that he has won the prestigious invitational Cap Gemini tournament (which no longer exists, but was the premier pairs event in the world) SIX times, with 4 different partners.
Almost nobody can play the game on Zia's level, and just occasionally he reminds his partners of that fact.  However, there is some relief for these poor souls. A support group has been formed - ziaanon - and the sharing at the twice-monthly meetings has been enough to prevent permanent scarring on the psyche of those who have had the fortune(?) of sitting opposite Zia.
Several years ago, Zia stunned millions of bridge groupies by marrying and then having two children. I believe his priorities now are family, golf, haute cuisine and bridge, in that order. However, winning this Trials would put him in the 2007 Bermuda Bowl and, if that happens, his priorities will be temporarily altered. Winning a major World Championship is the only accomplishment his resume is missing.

Michael Rosenberg

P.S.  For more information on Zia, read his book "Bridge My Way" - or, better still, read MY book "Bridge, Zia.... and Me"



Michael Rosenberg
Biography by Zia coming as soon as possible

 

 

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