System Information

Schwartz-Becker System Summary Form

Berkowitz-Cohen System Summary Form

Casen-Krekorian System Summary Form

About the Players

Richard Schwartz

Michael Becker

Becker served as the first president of the U.S. Bridge Federation in 2001-2002. He is currently the chairman of the International Team Trials Committee since 1996. He served on the ACBL Bridge Hall of Fame Committee from 2000 to 2002 and chaired in 2002. Becker served on numerous Greater New York Bridge Association committees from 1966-1985, including president and vice president. He currently is the Bridge World Problem Editor. As a member of the American Stock Exchange 1979-1994, Becker traded options and trained 50 other ACBL members to do so, including 11 participants in this USBC. Michael and father, B. Jay Becker, are the only father-son to play as partners in a Bermuda Bowl (1973), or to have teamed up to win the Spingold (1972).   He was a member of the Aces Team 1981-82. Mike is the winner of twelve major titles, including the 1983 Bermuda Bowl and nine Spingold/Vanderbilts. He was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2006.

David Berkowitz

A retired stock options trader, David now enjoys life as a bridge professional in Boca Raton, Florida, where he plays lots of golf. In 1998 he and Larry Cohen came as close as it is possible to come to a World Championship without actually winning. In the World Open Pairs, they led throughout the five-session final, only to be overtaken on the last two boards. He also earned a Bronze medal at the 2000 World Teams Olympiad. David has more than fifteen NABC victories to his credit, including the Life Master Pairs twice, the Reisinger, the Master Mixed Teams, and the Vanderbilt. David's wife, Lisa, is a Women’s World Champion, and David often comments, “I am not even the best player in my own house.”

Larry Cohen

Larry and his wife Maria live in Boca Raton, FL, where he can pursue his fanatical interest in golf - he loves watching and also plays a sound game (11 handicap).   Although he is best known as a writer (To Bid or Not to Bid, his first book explaining the Law of Total Tricks, was the world's best-selling bridge book of the 1990s), Larry has also won two World Championship medals and 21 North American titles. In 1998 Larry and David Berkowitz came as close as it is possible to come to a World Championship without actually winning. In the World Open Pairs, they led throughout the five-session final, only to be overtaken on the last two boards. They also won a Bronze Medal in the World Team Olympiad. Larry began playing bridge at the age of six and became a Life Master at 17. He won his first NABC title, the Spingold, at 22. He has also the Spingold again, the Vanderbilt, the Reisinger twice, the Grand National Teams, the Life Masters Men's Pairs, the Life Masters Pairs, and the Blue Ribbon Pairs a record four times. Larry has won the Cavendish Invitational Pairs twice and the Cap Gemini Invitational Pairs in The Hague once. Larry Cohen has an extensive website here with information about himself and also lots of useful bridge stuff. Well worth a visit.

Drew Casen

Drew Casen, of Las Vegas, Nevada, is a bridge professional, former accountant, 7-handicap golfer, and expert holdem (poker) player. He renewed his partnership with Jim Krekorian (from the late 80s and early 90s) in 2004. Since then, he and Jim have placed second in the Vanderbilt, third-fourth in the Spingold, and third in the Blue Ribbon Pairs. Drew also won the Men’s Swiss Teams in 1986, the Cavendish Invitational Pairs in 1987, the National Open Swiss Teams in 1990 and 1992, and finished second in the Vanderbilt in 1987, 2000 and 2005. He is a WBF World Master, having placed second in the Rosenblum Teams in 1990. He is as an avid sports gambler and is known for his raucous humor in the postgame discussions.

Jim Krekorian

Jim Krekorian, of New York City, graduated from Duke engineering school in 1974 and served as a U.S Air Force pilot from 1974 to 1981, achieving the rank of Captain, c-130 aircraft commander. Jim traded options on the American Stock Exchange from 1986 to 2003, was a floor official for 5 years, and formed Blue Hercules LLC in 1999. At Duke he was 3-year letterman in track and is still an avid runner and racer. Jim is now a fulltime bridge professional and consultant and recently began exploring the world of oil painting, showing four pictues in a recent exhibit in New York. He won the Life Master Men’s Pairs in 1986, the Grand National Open Pairs in 1992, the Blue Ribbon Pairs in 1996,  the Open BAM Teams 1997, and recently completed the Cavendish double (pairs in 1987, teams in 2007) in his renewed partnership with Drew Casen.