Michael Lawrence (bridge player)
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- For other people named Michael Lawrence, see Michael Lawrence (disambiguation)
Michael S. (Mike) Lawrence (born 1940)[1] is American bridge player, teacher, theoretist and prolific writer.
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[edit] 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.
Lawrence has won three Bermuda Bowls: in 1970 and 1971 with Aces, and another in 1987 with Hamman, Wolff, Martel, Ross and Stansby, along with three runner-up places (World Bridge Olympiad 1972 and Bermuda Bowls in 1973 and 1989). He has won 16 NABCs.
[edit] Awards
- Lou Herman Trophy 1965
[edit] Tournament record
[edit] Winner
- Bermuda Bowl (3) 1970, 1971, 1987
- North American Bridge Championships (16)
- Men's Pairs (1) 1984
- Life Master Pairs (1) 1984
- Master Mixed Teams (1) 1992
- Grand National Open Teams (1) 1987
- Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1964, 1968
- Chicago (now Reisinger) (1) 1965
- Spingold Knockout Teams (1) 1969
- Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams (3) 1970, 1977, 1980
- Vanderbilt Knockout Teams (5) 1967, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1985
- Other notable wins:
- USBC Team Trials (2) 1969, 1989
- USBC World Team Olympiad Trials (1) 1972
- Cavendish Invitational Teams (1) 1985
[edit] Runners-up
- Bermuda Bowl (2) 1973, 1989
- World Team Olympiad (1) 1972
- North American Bridge Championships (15)
- Life Master Men's Pairs (1) 1978
- Blue Ribbon Pairs (4) 1965, 1968, 1971, 1983
- Open Swiss Teams (1) 1994
- North American Swiss Teams (1) 1996
- Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1969, 1973
- Vanderbilt Knockout Teams (1) 1970
- Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1983
- Spingold Knockout Teams (4) 1970, 1976, 1980, 1985
