David Bruce (bridge)

David Burnstine (May 5 1900 – August 26, 1965) was a leading tournament contract bridge player of the 1930s.^[1][2] He changed his name to David Bruce after he retired from competition in 1939.^[1]

Burnstine was born in New York City and regularly played at the Contract Bridge Club of New York. He was a member of the Four Horsemen team captained by P. Hal Sims, which he left to create his own teams, first the Bid-Rite team and later the Four Aces. The Four Aces dominated tournament play in the later half of the 1930s.^[3] Burnstine became American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Life Master #1 at the age of 36.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Burnstine moved to Los Angeles in 1939, changed his name to David Bruce, and retired from regular tournament play.^[1] He died in 1965 and was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame as David Bruce in 1997.^[4] Thus he was the second recipient (after Sims) of the von Zedtwitz Award, a name for Hall of Fame recognition of players long out of the limelight.^[5]

Playing record

Burnstine won one unofficial world championship in 1935 as the Four Aces defeated a team from France^[2] during a December fortnight in New York City.

He "won 26 national titles by 1936, the year the rank of Life Master was established":^[1]

• Vanderbilt tournament victories came as a member of the Four Horsemen team in 1931 and the Four Aces team in 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938;
• three wins in the Spingold - 1934, 1936 and 1938;
• won the American Whist League (AWL) All-American Open Teams four times: 1932 (Contract); 1931, 1932 and 1933 (Auction);
• won the United States Bridge Association (USBA) Open Teams in 1934 and 1937, the Open Pairs 1936
• won the American Bridge League (ABL) Challenge Teams in 1931, 1933 and 1937.

Game contributions

• invention of the strong artificial 2♣ opening, still used by the majority of tournament players; and
• creation of intermediate two-bids in the other suits, a prominent feature of the modern-day Acol system.

Publications

Books

• The Four Horsemen's One Over One Method of Contract Bidding (New York: Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., 1932), 118 pp.
• The Four Aces System of Contract Bridge (New York: Four Aces, 1935), by Oswald Jacoby, Burnstine, Michael T. Gottlieb, and Howard Schenken (the original Four Aces), 302 pp.
• Five-suit Bridge (Simon & Schuster, 1938), by Burnstine, Jacoby, Merwyn Maier, and Schenken (the Four Aces), 96 pp. OCLC 4662268

Pamphlets^[6]

• The Four Horsemen's One Over One summary of contract bidding (Blue Ribbon, 1932), 29 pp. OCLC 742301718
• Pocket solitaire bridge: play your game (New York: Trumpet Products, 1932), compiler and editor, 1 folio OCLC 756445829
• Teacher's outline of the 4 Aces system (Four Aces, 1935), by Burnstine et al., 28 pp. OCLC 668383785
• Pocket outline 4 Aces system of contract bridge (NY: Four Aces Bridge Studio, 1935), Burnstine et al., 1 folio

Lecture^[6]

• "Transcript of lectures on the four aces system: at the Four Aces Bridge Teacher's Convention, Hotel Pennsylvania, New York City, May 28, 1935" (New York, Four Aces Bridge Studio, 1935), by Burnstine, et al. – 31-page typescript OCLC 666777170

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

• ACBL Hall of Fame, von Zedtwitz Award 1997^[4][5]

Wins

• North American Bridge Championships (17)
  • Master Individual (1) 1933 ^[7]
  • von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs (3) 1931, 1933, 1936 ^[8]
  • Wernher Open Pairs (1) 1934 ^[9]
  • Vanderbilt (5) 1931, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938 ^[10]
  • Spingold (3) 1931, 1933, 1937 ^[11]
  • Masters Team of 4 (2) 1934, 1936 ^[12]
  • Chicago Mixed Board-a-Match (1) 1933 ^[13]
  • Spingold (1) 1938 ^[14]

Runners-up

• North American Bridge Championships
  • Master Individual (2) 1932, 1935 ^[15]
  • von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs (1) 1932 ^[16]
  • Vanderbilt (1) 1932 ^[17]
  • Reisinger (1) 1931 ^[18]

See also

• Bruce LM-5000 Pairs, annual competition for the Bruce Trophy at the ACBL North American Bridge Championships, "Summer"

Notes

References

External links

• Citation at the ACBL Hall of Fame
• David Burnstine at Library of Congress Authorities, with 3 catalog records