Albert L. Benjamin (1 April 1909 – 17 January 2006) was a Scottish international

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player who invented a popular variant on the

Acol Acol is the bridge bidding system that, according to ''The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge'', is "standard in British tournament play and widely used in other parts of the world". It is a natural system using four-card majors and, most commonly, ...

bidding system. He lived in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

all his life, though his father came from

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and his mother from

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

."Albert Benjamin". ''Bridge Magazine''. May 1989. Reprinted in Hasenson, Peter (ed.) 2004. ''British Bridge Almanack''. 77 Publishing, London. pp. 92–94. He was a leading player in his day, wrote a daily bridge column from 1937 to 1976, ran a bridge club, and was an excellent teacher of bridge.

Life

Benjamin was born in Glasgow and discovered bridge at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, studying

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

. In 1939 he married Judy, who duly became his favourite bridge partner. During World War II Benjamin was drafted into the Ambulance (Home Defence) Service, and quickly showed what he was made of: he paid another ambulance man to take over his night shift, and made a small fortune by playing

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

, winning 47 months out of 48. Nevertheless, he regarded poker as a boring and soul-destroying game.

Career in bridge

Benjamin picked up bridge again after the war. He opened the Kenmure Bridge Club (universally known as "Benjamin's") in a suburb of Glasgow. He wrote his daily column in the '' Glasgow Evening Citizen'' and wrote on other card games for the ''Scottish Weekly News''. He opened a business buying and selling second-hand electrical measuring instruments after overhearing a man mention the need during a train journey. The business continued for the rest of his active life. Benjamin represented Scotland 28 times, and eventually had the joy of beating England in 1964 (the first time in a

Camrose Trophy The Camrose Trophy or "The Camrose" is an annual bridge competition among open teams representing the home nations of Great Britain and Ireland: England ( EBU), Northern Ireland (NIBU), Republic of Ireland (CBAI), Scotland (SBU) and Wales (WBU). ...

match). However, his greatest contribution to the game was his invention of the most popular variant of the Acol . The system of opening two-bids that he devised used the opening 2 and 2 bids as weak pre-emptive bids, with 2 being used for 23+ points and 2 being used to show strong hands with eight playing tricks. The system is commonly known as Benji Acol (Benjaminised Acol). There is also ''Reverse Benji'', in which the meanings of the opening bids of 2 and 2 are transposed. For more, see

. The essence of his idea is that you can play both strong twos (packaged into 2 and 2) and weak majors in the same system. Benjamin described the system in less than a page of ''Bridge Magazine'', and it became at least as popular amongst tournament players as traditional Acol. Benjamin loved to bring on younger players, and encouraged many who became fine players, such as

Michael Rosenberg Michael Rosenberg (born March 7, 1954) is an American bridge player. Rosenberg was born in New York City, moved to Scotland as a child, and returned to New York in 1978. He lived in New York State with his wife Debbie, also a top player, from 1 ...

and Barnet Shenkin, who both became professional players in the United States."Albert Benjamin". ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. 23 January 2006. He died in Glasgow at the age of 96, in 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Albert 1909 births 2006 deaths British and Irish contract bridge players Scottish contract bridge players Contract bridge writers Sportspeople from Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow