The Four Aces was a contract bridge team which dominated tournament play in the mid-thirties.
History
David Burnstine (later David Bruce and to become an ACBL Hall of Fame member) was a member of the successful Four Horseman team captained by
P. Hal Sims
Philip Hal Sims (November 8, 1886 – February 26, 1949) was an American bridge player. In 1932 he was ranked by Shepard Barclay, bridge commentator of the ''New York Herald Tribune'', the second best player in the US during the preceding year.&nbs ...
but left in 1932 to establish his own team composed of himself,
Richard Frey
Richard Frey (11 February 1920 – 16 November 2004), also known by his Chinese name Fu Lai (), was a Chinese military physician and politician originally from Austria. He fled due to the Second World War from Austria to China and spent his ent ...
,
Howard Schenken and Charles Lockridge. Known as the Bid-Rite team, they were named for the Bid-Rite Playing Card Co., the first manufacturer of four-colored cards.
[ The team was defeated by the Sims team in the 1932 Vanderbilt and Burnstine made roster changes, replacing Lockridge with Oswald Jacoby, whom he recruited from Sims, and adding Michael T. Gottlieb. Being a five-man team, they were referred to as the Four Aces and a Joker.]Ely Culbertson
Elie Almon Culbertson (July 22, 1891 – December 27, 1955), known as Ely Culbertson, was an American contract bridge entrepreneur and personality dominant during the 1930s. He played a major role in the popularization of the new game and was wide ...
's many bridge enterprises in 1935 and was replaced by Sherman Stearns; Gottlieb retired in 1936 and was replaced by Merwyn Maier; other experts participated occasionally until the team discontinued competing in late 1941. It nevertheless continued as a publication entity until 1945[ including a book titled ''The Four Aces System of Contract Bridge''.]
Bridge accomplishments
The Four Aces won:
*1933 Summer Nationals at Ashbury Park, subsequently to become the Spingold
*1934 Spingold
*1934, 1935 Vanderbilt
*1934, 1935 Grand National
*1934 Reisinger
References
{{WPCBIndex
Contract bridge people