Steve Weinstein (born 1964) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

and

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 ...

player. He is known best as the youngest winner of the ACBL Life Master Pairs and the most frequent winner of the Cavendish Invitational Pairs, the world's leading contest for cash prizes. , the

World Bridge Federation The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the international governing body of contract bridge. The WBF is responsible for world championship competitions, most of which are conducted at a few multi-event meets on a four-year cycle. The most prestigiou ...

shows Weinstein at number 22 in the Open World Grand Masters rankings. His highest ranking was 16th, in October 2011.

Life

Weinstein was born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

state in 1964. At the age of 17 in 1981 he became the youngest winner of any North American Bridge Championship, the ACBL's annual Life Master Pairs, playing with his stepfather Fred Stewart. Weinstein and Liz Davis have been together since 1986, married since 1993. They live in

Andes, New York Andes is a town in Delaware County, New York, United States. The population was 1,114 at the 2020 census.2020 US Census, Andes, Delaware County, New York https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?searchType=web&cssp=SERP&q=Andes%20town,%20D ...

. Weinstein worked on Wall Street until 2002 when he became a full-time professional bridge and poker player. He played poker as 'Thorladen' and mentored others. "I take top young bridge players and I train them to be top poker players", he told ''Online Poker'' in 2007. One of them was

Gavin Wolpert Gavin Wolpert (born 1984 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian-American professional bridge player. Personal life Garvin Wolpert was born in Toronto, Ontario to a bridge playing family. His mother Hazel, a bridge teacher, started to teach him bridge ...

; in 2010 Wolpert and another player created ''Bridge Winners'', an online news and networking site for bridge players, which Weinstein immediately joined.

Bridge career

Ten years after the Life Master Pairs championship, Stewart–Weinstein were one-third of a team (USA2) that represented the U.S. in the world championship for national teams, the 1991

Bermuda Bowl The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial contract bridge world championship for national . It is contested every odd-numbered year under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), alongside the Venice Cup (women), the d'Orsi Senior Bowl and the Wuh ...

, where they reached the quarterfinal. They won the Cavendish Pairs in 1993 and again in 1996. Weinstein's regular partner for more than a decade is

Bobby Levin Robert J. (Bobby) Levin (born November 19, 1957) is an American professional bridge player, from Aventura, Florida. He was the youngest winner of the Bermuda Bowl world championship for national teams from 1981 until 2015, when 19-year old Michal K ...

, who may still be known best as the youngest winner of a world teams championship, the 1981

. When forming their partnership, they spent a week with Marty Bergen in Florida to put together their system. Levin–Weinstein have won the Cavendish Pairs five times from 1999. In the WBF World Championships Open Pairs they finished 11th in 2002, second in 2006, and first in 2010. They were one-third of USA1 in the 2011 Bermuda Bowl, where they finished fourth. Beginning mid-2012 they joined

Nick Nickell Frank T. "Nick" Nickell (born 1947) is an American bridge player. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, and lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, as of 1994. Nickell was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2008. At the time he lived i ...

's team. The professional teams hired by Nickell had won four of the preceding nine biennial Bermuda Bowls, from 1995. Retrieved July 11, 2011.

Bridge accomplishments

Awards

* ACBL King of Bridge, 1982 * ACBL Player of the Year, 1995

Wins

World Bridge Championships The World Bridge Championships consists of several sets of championships organized under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation. World Bridge Series Championships ''World Bridge Series Championships'' is the new 2010 name for a quadrennial me ...

(2) **

Rosenblum Cup Rosenblum Cup is an Open Teams event held every four years as part of the World Bridge Championships. The event was added to the world championships in New Orleans in 1978 to commemorate Julius Rosenblum, who served as president of the World Bridge ...

2022 **

World Open Pairs The World Open Pairs Championship is a contract bridge competition initiated in 1962 and held as part of the World Bridge Series Championships every four years. Open to all pairs without any quota restrictions on nationality, the championship is wi ...

2010 * European Open Bridge Championships (1) ** Mixed Teams (1) 2003 * Other notable wins: ** Pan American Open Teams (1) 1992 ** Sunday Times–Macallan Invitational Pairs (1) 1993 *

North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven da ...

** Vanderbilt (4) 2009, 2011, 2014, 2017 **

Reisinger The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Reisinger is a board-a-match event. History The event is contested for the Reisinger Trophy ( ...

(1) 1984 ** Open Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1995, 2006 **

Jacoby Open Swiss Teams The Jacoby Open Swiss Teams national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Jacoby Open Swiss Teams is a four session Swiss Teams event with two qualifying ...

(3) 1992, 2005, 2006 **

Roth Open Swiss Teams The Roth Open Swiss Teams is a national bridge championship Swiss Teams event held at the summer American Contract Bridge League The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Canada, Mexic ...

(1) 2010 **

Blue Ribbon Pairs The Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs (or simply the Blue Ribbon Pairs) is a national bridge championship held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The event is restricted to those that have wo ...

(1) 1987, 2013 ** Life Master Pairs (2) 1981, 2001 ** Open Pairs II (1) 1995 ** IMP Pairs (1) 2003 **

Norman Kay Platinum Pairs The Norman Kay Platinum Pairs national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Norman Kay Platinum Pairs is a six-session open-pairs event with two qualifying ...

(1) 2018 * United States Bridge Championships ** Open Team Trials (3) 2010, 2014, 2017 * Other notable wins: **

Buffett Cup The Buffett Cup is a bridge trophy which is awarded biennially in an event between teams from Europe and the United States. The tournament is modeled on the Ryder Cup golf competition and is held in the week preceding the golf event at a nearby lo ...

(2) 2006, 2010 ** Cavendish Invitational Teams (3) 1999, 2005, 2008 ** Cavendish Invitational Pairs (7) 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2010

Runners-up

(1) 2006 *

(12) ** Vanderbilt (4) 2000, 2010, 2018, 2019 **

Grand National Teams The Grand National Teams (GNT) North American bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Grand National Teams is a team knockout event. The event is broken into ...

(1) 1991 ** Open Swiss Teams (1) 2008 **

(3) 1994, 2000, 2004 ** Life Master Open Pairs (1) 2002 ** Open Pairs II (1) 1999 **

Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs The Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). Usually called simply the "Life Master Pairs" or "LM Pairs", this is a six-ses ...

(1) 2022 * Other notable 2nd places: ** Cavendish Invitational Teams (3) 2000, 2006, 2009 ** Cavendish Invitational Pairs (3) 1986, 1998, 2011

Notes

References

External links

*
Steve 'Thorladen' Weinstein
search results at Card Player: the poker authority {{DEFAULTSORT:Weinstein, Steve 1964 births American contract bridge players Bermuda Bowl players American poker players Living people People from Andes, New York