Robert J. (Bobby) Levin (born November 19, 1957) is an American 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 ...

player, from

Aventura, Florida Aventura is a planned, suburban city in northeastern Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, 17 miles north of the city of Miami and part of the Miami metropolitan area. The city is especially well-known for Aventura Mall, the 5th largest ...

. He was the youngest winner of the

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 W ...

world championship for national teams from 1981 until 2015, when 19-year old Michal Klukowski of Poland succeeded him. Levin is also a five-time winner of the Cavendish Invitational Pairs, the world's leading contest for cash prizes, with his regular partner Steve Weinstein. As of June 2013, Levin ranks number 20 among Open World Grand Masters and his wife Jill ranks number 21 among Women World Grand Masters. Retrieved 2013-06-13. Levin–Weinstein 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.

Career

Levin was born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Long Island, New York. As a 13-year-old, he won the first tournament event he ever entered – the Men's Pairs at a New York sectional – making him the youngest winner in the history of the event. When Levin was 15, the family moved to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. In March 1973, he became the youngest life master in the history of the

American Contract Bridge League The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. It is the largest such organization in North America having the stated mission ''"to promote, grow and sustain th ...

(ACBL) at the age of 15 years and 4 months, a record since broken. Once in Miami, Levin met two players – Billy Seamon and Russell Arnold – who had a profound influence on his bridge career. By the age of 17, Levin was playing professionally on teams with Arnold, sponsored by Bud Reinhold. In 1979, his team (Reinhold, Arnold,

Jeff Meckstroth Jeffrey John (Jeff) Meckstroth (born May 15, 1956) is an American professional contract bridge player. He is a multiple world champion, winning the Bermuda Bowl on USA teams five times. He is one of only ten players who have won the so-called tri ...

and

Eric Rodwell Eric Victor Rodwell (born May 1, 1957) is an American professional bridge player. He has won the Bermuda Bowl representing the United States five times and is one of ten players who have won the triple crown of bridge: the Bermuda Bowl, the Wor ...

) tied for first in the Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams. Because the Reisinger was a qualifying event for the playoff to determine North America's representative in the world championship (ACBL team trials), a playoff between the Reisinger winners was necessary; they lost to the Dallas Aces comprising Ira Rubin, Fred Hamilton,

Bob Hamman Robert David "Bob" Hamman (born August 6, 1938 in Pasadena, California) is an American professional bridge player, among the greatest players of all time. He is from Dallas, Texas. Hamman and Bobby Wolff played as partners for nearly three deca ...

and Bobby Wolff. Next spring the Reinhold team won the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, qualifying for the team trials. The squad easily won the right later that year to represent the United States in the 1981

Port Chester, New York Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. At the 2010 U.S. census, the village of Port Chester had a population of 28,967 and was the fifth-most popu ...

. The team added John Solodar and defeated Zia Mahmood-led Pakistan for the championship. The win made Levin, at 23 years old, the youngest world champion at the time, a distinction he held for 34 years, until 19 year old Michal Klukowski's win with the 2015 champion Polish team. About a year later, Levin moved to

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to work as an

options trader In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the ''holder'', the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified dat ...

. When the market crashed in 1987, Levin was back to Florida, entering the real estate business with one of his brothers. He moved to the

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

area in 1988 and lived there for twelve years. His regular partner is Steve Weinstein, who is also a world class poker player. When forming their partnership, they spent a week with Marty Bergen in Florida to put together their system. Levin and his wife since January 1998, Jill, who is also a world champion bridge player, reside in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania (as of 2010)."Unit 120 2010 Mini-McKenney Awards"
ACBL. Confirmed 2011-07-11. Bobby's son Andrew is a college student and Jill's sons Shane and Justin Blanchard are "upcoming bridge players" (as of 2010).

Bridge accomplishments

Awards

* ACBL Player of the Year, 2014 * Herman Trophy 1979 * ACBL King of Bridge 1975

Wins

(1) 1981 * World Open Pairs Championship (1) 2010 *

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 ...

(33) ** Vanderbilt (6) 1980, 1989, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2017 **

Spingold The Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Spingold is a knock-out team event that attracts the top contract bridge players in the world. T ...

(1) 1992 **

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) 1979, 2021 ** Grand National Teams (3) 1997, 1999, 2000 ** Open Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1996, 2006 ** Men's Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1987 **

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 a ...

(2) 2005, 2006 ** Master Mixed Teams (1) 1987 **

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 ...

(2) 1979, 2018 ** Life Master Pairs (3) 1989, 1994, 2001 ** Life Master Open Pairs (1) 1994 ** Life Master Men's Pairs (1) 1988 ** Open Pairs (2) 1978, 2015 ** Open Pairs II (1) 1993 ** IMP Pairs (1) 2003 ** Fast Open Pairs (1) 2007 **

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, M ...

(1) 2010 ** Norman Kay Platinum Pairs (2) 2014, 2018 * United States Bridge Championships (5) ** Open Team Trials (5) 1980, 1993, 2010, 2014, 2017 * European Open Bridge Championships (1) ** Mixed Teams (1) 2003 * Other notable wins: ** Buffett Cup (2) 2006, 2010 ** Cavendish Invitational Teams (3) 1999, 2005, 2008 ** Pan American Open Teams (1) 1992 ** Sunday Times–Macallan Invitational Pairs (1) 1993 ** Cavendish Invitational Pairs (5) 1999, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2010

Runners-up

* World Transnational Open Teams (1) 2000 * World Open Pairs (1) 2006 * World Mixed Pairs (1) 2006 *

(29) ** Vanderbilt (5) 1984, 2000, 2010, 2018, 2019 **

(3) 1988, 1991, 2012 ** Grand National Teams (3) 1978, 1992, 2007 ** Open Board-a-Match Teams (3) 1990, 2012, 2013 ** Men's Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1983 ** Open Swiss Teams (2) 2008, 2018 **

(4) 1987, 1988, 2000, 2004 ** Life Master Open Pairs (2) 2005, 2013 ** Open Pairs II (1) 1999 ** Men's Pairs (1) 1986 ** Senior Knockout Teams (2) 2017, 2018 **

(1) 2016 **

(1) 2014 * United States Bridge Championships (2) ** Open Team Trials (2) 2000, 2017 * Other notable 2nd places: ** Cavendish Invitational Teams (3) 2000, 2006, 2009 ** Cap Gemini World Top Invitational Pairs (1) 2000 ** Macallan Invitational Pairs (1) 1994 ** Cavendish Invitational Pairs (1) 1994

Notes

References

"The natural: Bobby Levin now at a high point in his life"
''NABC Orlando 98 Daily Bulletin'' 10:7. ACBL. Reprinted at Clairebridge (Claire Martel). Retrieved 2011-05-21.

External links

Bobby Levin
profile at Bridge Winners (maintained by Levin) *
Audio-video interview
uploaded October 27, 2009, by ACBLvideo at YouTube
Robert Levin ACBL Database NABC Wins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Bobby 1957 births American contract bridge players Bermuda Bowl players Living people People from Suffolk County, New York People from Aventura, Florida