Oswald "Ozzie", "Jake" Jacoby (December 8, 1902 – June 27, 1984) was an American

contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ...

player and author, considered one of the greatest bridge players of all time and a key innovator in the game, having helped popularize widely used bidding moves such as

Jacoby transfers The Jacoby transfer, or simply transfers, in the card game contract bridge, is a convention in most bridge bidding systems initiated by responder following partner's notrump opening bid that forces opener to rebid in the just above that bid by r ...

. He also excelled at, and wrote about, other games including

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

, gin rummy,

canasta Canasta (; Spanish for "basket") is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 Rum. Although many variations exist for two, three, five or six players, it is most commonly played by four in two partnerships with tw ...

, and poker. He was from

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and later lived in Dallas, Texas. He was the uncle of activist and author Susan Jacoby, as well as father of James Jacoby, an author and world-class bridge player in his own right.

Early life

Born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

to a Jewish family, he was taught to play

whist Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play. History Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...

at the age of six and played his first bridge at ten. During World War I, he joined the army at 15 by lying about his age but spent most of his time there playing poker.

Dropping out Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most ind ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(where he was in the class of 1922) as a math major to become an actuary, he became the youngest person ever to pass four examinations of the Society of Actuaries at the age of 21. Having an exceptional aptitude for mathematics, Jacoby could multiply three and four digit numbers in his head without benefit of paper. During World War II and the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, he applied these abilities to

counterintelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ...

and cryptanalysis being referred to as a human computer; later, he lectured on probability at M.I.T. and wrote books on mathematics. However, his passion and lifelong focus was games, especially bridge.

Bridge career

By the end of the twenties, Jacoby had achieved fame as a player at both

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

and contract bridge, further gaining international recognition when chosen by

Sidney Lenz Sidney Samuel Lenz (1873 – 1960) was an American contract bridge player and writer. He is a member of the American Contract Bridge League Hall of Fame, being inducted in the second (1965) class. Career Lenz was born July 12, 1873 in a suburb of ...

to be his partner in the famous Culbertson–Lenz match of 1931. Jacoby's more aggressive bidding style confused Lenz and Jacoby withdrew after Lenz's criticism. Years later the analyst

Terence Reese John Terence Reese (28 August 1913 – 29 January 1996) was a British bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields. He was born in Epsom, Surrey, England to middle-class parents, and was educated at Bradf ...

wrote, "That the Culbertsons did not win more easily ... was due to the fact that Jacoby was a player of quite different class from any of the others". Jacoby subsequently solidified his position as the most successful tournament player in the thirties as a member of the famous "

Four Horsemen The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand tha ...

" from 1931 to 1933 and the " Four Aces" from 1933 to 1941, dominating tournament play. He is recognized by 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) as Life Master #2, one of ten named in 1936. LM #1 is

David Burnstine David Burnstine (May 5 1900 – August 26, 1965) was a leading tournament contract bridge player of the 1930s. He changed his name to David Bruce after he retired from competition in 1939. Burnstine was born in New York City and regularly played ...

, his partner on the Four Horsemen and co-founder of the Four Aces. He pioneered many bidding ideas, including the

Jacoby transfer The Jacoby transfer, or simply transfers, in the card game contract bridge, is a convention in most bridge bidding systems initiated by responder following partner's notrump opening bid that forces opener to rebid in the just above that bid by r ...

and Jacoby 2NT bids. Throughout his career, he also worked as a bridge columnist; a prolific writer, he wrote over 10,000 newspaper articles on bridge, and his many books include not only bridge but volumes on poker, gin rummy,

, and the mathematics of card games and gambling, which he played at high stakes. He also released a record titled ''How to Win at Championship Bridge''. Jacoby captained the North American and US teams that won 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 ...

in both 1970 and 1971. During a long playing career, he won tournaments with many partners including his son and co-author, James Jacoby (1933–1991), as well as his wife of more than 50 years, Mary Zita Jacoby. Terminally ill, his final tournament victory came in a major event at the ACBL

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 ...

late in 1983, as a member of the team-of four champions for the

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 ( ...

trophy with

Edgar Kaplan Edgar Kaplan (April 18, 1925 – September 7, 1997) was an American bridge player and one of the principal contributors to the game. His career spanned six decades and covered every aspect of bridge. He was a teacher, author, editor, administrator, ...

, Norman Kay, Bill Root and Richard Pavlicek. In the same year, he was named Personality of the Year by the international bridge writers (Charles H. Goren Award). He died at his Dallas home of cancer on June 27, 1984. Jacoby, Lenz, and

Milton Work Milton Cooper Work (September 15, 1864 – June 27, 1934) was an American authority on whist, bridge whist, auction and contract bridge. At least during the 19th century he was a cricket player, writer, and official. Work, Sidney Lenz, and Oswa ...

were named to its hall of fame by ''

The Bridge World ''The Bridge World'' (TBW), the oldest continuously published magazine about contract bridge, was founded in 1929 by Ely Culbertson. It has since been regarded as the game's principal journal, publicizing technical advances in bidding and the pla ...

'' in 1965, which brought the number of members to six. They were all made founding members of the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1995.

Other games

A poker player and author on the subject, Jacoby was convicted of a gambling charge in 1944 while in the navy, but acquitted of a charge of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Although he did not pursue a career in competitive

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

, and did not write on the game, he was nevertheless a strong player. When in college, Jacoby beat US chess champion Frank Marshall, and in 1963, in a rapid-transit game, he played a draw with

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style ...

, the then world champion. Jacoby was also an expert

player, and in 1972 he was crowned World Backgammon Champion. In 1970, he wrote ''The Backgammon Book'' with John R. Crawford, which is considered the first book to deal with backgammon from an analytical viewpoint. The ''Jacoby Rule'', which states that in money play gammons and backgammons count only after the cube has been turned, is named after him."Jacoby Rule"
Backgammon Galore! (bkgm.com). He wrote several books on various card games, with a particular interest in gin rummy and

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

* ACBL Hall of Fame, 1965"Induction by Year"
. ''Hall of Fame''. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-29. * ACBL Honorary Member of the Year 1967 * Honorary World Bridge Federation Grand Master

Awards

* Charles H. Goren Award (Personality of the Year), 1983, from the International Bridge Press Association * McKenney Trophy 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963 * Herman Trophy 1960

Wins

* IBL World Championship (1) 1935 *

(31) ** Vanderbilt (7) 1931, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1946, 1965 ** Asbury Park Trophy (now Spingold) (4) 1931, 1932, 1933, 1937 ** Masters Teams-of-Four (now Spingold) (2) 1934, 1936 **

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 ...

(5) 1938, 1939, 1945, 1950, 1959 **

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(now Reisinger) (1) 1955 **

(1) 1983 ** Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1952, 1959 ** Master Mixed Teams (1) 1968 ** Life Master Pairs (1) 1936 ** Fall National Open Pairs (2) 1935, 1960 ** Open Pairs (1) 1964 ** Men's Pairs (3) 1934, 1939, 1949 ** Master Individual (1) 1935 * United States Bridge Association (5) ** Grand National Open Teams (3) 1934, 1935, 1937 ** Open Pairs (2) 1936, 1937 * American Bridge League (2) ** Men's Teams (2) 1931, 1932

Runners-up

(21) ** Vanderbilt (3) 1930, 1941, 1949 **

(4) 1941, 1948, 1949, 1957 **

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(now Reisinger) (5) 1931, 1932, 1939, 1956, 1960 ** Men's Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1954, 1956 ** Master Mixed Teams (2) 1935, 1941 ** Life Master Pairs (2) 1939, 1941 ** Fall National Open Pairs (1) 1932 **

Hilliard Mixed Pairs The Hilliard Mixed Pairs national bridge championship was last held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). History This was the original national mixed pairs event. It was contested at the ...

(2) 1931, 1939

Publications

;Bridge * 438 pages. * 492 pages. * 302 pages. * 96 pages. * 158 pages. * 32 pages. * * 31 pages. * 64 pages. * 32 pages. * ''The Complete Book of Duplicate Bridge'' (1965). * 222 pages. * 128 pages. * ''Jacoby Transfer Bids'' (1981). * ''Major Suit Raises'' (1981). * 140 pages. ;Poker * ''Poker'', 1940 * ''Oswald Jacoby on Poker. Revised edition'', 1948 * ''Winning poker'', 1949 * ''Oswald Jacoby on Poker'' (1981), ;Backgammon * ''The Backgammon Book'' (with John R. Crawford), 1970, ;Rummy * ''Laws of Oklahoma'', 1946 * ''Oswald Jacoby on Gin Rummy, etc.'', 1947 * ''Oswald Jacoby on Oklahoma, the wild, wild rummy game'', 1948 * ''How to Win at Gin Rummy'', 1959 ;Canasta * ''Oswald Jacoby's Complete Canasta'', 1950 * ''How to win at canasta'', 1951 ;Other card games * ''The book of card game rules and strategies'', 1989 * ''The fireside book of cards'', 1957 * ''Oswald Jacoby on Gambling'', 1963, * ''New Recreations with Magic Squares'' (with William H. Benson), 1976 * ''Jacoby on card games'', 1986 * ''Magic cubes : new recreations'', 1981 ;Mathematics * ''Intriguing Mathematical Problems'' (with William H. Benson), 1996 * ''How to figure the odds'', 1947 * ''Mathematics for pleasure'', 1962

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Biography
at Bridge Bum * at Bridge Guys * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacoby, Oswald 1902 births 1984 deaths 20th-century American Jews American actuaries American backgammon players American contract bridge players American gin players Columbia College (New York) alumni Contract bridge writers Jewish American sportspeople Jewish American writers Mathematicians from New York (state) People from Brooklyn People from Dallas