Billionaire bridge

I may once have caught a glimpse of Bill Gates playing at a bridge tournament.   I was playing a match and someone pointed him out.  However I was too focused on the deal I was declaring to really notice.

I was reading Jonathan Ferguson’s BLOG about seeing Bill Gates and introducing himself at a vendor table and then noticing Bill and Warren Buffett leaving the playing area.  It’s interesting that they can feel so at home at a bridge tournament.  I wouldn’t have introduced myself though.  What did you say, Jonathan?  I would have no idea what to talk about.  (Tips on the market perhaps?  Should I sell all my US dollars?  How’s oil going to do in the next year?)

I am never in awe of bridge celebrities.  I once even talked to Bob Hamman.  He told me not to worry about my next match – my opponents (women) put on their pantsuits one leg at a time or something like that.  It was kind of sweet.   I have had my picture taken with my girlfriend Margaret Lerner and Zia.    Allan Sontag (author of one of favourite ever bridge books – The Bridge Bum) sometimes murmurs hello as he rushes by.

At the table, I never pay any attention to who my opponents are.  Once I was playing against Zia and I could have taken the setting trick in 1NT doubled (vulnerable) and I didn’t cash it.  I knew he would go wrong and assume I didn’t have the thirteenth heart and take finesse into my hand for two down.   

But, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett do impress me.  It isn’t just the incredible amount of money they control but that they built empires and became wealthy all by themselves.  So I am impressed.

So Jonathan, next time we are together at the nationals, could you introduce me to your buddy, Bill Gates.