Alvin Roth (bridge)

Alvin Roth (bridge)
Alvin Leon Roth (November 6, 1914 – April 18, 2007) was an American bridge player, considered one of the greatest of all time, and "the premier bidding theorist of his bridge generation". He wrote several books on the game, and invented various bidding conventions that have become commonplace, including five-card majors, negative doubles, forcing notrump, and the unusual notrump. Roth was considered a fascinating theorist but was described by one partner, Richard "Dick" Freeman, as "very tough to sit opposite—unless you were so thick-skinned that no insult was severe enough to hurt, or you were willing to make extreme sacrifices to get on a winning side."
Biography
Roth was born in The Bronx. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School and studied mathematics at City College of New York, where he discovered bridge. Roth then took a job as a government statistician in Washington, D.C. He served in the US Army in World War II, where he met future bridge partner Tobias Stone, then returned to New York City.
He played for the United States or North America in the Bermuda Bowl world team championships of 1955, 1958, and 1967, losing the final each time. He also won a silver medal with the US team in the 1968 World Team Olympiad.
Roth was a Grand Life Master of the American Contract Bridge League, and a World Life Master of the World Bridge Federation.
After attending a bridge tournament in Miami Beach, Roth moved there and ran a bridge club for five years. Then he founded the Charles Goren School of Bridge in Washington and ran it for ten years. Roth then purchased the Mayfair Club in New York, which he managed until retiring to Florida in 1995.
Roth married twice, first to Fay Edelstein in 1940. They had a son, but were divorced in 1963, and she died in 1995. He married his second wife, Jean Farrell, in 1980.
Roth died of natural causes in Boca Raton.
Bridge accomplishments
Honors
ACBL Hall of Fame, 1995
Awards
Fishbein Trophy 1963, 1965, 1966
Herman Trophy 1952
Wins
North American Bridge Championships (30)
Vanderbilt (3) 1943, 1963, 1968
Spingold (6) 1940, 1956, 1957, 1963, 1966, 1967
Chicago (now Reisinger) (3) 1946, 1952, 1961
Reisinger (1) 1967
Men's Board-a-Match Teams (4) 1955, 1961, 1969, 1971
Master Mixed Teams (4) 1952, 1953, 1955, 1965
Life Master Pairs (3) 1956, 1971, 1972
Fall National Open Pairs (1) 1942
Open Pairs (1) 1960
Rockwell Mixed Pairs (2) 1946, 1952
Hilliard Mixed Pairs (1) 1959
Master Individual (1) 1943
Runners-up
Bermuda Bowl (3) 1955, 1958, 1967
World Open Team Olympiad (1) 1968
Olympiad Mixed Teams (1) 1972
North American Bridge Championships (23)
Vanderbilt (2) 1953, 1975
Spingold (4) 1943, 1945, 1953, 1961
Chicago (now Reisinger) (2) 1937, 1954
Reisinger (1) 1966
Men's Board-a-Match Teams (4) 1952, 1957, 1973, 1977
Master Mixed Teams (5) 1945, 1963, 1966, 1973, 1975
Life Master Pairs (1) 1965
Fall National Open Pairs (1) 1958
Open Pairs (2) 1958, 1966
Master Individual (1) 1955
United States Bridge Championships (1)
Open Pair Trials (1) 1967
Publications
Books
176 pages.
237 pages.
512 pages.
216 pages.
237 pages. Preface revised by Alvin Roth.
317 pages.
Pamphlets
Negative Doubles (Louisville: Devyn Press, 1981), Championship Bridge no. 5
The Unusual No Trump (Devyn, 1981), Championship Bridge no. 11
References
External links
1914 births
2007 deaths
American contract bridge players
Bermuda Bowl players
Contract bridge writers
Sportspeople from the Bronx
People from Boca Raton, Florida