[Skipbidder]

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Woolsey is a notch below world class/top 10 type in bridge. He's very good -- has won national championships -- but not quite amongst the elite in the world. Like in backgammon, he is a trusted authority and valued author. Perhaps not labeling him as great in both was overly harsh.


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I'm uncomfortable with the idea that only the top ten bridge players in the world are "world class". Off the top of my head, among American players, I would list Hamman, Wolff, Soloway, Berkowitz, L. Cohen, Martel, Stansby, Meckstroth, Rodwell, Rosenberg. Those are just US players. Any list of world class players that doesn't include all of them is a bad list. There are many players who probably warrant consideration for that list as well (this is just off the top of my head). It didn't include multiple world champion Mike Lawrence, for example.

Woolsey, at very least, has a second in a Bermuda Bowl and a first in the Rosenblum Teams. He wrote THE book on matchpoints, and it continues to be the best book available on the subject despite being written over 20 years ago. Since he is a matchpoint theorist, I'd look to how he did at matchpoints events. He has won the Cavendish invitational at least twice, with different partners!

I'm not current with the US qualifiers for the next Bermuda Bowl. My current issue of the Bridge World does have Kit still playing on one of the final four teams vying for a spot.

If David Sklansky is a world class poker player, then Kit Woolsey is a world class bridge player.