TOURNAMENT BRIDGE SERVICES - Key Persons
Chris is a professional bridge player and teacher; he has been an active ACBL member for over 30 years. He is a certified director and has run club games for over 20 years. He is a platinum life master, currently ranked 216th in the Barry Crane Top 500. In the past, he has been district 10 President, district representative on the Nation
Playing professionally for over 30 years, Jade has won over 30,000 masterpoints, and numerous championships in local, national, and international competitions. Jade has contributed extensively to the body of bridge theory, and works continuously to improve bidding, play, and defensive techniques. To increase the popularity of duplicate
Although Donna learned how to play bridge over 30 years ago, she did not become significantly involved with the game until 2007. Until that time, Donna was a software engineer with the MITRE Corporation (a 40-year career working mostly with the Department of Defense). In 2007, Donna began directing bridge games in California and opened
Job Titles:
- Team Leader and Lead Trainer
Karen Lee Barrett has been playing duplicate bridge since 1969. Like many young players, she struggled to find a balance between her passion for the game and the rest of life. College waited for completion for 20 years and nearly every vacation was bridge related. In the early years, she played both duplicate and rubber bridge. Playing for money against some of the best players in California during the 1970s provided a very strong incentive to improve her declarer play.
The play of the hand is the only aspect of the game that does not depend on the quality or cooperation of one's partner. It is also an aspect of the game that has not appreciably advanced in 40+ years so the older books (like Watson's Play Of The Hand) are still timely. Karen read Watson voraciously (one copy fell into the bathtub) despite the dry style.
During the early 1980s, she developed long term partnerships that improved her bidding and defense and that began a long string of successes at the regional and national levels. Karen's first national title was in 1984, the Life Master Women's Pairs. After achieving this goal, she went back to college and got a degree in computer programming and a traditional job. In 1993, she met her husband GS Jade Barrett playing bridge online and they were married in 1995. In 2007 the Barretts moved from Vancouver, Washington (Karen's home for 30 years) to Elk Point, South Dakota where they live in a huge old house with two very spoiled dogs. Karen now works in Sioux City Iowa part-time and also plays approximately 6 weeks of bridge most years.
Since 1984 she has added two more titles (1998 Womens KO, 2000 Womens Swiss teams), been second twice (1992, 1998 Women's BAM), and has lost track of her top 10 finishes in national events. With 13,000+ masterpoints and 200+ Blue Ribbon qualifications, she ranks higher than 99.82% of the ACBL and is one of 315 living Grand Life Masters.
Thomas is the premier bridge instructor and Junior Teams coach in Ireland, and is ranked 25th out of 33,000 members of the Contract Bridge Association Ireland. Thomas has won over 20 National Championships and has achieved Emerald Life Master in the ACBL.