Charles Goren

Charles Goren

Charles Henry Goren (March 4, 1901 – April 3, 1991) was a world champion American bridge player and bestselling author who contributed significantly to the development and popularization of the game following upon the heels of Ely Culbertson in the 1940s and rising to prominence in the 1950s to the early 1960s.

Contents

Early years

Goren was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Russian Jewish immigrants. He earned a law degree at McGill University in Montreal. While he was attending McGill, a girlfriend laughed at his ineptness at the game of bridge, motivating him to immerse himself in a study of existing bridge materials.[1]

When he graduated, he briefly attempted a law career in Philadelphia. The growing fame of Ely Culbertson, however, prompted Goren to abandon his original career choice to pursue bridge competitions, where he attracted the attention of Milton Work, who had developed the Work Point Count system. Goren began helping Work with his bridge articles and columns, and eventually began ghostwriting some of his material.

Bridge contributions

By 1936 Goren had begun his own bridge career and published the first of his many books on playing bridge, Winning Bridge Made Easy. Drawing on his experience with Work's system, Goren quickly became popular as an instructor and lecturer. His subsequent lifetime of contributions to the game have made him one of the most important figures in the history of bridge.

Goren became world champion at the Bermuda Bowl in 1950. Goren's books have sold millions of copies (especially Winning Bridge Made Easy and Contract Bridge Complete); by 1958 his daily bridge column was appearing in 194 American newspapers. He also had a monthly column in McCall's and a weekly column in Sports Illustrated.

His television program, Championship Bridge with Charles Goren, was broadcast from 1959 to 1964 on the ABC network, and, in addition to numerous appearances by top players, included segments with celebrity guests such as Chico Marx, Alfred Drake and Forest Evashevski, among others.

Goren's longest partnership was with Helen Sobel, but he also famously partnered actor Omar Sharif. Sharif also wrote introductions to or co-authored several of Goren's bridge books, and was also co-author of Goren's newspaper column, eventually taking it over in collaboration with Tannah Hirsch.

Point count system

As he continued writing, Goren began to develop his high card point count system, based on the Milton Work point count, as an improvement over the existing system of counting "honor tricks." The high card point system represented a large step forward in bridge theory and quickly gained popularity due to its simplicity. Goren and others would later refine the system to account for hand distribution, as singletons and voids can greatly increase the strength of a hand.

Four-card suits

Goren also worked to popularize the opening of four-card suits, in contrast to the well-known five card majors approach that has become a major feature of Standard American bidding. Opening a four-card suit can improve the chances of the partnership identifying a four-four trump fit, and the four-card approach is still used by some experts today and notably by most Acol players. The drawback of the four-card approach is that the Law of Total Tricks is more difficult to apply in cases where it is used.

Other contributions

In addition to his pioneering work in bringing simple and effective bridge to everyday players, Goren also worked to popularize the Precision bidding method, which is one of many variants of so-called big club or strong club systems (which use an opening bid of one club to indicate a strong hand).

Legacy

Goren died in 1991 in Encino, California, at the age of 90. While few players "play Goren" exactly today, the point count approach he popularized remains the foundation for most bidding systems.

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

  • ACBL Hall of Fame 1964
  • ACBL Honorary Member of the Year 1959

Awards

  • McKenney Trophy 1937, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951
  • Precision Award (Best Article or Series on a System or Convention) 1974

Wins

Runner-ups

Publications

  • Point Count Bidding in Contract Bridge. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1949. pp. 150.  First London edition published by Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1951. Title has been revised and reprinted numerous times to 1984.[2]
  • Contract Bridge for Beginners. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc. 1953. pp. 152. OCLC 12428312. . First London edition published by Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1959. Title has been reprinted numerous times to 1972.[3]
  • with Jack Olsen: Bridge is My Life: Lessons of a Lifetime. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1965. pp. 190. LCCN 65-22040. . Paperback editions published by Cornerstone Library, NY in 1967 and 1970, pp. 190.[4]
  • 100 Challenging Bridge Hands
  • An Entirely New Bridge Summary
  • The A.B.C.'s of Contract Bridge
  • Championship Bridge with Charles Goren
  • Charles H. Goren's Bridge Quiz Book
  • Contract Bridge Complete
  • Contract Bridge Made Easy: A Self-Teacher
  • Easy Steps: Eight Steps to Winning Bridge
  • The Elements of Bridge
  • The Fundamental of contract Bridge
  • Goren on Play and Defense: All of Play: The Technique, the Logic, and the Challenge of Master Bridge
  • Goren Presents the Italian Bridge System
  • Goren Settles the Bridge Arguments
  • Goren's Bridge Complete
  • Goren's Bridge Quizzes
  • Goren's Hoyle Encyclopedia of Bridge
  • Goren's New Contract Bridge Complete
  • Goren's Point Count Bidding Made Easy
  • Goren's Winning Partnership Bridge
  • Introduction to Bridge
  • Introduction to Competitive Bidding
  • Modern Backgammon Complete
  • New Contract Bridge in a Nutshell
  • Official Charles Goren Quick Reference to Winning Bridge
  • Play and Defence
  • Play As You Learn Bridge
  • Play Bridge With Goren
  • Play Winning Bridge With Any Partner: Even a Stranger
  • Point Count Bidding In Contract Bridge
  • Precision Bridge for Everyone
  • The Precision System of Bidding
  • Precision System of Contract Bridge Bidding: Charles H. Goren Presents
  • Sports Illustrated Book of Bridge
  • The Standard Book of Bidding
  • The Standard Book of Play
  • Winning Bridge Made Easy

Notes

  1. ^ Goren and Olsen (1965), p. 10.
  2. ^ Bourke and Sugden (2010), pp. 482-483.
  3. ^ Bourke and Sugden (2010), p. 476.
  4. ^ Bourke and Sugden (2010), p. 487.

References

  • Goren, Charles; Olsen, Jack (1965). Bridge is My Life: Lessons of a Lifetime. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. LCCN 65-22040. 
  • Tim, Bourke; Sugden, John (2010). Bridge Books in English from 1886-2010: an annotated bibliography. Cheltenham, England: Bridge Book Buffs. ISBN 978-0-9566576-0-2. 

Further reading

  • Goren, Charles; Olsen, Jack (1965). Bridge is My Life: Lessons of a Lifetime. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. pp. 190. LCCN 65-22040. 

External links



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • GOREN, CHARLES HENRY — (1901–1991), U.S. bridge expert. Goren, who was born in Philadelphia into a Russian immigrant family, earned an LL.B. in 1922 and a master s degree in 1923 at McGill University in Montreal. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1923 and… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Goren (disambiguation) — Goren may refer to: People Charles Goren, a famous American bridge player, writer, and advocate. Lee Goren, A Canadian Hockey player. Detective Investigator Robert Goren, a fictional character in the television series Law Order: Criminal Intent.… …   Wikipedia

  • Charles — Charles, Ray * * * (as used in expressions) Adams, Charles Francis Addams, Charles (Samuel) Atlas, Charles Babbage, Charles Barkley, Charles (Wade) Charles Daly Barnet Bartlett, Sir Frederic C(harles) Baudelaire, Charles (Pierre) Charles Edward… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Goren, Charles H. — ▪ American bridge player in full  Charles Henry Goren   born March 4, 1901, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S. died April 3, 1991, Encino, Calif.       American contract bridge authority whose innovative system of point count bidding and repeated successes… …   Universalium

  • Goren Trophy — This article is about the American Contract Bridge League trophy. For the college soccer trophy, see Hermann Trophy. The Goren Trophy is awarded to the player who wins the most number of masterpoints at the fall American Contract Bridge League… …   Wikipedia

  • Goren, Charles H(enry) — born March 4, 1901, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S. died April 3, 1991, Encino, Calif. U.S. contract bridge authority. Goren learned bridge while a law student at McGill University. His innovative system of point count bidding and his repeated successes… …   Universalium

  • Charles — /chahrlz/, n. 1. (Prince of Edinburgh and of Wales) born 1948, heir apparent to the throne of Great Britain (son of Elizabeth II). 2. Ray (Ray Charles Robinson), born 1930, U.S. blues singer and pianist. 3. Cape, a cape in E Virginia, N of the… …   Universalium

  • Goren, Charles H(enry) — (4 mar. 1901, Filadelfia, Pa., EE.UU.–3 abr. 1991, Encino, Cal.). Autoridad del bridge estadounidense. Aprendió a jugar bridge mientras estudiaba derecho en la Universidad de McGill. El innovador sistema que utilizó para contar los puntos en la… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Goren — /gawr ayn/, n. Charles Henry, 1901 91, U.S authority and writer on contract bridge. * * * …   Universalium

  • Goren — /gawr ayn/, n. Charles Henry, 1901 91, U.S authority and writer on contract bridge …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”