Meyer Schleifer Explained

Meyer Schleifer (February 9, 1908 – June 15, 1994)^[1] was an American bridge player from Los Angeles, California.

Schleifer was born in Brooklyn, New York City, one of five children born to Jewish emigrant parents Jacob Schleifer and Anna Frankel, born in Romania or the Russian Empire.^{[2] [3]} He was a strong chess player as a teenager. He contracted tuberculosis as a law student at Columbia University, whence he quit school and moved to Denver for his health. He moved to Los Angeles a few years later, and won two Southern California Chess Championships before he switched to bridge. For most of his life, he earned a living at the bridge table, primarily by playing rubber bridge for money stakes at clubs. According to Eddie Kantar, who judged him "America's greatest bridge player" in 1972, Schleifer did have many clients at duplicate bridge, or tournament play, and could have become rich if he had not been a heavy loser betting on the horse races.

Schleifer was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2000.

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

• ACBL Hall of Fame, 2000^[4]

Wins

• North American Bridge Championships (6)
  • von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs (1) 1966 ^[5]
  • Hilliard Mixed Pairs (1) 1947 ^[6]
  • Barclay Trophy (1) 1947
  • Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1957 ^[7]
  • Reisinger (1) 1959 ^[8]
  • Spingold (1) 1953 ^[9]

Runners-up

• North American Bridge Championships

Further reading

• "Is this man America's greatest bridge player?", Eddie Kantar, Popular Bridge, December 1972.

External links

• • • – with photo portrait (WorldCat thumbnail image) of 6-man team, Los Angeles Bridge Club, 1960

Notes and References

1. California, Death Index, 1940-1997
2. [1920 United States Census]
3. News: Obituary: Louis Schleifer. The New York Times. February 6, 1980. en.
4. http://www.acbl.org/about-acbl/hall-of-fame/induction-by-year "Induction by Year"
5. News: von Zedtwitz LM Previous Winners . American Contract Bridge League . 6 . 2014-06-18 . 2014-10-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141021163438/http://www.acbl.org/nabc/2014/02/bulletins/db1.pdf . 2014-10-21 .
6. News: Mixed Pairs Previous Winners . American Contract Bridge League .
7. News: Mitchell BAM Winners . American Contract Bridge League . 8 . 2013-12-01 . 2014-10-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141021163618/http://www.acbl.org/nabc/2013/03/bulletins/db3.pdf . 2014-10-21 .
8. News: Reisinger Winners . American Contract Bridge League . 6 . 2013-12-06 . 2014-10-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141021163719/http://www.acbl.org/nabc/2013/03/bulletins/db8.pdf . 2014-10-21 .
9. News: Spingold Previous Winners . American Contract Bridge League . 12 . 2014-07-21 . 2014-10-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141021163711/http://www.acbl.org/nabc/2014/02/bulletins/db4.pdf . 2014-10-21 .