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Alan Sontag

Alan M. Sontag (born May 2, 1946) is an American bridge player and writer. Although he is a six-time world champion in contract bridge, winning the prestige Bermuda Bowl twice, Sontag is best known as the author of The Bridge Bum, a book "on everybody's list of the top ten bridge books ever written."

Bridge career

Among his other victories are the Rosenblum Cup, Transnational Open Teams, Senior Bowl, numerous North American Bridge Championships, and twice winning the London Sunday Times and Cavendish Invitational Pairs. In 1973, he and Steve Altman became the first American players to win the Sunday Times Pairs, at the time the premier invitational tournament in the world. Two years later, Sontag returned to London and won the tournament again, this time with Peter Weichsel, with whom he formed one of the strongest partnerships in the world from the 1970s until 2005. The two were partners in 1983 Bermuda Bowl tournament in Stockholm, when the United States defeated Italy in one of its most exciting final matches. Sontag returned to the final in 2001, in Paris, where team captain Rose Meltzer became the first woman to win the Bermuda Bowl. Meltzer teams including Sontag won the odd-years Senior Bowl in 2005 and 2007, the open Rosenblum Cup in 2006. (During this time Weichsel and Kyle Larsen have been Meltzer's partners in international competition.)

Sontag was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2007.

Personal

Sontag was born in New York City. He and his wife, Robin, live in Gaithersburg, Maryland, with their son Robert.

Widely regarded as one of the fastest players in the world, he is known by his nickname Sonty.

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

Awards

Wins

Runners-up

Books

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