Eric Rodwell

Eric Victor Rodwell (born May 1, 1957) is an American professional bridge player. He has won the Bermuda Bowl representing the United States five times and is one of ten players who have won the triple crown of bridge: the Bermuda Bowl, the World Open Pairs and the World Team Olympiad.

Personal life Rodwell was born in San Francisco, California and his family moved to West Lafayette, Indiana in 1965 where his father was a professor of biochemistry at Purdue University. He started playing bridge at the age of eleven by reading books and playing with his parents. Rodwell is currently a full-time bridge professional and lives in Clearwater Beach, Florida with his wife Donna; each has two children from previous marriages, his being twins Jeffrey and Sara (b. 1984).

Bridge career For decades Rodwell has been in a regular partnership with Jeff Meckstroth, and "Meckwell", for their surnames, is one of the most successful pairs of all time. They are well known for playing an aggressive and very detailed system called RM Precision (for Rodwell-Meckstroth), of which Rodwell is the principal theorist and author. Although he first learned basic Precision at the age of 14, he didn't get serious about developing his own version until 1982 after he and Meckstroth were already winning. Most of RM Precision was developed subsequently in the early '80s with adaptations following more slowly thereafter. As a bidding theorist, Rodwell has created several conventions and methods including the support double, conventional transfers in many situations, the pass-double inversion and the serious three notrump. Although the Unusual Major Jumps Over One Diamond Opening convention (UMJOODO) is often credited to him, he denies inventing it.

Bridge accomplishments

Awards ACBL Player of the Year 2008 Barry Crane Top 500 2004 Mott-Smith Trophy 1980 Fishbein Trophy 1991, 1999, 2004, 2007 Herman Trophy 1982, 1985, 1998 Goren Trophy 2008

Wins Bermuda Bowl (5) 1981, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2009 World Open Team Olympiad (1) 1988 World Open Pairs (1) 1986 North American Bridge Championships (57) Vanderbilt (7) 1980, 1982, 1985, 2000, 2003, 2014, 2017 Spingold (12) 1984, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007 Reisinger (9) 1979, 1985, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 Grand National Teams (12) 1990, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Open Board-a-Match Teams (1) 2008 Men's Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1984 Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (5) 1994, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009 North American Men's Swiss Teams (1) 1989 Blue Ribbon Pairs (3) 1982, 1985, 2008 Life Master Pairs (3) 1980, 1986, 1991 Life Master Men's Pairs (1) 1979 Open Pairs (1) 1979 Open Pairs II (1) 1999 United States Bridge Championships (13) Open Team Trials (13) 1980, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017 European Open Bridge Championships (1) Open Pairs (1) 2003 Other notable wins: Cavendish Invitational Teams (3) 2000, 2003, 2008 Staten Bank World Top Invitational Pairs (1) 1988 Macallan Invitational Pairs (2) 1995, 1996 Cavendish Invitational Pairs (2) 2000, 2008

Runners-up Bermuda Bowl (2) 1997, 2005 World Open Team Olympiad (1) 1992 North American Bridge Championships (23) Vanderbilt (5) 1991, 1996, 2002, 2018, 2019 Spingold (5) 1979, 1985, 1990, 2011, 2012 Reisinger (1) 1980 Grand National Teams (3) 1994, 2003, 2005 Open Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1998, 1999 Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (1) 2005 Master Mixed Teams (1) 1983 Blue Ribbon Pairs (1) 1998 Life Master Pairs (1) 1983 Life Master Open Pairs (2) 1992, 2008 Life Master Men's Pairs (1) 1985 Roth Open Swiss Teams (2) 2015, 2018 United States Bridge Championships (6) Open Team Trials (6) 1982, 1984, 1985, 1993, 1997, 2009 Other notable 2nd places: Cavendish Invitational Teams (1) 2009 Cap Volmac World Top Invitational Pairs (1) 1994 Sunday Times–Macallan Invitational Pairs (1) 1993 Cavendish Invitational Pairs (3) 1984, 2006, 2009

Publications

Revised edition, 1989. French language edition, Le plaisir du bridge, Saint-Laurent, Québec: Éditions du Trécarré, 1988, , transl. Bernard Bourget (374 pp.)

Plaisir du bridge: cahier d'exercices, Trécarré, 1989, (135 pp.) – translation of The Joy of Bridge companion (exercises)