Marshall
Miles
Many,
many years ago, Marshall Miles and Eddie Kantar were on
an airplane heading for a tournament, and Kantar was giving
Miles a bit of a hard time. Kantar knew Miles favored
weak 1NT openers, so Kantar asked Miles a question: "If
you had a weak notrump opener but you knew that if you opened
1NT it would cost you a world championship, what would you
do it?"
Miles,
going along with the joke, said,"Open 1NT." Now
that he has won a world championship, does that change his
view? "I guess it does," said
Miles shortly after receiving his medal as part of the
USA team that rallied on the final
round of the 2nd International Senior Cup to edge the Netherlands
for the championship.
At
77, Miles is one of the oldest players ever to win a
world title. He is also highly respected and well known
in the USA as a player and author, contributing regularly
to the ACBL Bridge Bulletin. He has also written 10 bridge
books. |
Miles
took an unusual route to his bridge expertise. His interest
was piqued as a youngster
when he overheard his mother discussing the game with a friend. He went to
the local library where he lived in California and retrieved old newspapers
so that he could read the bridge columns, learning how to play without reading
a book. He earned a law degree in 1954 and practiced in Southern California
until he retired about 10 years ago.
He
played a lot of bridge with his wife, Betty, until her
death about four years ago. When he first got married,
Miles said, he was afraid his bridge playing would be curtailed, "but
Betty actually pushed me out the door to play with her."
Miles considers bidding his strong point as a player, "although my partners
might not agree with me." Interestingly, Miles brought along one of his
books - Reisinger Challenge - to read while at the tournament, "and I
found the problems very difficult."
Miles isn't all that impressed with being one of the oldest players ever to
win a world title. "I would rather be the youngest," he said. "I
would like to have another 50 years to play bridge."
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READERS:
If you are interested in one of Miles' courses at bridgetoday.com,
Click
here and scroll down to course 202 or 203
for
a description, free sample, or sign-up at the e-store.
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