Sami R. Kehela (born 1934), sometimes spelled Sammy Kehela, is a Canadian

contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ...

player. A member of the Halls of Fame of both the

American Contract Bridge League The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. It is the largest such organization in North America having the stated mission ''"to promote, grow and sustain t ...

(ACBL) and the

Canadian Bridge Federation The Canadian Bridge FederationCBF, (La Fédération Canadienne de Bridge''FCB), is the primary organizational body for contract bridge in Canada. Like its American counterpart, the United States Bridge Federation, the CBF promotes bridge by running ...

, he and his long-time partner, the late Eric Murray, are considered two of the best Canadian players in the history of the game. Between 1966 and 1974, Kehela and Murray placed second in three

Bermuda Bowl The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial contract bridge world championship for national . It is contested every odd-numbered year under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), alongside the Venice Cup (women), the d'Orsi Senior Bowl and the W ...

s as one of three pairs comprising the North America teams. Unique among world players, they represented their country as a partnership in all of the first six quadrennial

World Team Olympiad The World Team Olympiad was a contract bridge meet organized by the World Bridge Federation every four years from 1960 to 2004. Its main events were world championships for national teams, always including one open and one restricted to women ("Op ...

s, from Turin in 1960 to Valkenburg in 1980. Together they won the Life Master Men's Pairs, the Life Master Pairs, the Vanderbilt, and the Spingold Trophy three times. Kehela and Murray were also runners-up in the 1969 Blue Ribbon Pairs. It was said that the key to their successful partnership was that each thought the other the better player. Kehela lives with his wife in Toronto (2007). He is a "semi-retired bridge writer and teacher" (perhaps 2001), as former editor of ''The Ontario Kibitzer'' and columnist for the monthly ''

Toronto Life ''Toronto Life'' is a monthly magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ''Toronto Life'' also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including ''Real Estate'', ''Stylebook'', ''Eati ...

''. Kehela and Murray were both inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2001.

Bridge accomplishments

Honours

* ACBL Hall of Fame, 2001"Induction by Year"
''Hall of Fame''. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-11-16. * Canadian Bridge Federation Hall of Fame, 2010

Wins

North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven da ...

(9) **

von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs The Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). Usually called simply the "Life Master Pairs" or "LM Pairs", this is a six-ses ...

(1) 1969 **

Wernher Open Pairs The Wernher Open Pairs national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). Typically starting on the Tuesday of the NABC, the Wernher Open Pairs is a four session ma ...

(1) 1963 **

Blue Ribbon Pairs The Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs (or simply the Blue Ribbon Pairs) is a national bridge championship held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The event is restricted to those that have wo ...

(1) 1967 **

Nail Life Master Open Pairs The Nail Life Master Open Pairs is a North American bridge championship held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The championship is a Matchpoints pairs event restricted to players with a ...

(1) 1963 ** Vanderbilt (2) 1966, 1970 **

Spingold The Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Spingold is a knock-out team event that attracts the top contract bridge players in the world. T ...

(3) 1964, 1965, 1968

Runners-up

(1) 1969 **

Reisinger The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Reisinger is a board-a-match event. History The event is contested for the Reisinger Trophy ( ...

(2) 1969, 1972 **

(1) 1963

References

External links

* – with video interview * *

Edgar Kaplan Edgar Kaplan (April 18, 1925 – September 7, 1997) was an American bridge player and one of the principal contributors to the game. His career spanned six decades and covered every aspect of bridge. He was a teacher, author, editor, administrator, ...

in an interview with

Audrey Grant Audrey Lindop Grant is a Canadian professional educator and a contract bridge teacher and writer known for her simple and humorous approach to the game. Grant is from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Grant and the world champion player Eric Rodwell co-w ...