Alvin Roth (bridge)

For other people named Alvin Roth, see Alvin Roth (disambiguation).

Alvin Leon Roth (November 6, 1914 – April 18, 2007) was an American bridge player, considered one of the greatest of all time,[1] and "the premier bidding theorist of his bridge generation".[2] He wrote several books on the game, and invented various bidding conventions that have become commonplace, including five-card majors, negative doubles, forcing notrump, and the unusual notrump.[3] Roth was considered a fascinating theorist but was described by one partner, Richard "Dick" Freeman, as "very tough to sit opposite—unless you were so thick-skinned that no insult was severe enough to hurt, or you were willing to make extreme sacrifices to get on a winning side."[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference nytobit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ACBLhof was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ (Obituary). The Times. May 26, 2007. (subscription required)
  4. ^ Rubens, Jeff, ed. (December 2009). "Dick Freeman: The Bridge World Interview". The Bridge World 81:2, p. 27. Interview of Richard Freeman.