Wolff at the door….

Bobby Wolff’s autobiography will be going to press just after the holidays, and shipping in time to launch at the February Regional in Las Vegas, where Bobby will be signing books.  It’s sure to raise some hackles — in fact, one of our proofreaders suggested we consider printing this book on asbestos paper!  Here’s a quick preview of some of the topics covered, chapter by chapter:

 

 

 

Chapter 1 Firing Ira 

 

Convincing Ira Corn that the Aces couldn’t succeed if he insisted on being a playing sponsor.

 

Chapter 2 Tracing My Addiction

 

Bobby Wolff’s early years and introduction to bridge through Oswald Jacoby and other greats

 

Chapter 3 Playing Pro Versus A Real Job

 

Wolff’s early bridge career — playing club pro, and playing on Charles Goren’s team

 

Chapter 4 The Birth of the Aces

 

How the team came into being, and how the personnel were selected

 

Chapter 5 The Death of the Aces and Thereafter

 

The great years of the Aces, and what happened after Ira Corn’s death

 

Chapter 6 Reflections

 

Some of the celebrities the Aces rubbed shoulders with… George Burns, Omar Sharif, and others

 

Chapter 7 ‘Serving Time’ on the Board

 

Behind the scenes politics — how the ACBL really works — inventing the Recorder system

 

Chapter 8 Blunders and Indiscretions

 

How the ACBL Board hired and fired an incompetent CEO

 

Chapter 9 The Agony of De-Feet 

 

The inside story of the ‘foot soldiers’, the Italian pair caught cheating in the 1975 world championships

 

Chapter 10 The Colossus of Rhodes Revisited! 

 

More skullduggery, this time in the 1996 championships in Rhodes

 

Chapter 11 The ACBL… Flirting with Disaster! 

 

How the ACBL Board almost gave $2 million to an unqualified stranger to ‘promote bridge’

 

Chapter 12 A Tale of Survivorship

 

The three women who shaped Wolff’s life

 

Chapter 13 The Special World of the WBF 

 

How Denis Howard was ousted as WBF president, how Wolff became president, the politics of world bridge, and the recent Shanghai affair involving the US Venice Cup team

 

Chapter 14 Losing Team Wins! 

 

The inside story of how the Canadian team was robbed in the Geneva world championship, losing a match they had actually won as a result of politics

 

Chapter 15 Looking Out for Number One

 

Professionalism, sharp practice, and outright cheating…

 

Chapter 16 Paying the Piper 

 

The Nickell team — the glory years, the break-up of the Hamman-Wolff partnership, and Wolff’s firing

 

Chapter 17 Weapons of Mass Destruction and Lesser Atrocities 

 

Full disclosure, system proliferation, and bizarre conventions

 

Chapter 18 Professionalism, Personal Agendas and Recusals 

 

The undue influence that professionals, politicians and sponsors wield over international team selection in the USA and elsewhere

 

Chapter 19 Even Idols Have Clay Feet

 

Edgar Kaplan, the Blue team, the Burgay Tapes affair, and an anonymous attempt to smear Wolff

 

Chapter 20 An Appeal to Remember

 

The strange, often nonsensical, appeals process reflected through a tortuous recent case that caused the ACBL Board to make new policy

 

Chapter 21 The “C” Word

 

Cheating — examples, cases, efforts to combat it

 

Chapter 22 Restoring Equity and Meting Out Punishment

 

Wolff as Appeals Chairman and National Recorder — more cheating cases and the infamous ‘Oh, shit!’ ruling.

 

Chapter 23 What’s to Become of America’s Talented Youth?

 

Heading up the USA Junior program in the early 90s, and what needs to be done to keep the game alive amongst the young.

 

Chapter 24 Where Do We Go from Here?

 

The big issues facing bridge today — money, sponsorship, professionalism, politics, the structure of the ACBL, cheating, systems development and control, the alert system, the handling of appeals… and more.

 

 

 

ONLY TWO MORE MONTHS UNTIL YOU CAN READ IT!