The History of Cheating in Bridge (Part 3)

Author: Larry Cohen
Date of publish: 07/01/2016
Level: General Interest

In the previous article, we looked at 2 famous cases from the 1970's.

In 1979, my team (I was in college) finished 3rd in a major team game. I was thrilled. The winning team contained a pair named Sion-Cokin. Subsequently, they were found guilty of cheating. I am still hoping we get moved up to 2nd place.

They were supposedly putting their score pencil in strange positions to indicate the suit they wanted led (this was before screens were used at all National championships). They were caught when monitors (namely, Kit Woolsey) broke their code. They were barred from ACBL for 5 years (and from playing as partners for life).

Starting in 1980, there were several decades where nothing major happened. There were some minor cheating cases (worldwide), but nothing like the headline-grabbing cases of the 1960's and 1970's.

In 2015, all of that changed. In the next article, we look at the most infamous year in bridge cheating history.