The NABC Summer Nationals – Life Master Pairs (2)

BRIAN GLUBOK

Brian is a highly accomplished American bridge player hailing from New York City. Glubok, an alumnus of Amherst College, has consistently excelled in North American Bridge Championships, securing numerous titles, including wins in the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams, Reisinger, and Spingold events. In addition to his domestic success, Glubok came close to victory in the World Mixed Pairs Championship in 2010, finishing as the runner-up.

Brian will be writing for IMP about the Summer NABC in Minneapolis. This is the fourth of the series.

For details about the Summer NABC in Minneapolis, look here.

MINNEAPOLIS – July 11th, 2026

The tournament is underway, the first day of play is complete in the Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs. Legendary snow leopard Zia Mahmood leads that marquee pair event, while popular Dutch superstar Marion Michielsen and Per-Ola Cullin of Sweden are close behind, in second.

I am partnering with Ed Zuckerberg, father of the meta-famous Mark. We are in twelfth place, knocking at the door of the top ten. 

Midway through the morning session, Ed and I faced off against Michielsen and Cullin for a pair of boards. This one in particular has a great deal of bridge to it:

On Board 20, I held Qx, Kxxx, JTxxx, xx. My partner Ed opened 1, and Cullin overcalled 1. I have long held that whenever a responder has a four-card fit for the opener’s major after a one-level opening, they should simply close their eyes and make the game raise to the four level. In both bridge and life, it pays to follow one’s core precepts, and this deal was no exception. Instead, I made a simple 2 bid and soon found myself minus 790 when Marion, on my left, put Cullin in game. Minus 620 would have been a poor score; minus 790 was even worse.

Oh well, we still have 100 boards over two days to try to catch up.

Also prominent among today’s qualifying pairs, Zach Grossack and Aaron Rosenthal were third, while American Junior phenoms Finn Kolesnik and Harrison Luba are also in the top ten.

Here is the full list of qualifiers for today’s semi-final: https://live.acbl.org/event/NABC262/VZLM/3/results

Of the 21 teams who came to play in the GNTs, a pair of coastal teams will be favorites in today’s Round of Four: Los Angeles and Florida both won their matches in yesterday’s quarterfinals.

For extensive results from the tournament, coverage of the recent US Team Trials, and a cover story on the 2026 Queen of Bridge, Avery Silverstein, here is a link to Saturday’s Daily Bulletin: https://cdn.acbl.org/nabc/2026/02/bulletins/db2.pdf

Members of this traveling circus troupe from dozens of nations spend an easy thirty days a year at these nationals, and it is an extraordinary feeling to be part of this scene. These NABCs gather the majority of the best players in the world.

I would like to close with a link to a rather silly song, a cult classic by the popular American band Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show – this little ditty is about another subculture with its own regular gatherings just like us. “The Freakers” might have a very different subculture than we bridgeniks, but I don’t think they love their gatherings any more than we love ours—and let’s bear in mind, those folks only gather for one night a year, while we gather for dozens, annually.

  A little risque, but still an apt theme song for those of us here in Minnesota at “Bridge – The Gathering”.
  “Freakin’ at the Freakers Ball”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxy742JffZ8

Signed,

IMP’s Man in America,

Glubok