About Me: Robert S. Todd
Me in Estoril, Portugal 2005 World Bridge ChampionshipsI am a young bridge professional from Tallahassee, FL. I'm proud to say that I'm able to make my living playing and teaching bridge all over the country and around the world. I'm fortunate enough to get paid to do one of the things that I truly love...
I've played bridge with my family since I was a small child. I originally learned to play by keeping rubber bridge score for my parents when I was about 5 years old. Thoughout my youth I played regularly with my family -- enjoying both the game and the time spent with my relatives. I took up duplicate bridge seriously in the time between my undergraduate and graduate studies. In my first year of ACBL play I had some immediate success - finishing second in both the national Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs races.
Since my first year of discovering duplicate bridge, I have gone on to have some amazing bridge experiences. A few of my bridge accomplishments are:
- succeeding at many National Bridge Championships,
- running my local bridge club,
- teaching bridge classes,
- leading an engaged group of bridge students,
- giving private lessons to groups all over the country (workshops, seminars, etc...)
- being a guest speaker at ACBL tournaments,
- playing bridge professionally with students all over North America
- playing professional bridge with other top bridge pros,
- cultivating an active group of strong bridge players in Tallahassee and around FL,
- writing articles for national and international publications,
- attending multiple World and European Championships, and
- playing bridge all across North America and Europe.
In 2008, I decided not to pursue a post-doctural position and gave up my Mathematics teaching position at Florida State University so that I could play and teach bridge full time. Since then I've been traveling the country expanding my bridge experiences and developing some strong partnerships.
I have been fortunate to find another talented young bridge player, McKenzie Myers, with whom I have developed a strong professional partnership. McKenzie is the top young bridge players in the Northwest (he is from Portland, OR.) McKenzie and I had some immediate success in our partnership (winning the Penticton Regional 2009) and we are both enjoying the process of growing as bridge players and growing our bridge partnership. McKenzie has a great approach to bridge and is a fabulous partner and good friend.
I have high expectations for myself when it comes to bridge. At the same time, I understand that it takes a long time and a lot of work to become one of the top bridge players in the world. Most top bridge players don't break into the upper echelons of the game until their early 40s and they remain at their peak until their early 60s. As a young up and coming player, this fact makes both the struggles and success as I work my way to the top all the more enjoyable.
Bridge Results
Some of my favorite results are listed below. One thing that I note is that these aren't always wins -- and some are even somewhat poor finishes, but I remember each of these events fondly and I am proud of every one of them.
2002
2002 Panama City Beach, FL Sectional -- First Team Sectional Win
2002 Ft. Walton Beach, FL Sectional -- First Overall Sectional Win
2002 Rookie of the Year Runner-up (Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs)
2003
2003 Flight C NAP (Philadelphia, PA) - Theri Andino, 24th
2004
2004 Flight C NAP (Reno, NV) - Bob Soni, 4th
2004 Red Ribbon Pairs -- Bob Soni, 11th
2005
2005 Flight B NAP (Pittsburg, PA) -- Jim Lyle, 7th
2005 Red Ribbon Pairs -- Jim Lyle, 2nd
2006
2006 Finnish National Team Trials, IMP Pairs (Helsinki, Finland) -- Petri Ukkonen, 2nd
2006 World Bridge Championships, IMP Pairs (Verona, Italy) -- TC Yang, 43rd
2006 USBF National Team Trials (Chicago, Illinois)
2007
2007 Red Ribbon Pairs (St. Louis, MO) -- Bob Soni, 10th
2008
2008 Palmetto Regional -- First Bracket 1 KO Win (Mel Klien, John-Richard Potter)
2008 Red Ribbon Pairs (Detroit, MI) -- Bob Soni, 12th
2008 PGA Regional -- Bracket 1 KO Win (Jool Wooldridge, Jacob Morgan, Tom-Jenni Carmichael)
2008 ACBL Silver Life Master of the Year (Mini-McKenney)
2008 Barry Crane 500 -- 22nd
2009
2009 Bermuda Regional -- First Overall Regional Win
2009 Penticton, Canada Regional -- Overall Win (McKenzie Myers, Looby-Ulman)
2009 Top 10 of Barry Crane 500 (July) -- First Time
2009 Washington DC NABC Fast Pairs -- 21/22 Overall (Bob Soni)
2009 San Diego NABC 0-5000 Blue Ribbon Pairs -- 5th Overall (Garth Yettick)
Contact Information
Robert S. Todd
2601 Stonegate Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32308
850-570-6459 (cell)
robert@notrump.org