Peter Weichsel has won five world bridge championships, and twenty-seven North American titles, and became a member of the Bridge Hall of Fame in 2004. He has been part of great teams (C.C. Wei’s Precision Team in the 1970s, and the Aces later on), and has won everything it is possible to win in the game. But that’s just his bridge career. This fascinating autobiography tells the story of the man behind those accomplishments. Weichsel has always marched to his own drummer, from his early years as part of a Jewish immigrant family in New York, through his time in the US Navy during the Vietnam war, then experiencing the 60s counter-culture in San Francisco (and bringing that sensibility and dress style to the staid bridge scene), and living through periods as a sports betting baron, a pool shark, and even a mob hit target. There’s great bridge in here, of course – lots of it – and plenty of tips for readers to learn from. This is a man who has spent almost sixty years playing with and against the best in the world, and he pulls no punches when it comes to partners and opponents – or, indeed, his own failings. Book 1 covers Weichsel’s life up to his first Bermuda Bowl win in 1983.