William S. Root

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William S. (Bill) Root (December 12, 1923, Miami, Florida â€“ March 18, 2002, Boca Raton, Florida) was a professional American bridge player. He represented the United States twelve times in international competition, including the Bermuda Bowl in 1967. He was also the author of several bridge books.

1 The jettison play 2 Bridge accomplishments

2.1 Honors 2.2 Wins 2.3 Runner-ups

3 Bibliography 4 External links

[edit] The jettison play

One of the most famous hands in his books is a 7 No Trump hand which requires very advanced jettison play. High cards often get in the declarer's way, that is they block the effective play of the hand. A solution to these blocking problems is to throw away high cards. This unblocking coup is known as the jettison play.

â™ AQ

â™¥ KQJ

â™¦ 3

â™£ J976542

â™ J102

W E

â™ 9876543

â™¥ 10874 â™¥ 96532

â™¦ J752 â™¦

â™£ 83 â™£ 10

â™ K

â™¥ A

â™¦ AKQ109864

â™£ AKQ

Win the opening lead of â™ J with the ace, dropping the king of spades. Cash the queen of spades, and jettison the ace of hearts from hand. Now cash the top hearts in dummy and jettison the top three clubs from hand! You can now run the clubs to discard diamond losers.

[edit] Bridge accomplishments

[edit] Honors

ACBL Hall of Fame 1997

[edit] Wins

North American Bridge Championships (14)

Vanderbilt (4) 1968, 1983, 1986, 1995 Spingold (3) 1961, 1966, 1967 Chicago (now Reisinger) (1) 1957 Reisinger (5) 1967, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1990 Men's Pairs (1) 1953

[edit] Runner-ups

Bermuda Bowl (1) 1967 World Open Team Olympiad (1) 1968 North American Bridge Championships (9)

Spingold (3) 1963, 1974, 1978 Reisinger (1) 1966 Grand National Teams (1) 1992 Men's Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1963 North American Men's Swiss Teams (1) 1984 Life Master Pairs (1) 1995 Open Pairs (1) 1966

United States Bridge Championships (4)

Open Team Trials (3) 1984, 1987, 1992 Open Pair Trials (1) 1967

[edit] Bibliography

The ABCs of Bridge (1998) Commonsense Bidding (1986) How to Defend a Bridge Hand (1995) How to Play a Bridge Hand (1990) Modern Bridge Conventions, with Richard Pavlicek (1981)