Barbara Seagram

Barbara Seagram (born 1949 in Barbados, West Indies) is a Canadian Registered Nurse and bridge writer (the game of contract bridge), teacher, and administrator. In addition to being recognized for her professional bridge teaching business and as co-author of twenty-six published bridge books, she is most widely known for co-writing with Marc Smith 25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know, which received the American Bridge Teachers' Association (ABTA) Book of the Year award in 1999.[1] The book is in its 13th printing and has been translated into French, German, Japanese and Danish. It has been named one of the top 5 top selling bridge book of the last 50 years.

Barbara Seagram

Seagram was a member of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Board of Governors from 1997 to 2009, has served as president and vice president of ACBL Unit 166 (Southern Ontario), has contributed to the ACBL Bridge Bulletin,[2] and is annually recognized as one of the top ten recruiters of new ACBL members.[3] She has also served on the Board of Governors and Board of Directors for the ABTA.[4]

Seagram is a Sapphire Life Master player (3500+ master points) and a Master Teacher (American Bridge Teachers Association A.B.T.A.) She has received the Kate Buckman Award, given to the person who has contributed most to others' enjoyment of the game, and received the Audrey Grant Award for teaching excellence in 2011. She and her husband Alex Kornel run the Barbara Seagram School of Bridge in Toronto.[5]

For many years, Seagram & her husband owned and ran the Kate Buckman Bridge Studio. This was the largest bridge club in Canada and the fourth largest on the continent. The club ran 25 games a week and taught thousands of students.

In 2012 the ACBL named Seagram number 40 on the list of 52 most influential bridge personalities during the organization's 75-year history, citing her work (along with Paul Cronin) promoting friendly behavior at the bridge table.[6]

Seagram and her husband travel all over the world and have now visited 164 countries. Seagram, in conjunction with Patti Lee of Toronto (and the whole bridge community) has raised funds to build several schools in Cambodia; they now sustain four and are currently (2017) building a fifth. In addition, they have raised monies for the Canadian Landmine Foundations for outreach programs for victims of landmine accidents.

Seagram and Lee are also involved in raising funds for water filtration for remote villages in Laos through Adopt a Village, an NGO which also builds schools in Laos. Seagram & Lee have raised many thousands of dollars annually to each cause with donations from the Toronto and USA bridge communities.

Publications

Seagram's books are joint works with one or more co-authors and are published by the bridge specialist Master Point Press of Toronto.[7]

  • 25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know (1999), with Marc Smith – winner of the American Bridge Teachers' Association 1999 BOOK OF THE YEAR
  • 25 Ways to Compete in the Bidding (2000), with Smith
  • 25 Ways to Take More Tricks as Declarer (2002), with David Bird
  • 25 More Bridge Conventions You Should Know (2003), with Bird
  • Practice Your Bidding: Jacoby 2NT (2003), with Linda Lee
  • Practice Your Bidding: Roman Keycard Blackwood (2003), with Linda Lee
  • Practice Your Bidding: Splinter Bids (2003), with Linda Lee
  • Practice Your Bidding: Four-Suit Transfers (2004), with Andy Stark
  • Practice Your Bidding: Jacoby Transfers (2004), with Stark
  • Practice Your Bidding: Stayman Auctions (2004), with Linda Lee
  • 25 Ways to Be a Better Defender (2006), with Bird
  • Barbara Seagram's Beginning Bridge (2008), with Linda Lee
  • Planning the Play of a Bridge Hand (2009), with Bird Winner of ABTA Book of The Year

Defensive Play at Bridge: A Quiz Book (2013) with Bird Declarer Play at Bridge: A Quiz Book (2012) with Bird Winner of ABTA Book of the Year Bidding at Bridge: A Quiz Book (2014) with Bird

  • Pocket Guide to Bridge (2009), with Mark Horton and Ray Lee

Pocket Guide to Defensive Play at Bridge (2014) with Bird Pocket Guide to Declarer Play at Bridge (2013) with Bird Pocket Guide to Conventions You Should Know (2012) with Bird pocket Guide to Even More Conventions You Should Know (2015) with Bird

  • Intermediate Cheat sheet
  • Advanced Cheat sheet (Conventions)
  • Defence Cheat sheet
  • Two Over One Cheat sheet

The cheat sheets are laminated fold-out sheets filled with useful information. Barbara can be contacted by email via her website Website is www.barbaraseagram.com

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gollark: It's not April Fool's.

References
  1. ABTA Book of the Year winners list Archived 2009-12-12 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. 2004 Bridge Bulletin Index
  3. Francis, Henry G.; Truscott, Alan F.; Francis, eds. (2001). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (6th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. p. 731. ISBN 0-943855-44-6. OCLC 49606900.
  4. Better Bridge Magazine.
  5. School of Bridge
  6. Brent Manley (January 2012). "Significant Influence". Bridge Bulletin. American Contract Bridge League. 78 (1): 18–23. ISSN 1089-6376.
  7. "List of titles published by Master Point Press". Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
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