Our conversations with the Unit's top players
This month - Ken Cohen
The Unit 141 Newsletter continues its regular feature interviewing the very best players in our unit. This month, we talk with masterpoint master Ken Cohen. Ken holds more masterpoints than any other player in our Unit, over 21,000, and is a Grand Life Master. He has achieved a long list of accomplishments--four National titles, seconds in the Life Master Pairs and Spingold, the National Ace of Clubs race winner in 2006 (when he broke the all-time record) and 2007, the Fishbein award in 1977 for the most masterpoints at the Summer Nationals, and four Treadwell and eight Jordan Trophies (no one else has won more than two combined). Ken is a professional player who lives in Philadelphia, PA.
U141: How did you start playing bridge?
KC: I started playing in 1962 at age 14. My mom, dad, grandmother, and a friend were playing and after watching for a while I said that I wanted to play. So my mom gave me a Goren pamphlet to read and by the next week I had read it all and was ready to play. I played in the next Sunday game. After that, I played regularly. My first regional was with my mom and I became a life master playing with her, at age 20.
U141: What is your favorite bridge book, or the one that influenced you the most?
KC: My favorite book is the The Bridge Bum by Alan Sontag. It's fun and easy to read, but I like it because I'm in it because of a hand I played with David Berkowitz against Alan. [See the hand and Sontag's comments in the newsletter section below. -Ed]
U141: You have had a lot of important wins. Which one was most memorable?
KC: There are three that are equally memorable because I won them with long-term partners. The first is the Mixed Teams with Evie Cogan in 1988. Another is the Open Pairs in 1990 in Atlantic City with Bob Thomas, who has since died. The last is the Senior Swiss in 2010 with Neil Satten. In each one, I was playing with a partnership that lasted over 20 years.
U141: Let's talk a bit about bidding. What's your favorite convention?
KC: I have read the interviews you've done before and I actually like many of the conventions the other interviewees have disliked. For example, I like McCabe. You get to tell partner what to lead. How bad can that be? I also like Two Hearts showing 0-3 points (over a 2C opening). It makes the first and second bids meaningful, and can define the hand so well. In general, I'm not convention crazy. I don't want bridge to be a memory contest, but a game where you have to think through what you are doing.
U141: What is your least favorite convention? What won't you play?
KC: I don't like minor suit transfers over no-trump and prefer Minor Suit Stayman. I also don't like inverted minors. I think one of the most important bids is to raise your partner with a fit so I like 1m-2m to be just a raise. I also don't usually like the way people play Michaels. I like to play Michaels over a minor suit to include 5-5, or more, hands in the majors as well as hands with 5 hearts and 4 spades. I play it through the full range of high card points, including 10-15, not just mini-maxi. Over a major suit, I like a bid of two of their suit to show the other major and diamonds, at least 5-5, and three of their suit to show the other major and clubs. This way you can better evaluate your hand when you know for sure what minor partner has.
U141: What are some of your pet peeves at the table?
KC: [instantly] slow players, gloaters, players who give advice
U141: What one piece of advice would you give to an advancing player?
KC: Keep it simple and don't play a lot of conventions. Make the effort to count, and know when it's important to count. Counting is hard, though it gets is easier with practice, and there are hands when it's more important than others. Focus, concentrate, and think. Stay in the moment. You have to learn how to move on from one hand to the next, but it will help you play better.
U141: How would try to improve the game for the future?
KC: Getting new and younger people to play is important but many young people can't afford it. By young people I mean college-age, or maybe high school. I think we need college courses. That seems like a good place to do it. We should have low or free entries for younger people and make it sociable.
U141: If you had to play one game of bridge for your life, who would choose as your partner?
KC: I respect the experts and great players--I learned a lot from observing them--but I like the partners I play with now and would choose them over some "great."
U141: So let's shift gears. Besides bridge, what else do you enjoy?
KC: I enjoy all kinds of sports, movies, and dinner dates.
U141: Do you have any final thoughts?
KC: Bridge has been good to me and it's nice to make a living doing what you love to do. My social and professional life has all been possible because of bridge.
U141: Those are nice words to end our interview. Thank you.
KC: You're welcome.
Here is a few reminder about bridge events peeking up this month.
If you have ever wondered how many of the Unit's members have earned over 1000 masterpoints or where you might rank on that list, you can now check the "1000 Point Club" list the Unit website. The 15.5% of the Unit's membership that has achieved this rank are listed by masterpoints and by last name. 
About one in four times during any bridge game, you will be on lead. This month, we offer one simple piece of advice for those times: Lead before you do anything else.