O'ROURKE TEAM - O'Rourke-Passell, Hayden-Kasle, Smith; Jacobus NPC

System Information

O'Rourke-Passell System Summary Form
Hayden-Kasle-Smith System Summary Form

About the Players

Lou Ann O'Rourke

Mike Passell

One of America's leading bridge professionals, Mike spends most of his time in Las Vegas, NV, with his wife Nancy, a former Venice Cup winner. They are the only American husband-wife couple to have won the Bermuda Bowl and the Venice Cup. Mike learned to play bridge during high school vacations by watching his brother Bill, an expert in his own right, teach bridge classes. He is #2 on the all-time Masterpoint Winners' list with more than 50,000 masterpoints. He won the 1976 McKenney Trophy (now the Barry Crane Top 500) with a then-record total of 1815 points. In 1979 he won Bermuda Bowl, and also earned a Silver medal at the 1980 World Team Olympiads. Mike won his first NABC title in 1976 Reisinger, playing on the same team with which he won the Bermuda Bowl three years later. He now has a total of 19 North American titles to his credit, including the Reisinger four times, the Vanderbilt twice, the Spingold three times, the Grand National Teams, the Open Pairs three times, the Men's Board-A-Match Teams three times, the IMP Pairs in 1988, the Open Swiss Teams twice. In addition to his North American titles, Mike has had his name engraved on the Mott-Smith Trophy twice and the Fishbein Trophy once, as the top masterpoint winner at three different NABCs. In 1991, Mike won the IBPA's CC Wei Award for the year's best defensive play. He will be inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2008. Away from bridge, he is a keen sports fan and was an outstanding baseball player in his youth, being drafted by the Cincinnati Reds.