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System Information

 Dinkin-Shuster System Summary Form, ACBL Convention Card, 1st/2nd seats, ACBL Convention Card, 3rd/4th seats, System Notes
 Baker-McCallum System Summary Form, ACBL Convention Card, 2019 WBF Convention Card
 Kolesnik-Xu System Summary Form, ACBL Convention Card

About the Players

Sam Dinkin
Sam Dinkin  
Mike Shuster
 

 

Lynn Baker
Baker

Lynn is a law professor at the University of Texas, and frequently serves as a consultant to other attorneys on issues of legal ethics in mass tort settlements. A graduate of Yale Law School and Yale College, she also holds a degree from Oxford University, which she attended as a Marshall Scholar.

A 16-time National Champion, Lynn’s work commitments largely limit her tournament play to NABC and European Open events. In 2014, Lynn won her first World Championship, the McConnell Cup in Sanya, China. She won the McConnell Cup again in 2018 in Orlando, Florida. She has twice represented the US in the Venice Cup, winning a silver medal with USA I in 2009 (Sao Paulo, Brazil), and finishing 5th in 2001 (Paris, France). In 2015, she was on the winning Women's Team in the European Open Championships (Tromso, Norway), and finished second in the same event in 2017 in Montecatini, Italy.

A lifelong athlete, Lynn rowed for the Yale Varsity Women’s Crew and was selected to one U.S. Olympic and three National Women’s Rowing Team training camps during college. An avid downhill skier and runner in recent years, she has completed four marathons. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, Sam Dinkin, and two cats, Reginald and Babycat.

Karen McCallum
McCallum  

A seven-time world champion, her most recent win is the McConnell Cup in Orlando, FL, Karen is perhaps best known for her aggressive and complex "light initial action" bidding system. Although the five-card (non-vul) "McCallum weak 2-bids" (with no restrictions on suit quality or side holdings) are no longer an oddity among experts, Karen saw their promise in the 1970s.

Respected around the world as a bidding theorist as well as a player, Karen has served as a coach of several Turkish national bridge teams (open, women, and junior), and of the Australian open national bridge team. She was the NPC for the Turkish juniors in the 2000 Junior World Championships in Antalya. Karen has been an invited participant in bidding panels in numerous bridge publications in England, Australia, Turkey, New Zealand, France and the US. She has also edited several bridge books, including the best-selling bridge book of all time, Larry Cohen's "To Bid or Not to Bid."

In addition to her great success in women's bridge, Karen has had some memorable experiences in open bridge. She was invited (with her partner, Kerri Sanborn) to play in the 1990 Rosenblum Teams with Peter Pender, Ralph Cohen, Bob Jones, and Mike Smolen, and the team faced a formidable opponent in the round of 16: Bob Hamman, Bobby Wolff, Chip Martel, Lew Stansby, Jimmy Cayne, and Chuck Burger. At the half, Pender's team was down 15 IMPs, and one team member suggested that perhaps "the four guys" should play the rest of the way. But Pender sent in McCallum and Sanborn for the second half and won the match. Pender's team eventually lost in the round of 8 to the German open team that won the event.

A woman of many talents and interests, Karen's primary work outside bridge is creating hand-crafted glass and beaded jewelry. You can see examples of Karen's stunning work at www.eclectica3.com. She is an insatiable reader of all genres, with a home library of more than 50,000 volumes. She also enjoys gourmet cooking and playing the piano. She lives in a 215-year-old farmhouse in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Finn Kolesnik
   
Michael Xu