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SONSINI TEAM - Sonsini-Radin, Deas-Palmer, Levitina-Sanborn

System Information

Sonsini-Radin System Summary Form, ACBL Convention Card
Deas-Palmer System Summary Form, ACBL Convention Card
Levitina-Sanborn System Summary Form, Acbl Convention Card

About the Players

Barbara Sonsini
sonsiniBarbara Sonsini  
Judi Radin
radin  
Lynn Deas
deas2Lynn Deas, photo by Peg Kaplan  A six-time World Champion, Lynn was honored with the ACBL’s Sydney H. Lazard, Jr. Sportsmanship Award in 2004.  The award recognizes “those players who exhibit admirable ethical behavior and a strong sense of fair play at the highest levels of bridge . . . over an extended period of time.”
 
Lynn learned to play bridge in high school so that she could play in college.  But when she got to college, she found that almost no one played.  Her computer science teacher took Lynn and her partner to the local duplicate club, where Lynn got much of her early bridge experience.  She reports that “it was the only club I have ever played in where people arrived an hour early in order to be able to sit East/West.  All of the ‘good players’ sat North/South, so the club had to force people to sit North/South.”  After college, Lynn entered medical school, but eventually dropped out in order to pursue her dream of being a full-time bridge player and teacher.
 
Lynn's World Championship titles include four with Beth Palmer, her bridge partner of 30 years, including the 2010 World Women's Pairs in Philadelphia (for more on the pair's history, see Beth's bio below)..  In addition, Lynn was added to the US team for both the 1991 World Championship (where she played with Stasha Cohen) and the 1996 World Championship (where her partner was Juanita Chambers).  Both teams were victorious.
 
Besides playing in tournaments and at her local duplicate club, Lynn enjoys teaching bridge online and doing partnership coaching.  Her hobbies include painting, coin collecting, and breeding dogs.  Although Lynn terms herself a "small time" breeder, she has periodically found herself tending to as many as 13 dogs.  Lynn lives in Schenectady, NY, with her husband Rich Kasprowicz. 
Beth Palmer
palmer Beth has been an Administrative Judge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for 24 years, hearing complaints of employment discrimination.  Prior to becoming a judge, she was a lawyer in private practice.  Admired in the bridge world for her judicial temperament, Beth has generously given of her time throughout the years to serve in numerous administrative positions with the USBF, ACBL, and the Washington Bridge League.
 
Beth began playing bridge in law school in 1977 and her first serious partner was Bill Cole.  Two years later, she played with Bill at the Norfolk, Virginia, nationals and her team made it to the round of 16 in the Vanderbilt.  Lynn Deas reports that “Beth was the talk of the tournament, won more than 100 masterpoints, and made Life Master.”
 
Beth formed her partnership with Lynn Deas in 1981, an astonishing 30 years ago!  Playing a strong club system from the beginning, the pair played in their first World Championships in 1982, when they were both just 30 years old, and finished 2nd in the World Women’s Pairs.  They have played on three victorious World Championship teams as a pair (1987, 1989, 2002), and have finished first (2010), second (1982), third (1994), and fourth (1990) in the World Women’s Pairs.
 
Away from the bridge table, Beth enjoys reading and sports, but her primary interest is her daughter, Julie Pettis, age 15.  Beth served as Julie’s Girl Scout troop leader for six years and has been coach of her basketball team for five.  Beth lives with her husband, Bill Pettis (“Buffalo”), and daughter, Julie, in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Irina Levitina
irinaIrina Levitina, photo by Peg Kaplan Irina is the only person in the world to win world championships in both chess and bridge.  A six-time World Champion in bridge, she is currently the top US woman in the WBF Masterpoint rankings.
 
Especially well respected for her declarer play, Irina was one of 34 world-class players (including only 4 women) invited to participate in the World Par Contest, a declarer play competition, held in connection with the 1998 World Championships in Lille, France.  In finishing 14th overall (and first among the women), Irina placed ahead of such stars as Benito Garozzo, Chip Martel, Steve Weinstein, and Zia.
 
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Irina was first taught chess as a young child by her father.  By the age of 18 she was a member of the Soviet team and was the top woman at the chess Olympiad.  At age 18, Irina also took up bridge, introduced to the game by Simeon Furman, her chess teacher (and Karpov’s) at the time.  Immigrating to the US in December 1990, Irina co-founded the International Chess Academy in Teaneck, NJ, in 1997 (you can read more about the chess school and Irina's chess career at www.icanj.net).
 
When not teaching chess or playing or teaching bridge, Irina enjoys reading (especially mysteries), logic puzzles, and watching ice hockey.  She lives in Hackensack, NJ.
Kerri Sanborn
kerri2Kerri Sanborn Inducted into the ACBL’s Hall of Fame in 2007, Kerri is a six-time world champion.  She has won at least one World Championship in each of four consecutive decades, a record of “longevity at the top” equaled only by Bob Hamman.  (Indeed, one wonders if anyone in any competitive endeavor outside of bridge has, or could, come close to that record of sustained excellence.)
 
Although (because?) her parents played bridge, Kerri swore she never would.  But, she finally succumbed during her sophomore year at Miami University in Ohio, and played her first local duplicate with her father.  She soon moved to California, where she credits many experts for helping her during her early years as a player:  Mike Shuman, Harold Guiver, Mike Smolen, Hermine Baron, Harold Kandler, Rhoda Walsh, and, most significantly, Barry Crane.
 
Kerri’s first victory at the world level was the 1978 Mixed Pairs in which she and Barry Crane bested a world-class field by an astonishing margin of 5 boards.  During her highly successful 14-year partnership with Barry, she was responsible for buying his coffee (2/3 of a cup, black) and filling out the convention card, while he handled the travel arrangements.  Kerri’s five subsequent world championships were won in partnership with Karen McCallum (1989, 1990, 1993) and, most recently, with Irina Levitina (2002, 2006).
 
A full-time player beginning in the early 1970s, Kerri changed careers in 1988 when she began trading options full-time on the floor of the American Stock Exchange.  She retired in 2001.  An avid golfer, Kerri lives in Stony Point, NY, with her husband, Steve, and brother-and-sister cats Boomer and Brooke. 
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