Robert D. Hamman was born in Los Angeles County, in 1938. He lived in California for several years early in his bridge career, learning much from the many great West Coast players of that era. He returned to Dallas when he became the sixth member of Ira Corn's Dallas Aces, and has lived there since. Most observers consider him to be the consummate bridge player, with a remarkable ability to focus only on the deal being played, irrespective of the circumstances. He is particularly noted for his tenacity and his never-give-up attitude.

Unlike many of the top American players, Bob has a job away from bridge too - he is the President of SCA Promotions, Inc, a prize promotion company in Dallas, Texas. Petra, his wife of 15 years, has won North American titles and was a member of the winning USA women’s team in Maastricht, while his son, Chris, is also a promising player. Remarkably, Bob even has time for a few hobbies - all games, sports and playing backgammon.

Michael was born in 1954 in NYC.  His British born parents moved the family to his mother’s native home of Glasgow when Michael was a few months old, and he remained in the UK until 1978, when he moved ‘back’  to NYC in the hopes of playing bridge professionally.  Twenty-five years later, he finally became a full time professional player.  In the meantime, he traded options, had some kids (Ivana, Jahna, and Kevin), and managed to play a bit of bridge here and there (an underbid perhaps; Zia always accused him of being an underbidder).  In 1996 he married his current life partner Debbie Rosenberg, and they moved to Cupertino, California with their son Kevin in 2011.

Michael had some considerable success at chess when he was young; he represented Scotland in the World Junior Championship and three times in the World Under-26 Chess Olympiad.  But, having plateaued at that game, he quickly took to bridge in high school.  He and partner Barnet Shenkin soon became the top pair in Scotland, with numerous accomplishments in major British and European events, including juniors.  After moving to the U.S., through much of the ‘80’s, Michael didn’t play much bridge.  Suffering from severe withdrawal, in 1989 he started playing regularly in NABC’s, with Zia as his most frequent partner until 2007.  Since 1989 he’s missed only one NABC, and has played every US Bridge Championship since the event became open in 1994.

Aside from his many successes with Zia, some highlights of Michael’s bridge career include:

Winning the World Par Contest 1998
ACBL Player of the Year 1994, 2003
Winning both the Sunday Times Invitational Pairs and the Gold Cup in 1976 (with Barnet Shenkin)
Cavendish Pairs 1^st place 1986 (with Matthew Granovetter)
Cavendish Teams 1^st place 1993 (with Debbie Zuckerberg)
Gold Medal in Rosenblum Cup 1994 (partnering Roger Bates)
Silver medal in the World Team Olympiad 1992 (partnering Seymon Deutschl)
Silver medal in the World Open Pairs 1994 (with Bob Hamman)

While nobody loves bridge more than Michael, he also enjoys crossword puzzles, movies, mysteries, music, and following sports and politics.  In 2013 Michael became involved with the USBF Junior Training program, as both a mentor and an organizer.