The David Bruce Life Master 5000 Pairs bridge event is conducted annually at the Summer North American Bridge Championship sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The event is open to all bridge players, who have earned Life Master status up to 5,000 Masterpoints. The event is conducted at the same time as the Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs, also open to all Life Masters, and the Sally Young Life Masters 1500 Pairs event.

The trophy is named in honor of Mr. David Bruce, the first player to achieve Life Master status in the ACBL. Mr. David Bruce, 1900-1965, was born in New York City, New York, United States, and it was by this name that he used during his bridge playing career. During this illustrious career he had won 26 national titles by 1936, the year the rank of Life Master was established. His given name was Mr. David Bruce (Burnstine). He was also a member of the famous Four Horsemen team, captained by Mr. P. Hal Sims. The other members of the team were Willard Karn and Oswald Jacoby. However, in 1932, Mr. David Bruce (Burnstine) left the Four Horsemen and established his own bridge team called the Bid-Rite Team, with Mr. Richard Frey, Mr. Howard Schenken, and Mr. Charles Lockridge.

Upon his relocation to Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1939, where he lived until his death in 1965 at the age of 65, Mr. David Burnstine made very few tournament appearances. He, however, did changed his name officially or unofficially to David Bruce after his illustrious career in the 1930s.

 

The David Bruce Life Master 5000 Pairs bridge event began in the year 2003 and the winners are presented with the David Bruce Trophy. The trophy is colloquially referred to as simply the Bruce LM Trophy. The list of past winners are below. The Special Conditions of Contest for the David Bruce and Sally Young Pairs events are only archived and preserved in .pdf file format on this site for future reference.

2003		Mark Bartusek, Santa Monica, California, and John Jones, Hacienda Heights, California
		Second Place: Stan Christie, Des Moines, Washington, and Craig Zastera, Woodinville, Washington
2004		Brian Gunnell, Jacksonville, Florida, and Henry Meyer, Vero Beach, Florida
		Second Place: Jane Dillenberg, New York City, New York, and Jerry Goldberg, Yonkers, New York
2005		David Maidman, New York, and Marin Marinov, New York
		Second Place: Will Engel, Freeport, Illinois, and Jim Melville, Springfield, Illinois
2006		Michael Cassell, Roseville, Minnesota, and Andy Kaufman, Smyrna, Delaware
		Second Place: Al Binder, Torrance, California, and Craig Zastera, Woodinville, Washington
2007		Brian Alexander, Dominion, Nova Scotia, and Karl Hicks, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
		Second Place: Michael Cassell, Roseville, Minnesota, and Barry Purrington, Roseville, Minnesota

 

 

 

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