Fred Hamilton (born 1936) is a professional American bridge player. Hamilton is a World Bridge Federation (WBF) World Grand Master and American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Grand Life Master and inventor of the popular Hamilton convention used to compete over the opponent's 1NT opening bid.
Born and raised in East Lansing, Michigan, he is more recently from Encino, California. Hamilton has won two world championships, the 1976 Bermuda Bowl as a member of the North America team – beating Italy, with three Blue Team players, in the final – and the 1994 World Senior Pairs Championship with Hamish Bennett. He names Billy Eisenberg, Mark Lair, Mike Passell and Paul Soloway as "my favorite partners and good friends".
Hamilton was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2003.
Bridge accomplishments
Honors
ACBL Hall of Fame, 2003"Induction by Year" . Hall of Fame. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
Awards
Herman Trophy (1) 1974
Wins
Bermuda Bowl (1) 1976 World Senior Pairs Championship (1) 1994 Cavendish Invitational Pairs (1) 1982 North American Bridge Championships (17) Lebhar IMP Pairs (1) 1989 Leventritt Silver Ribbon Pairs (2) 2001, 2012 Grand National Teams (1) 1998 Truscott Senior Swiss Teams (4) 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013 Vanderbilt (1) 1977 Senior Knockout Teams (2) 1996, 1998 Chicago Mixed Board-a-Match (1) 1976 Reisinger (4) 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979 Spingold (1) 1979
Runners-up
Bermuda Bowl (1) 1977 World Senior Teams Championship (1) 1994 World Olympiad Teams Championship (1) 1980 North American Bridge Championships (16) Leventritt Silver Ribbon Pairs (1) 1992 Rockwell Mixed Pairs (1) 2000 Wernher Open Pairs (1) 1986 Grand National Teams (1) 1974 Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (1) 1988 Truscott Senior Swiss Teams (2) 2004, 2005 Vanderbilt (3) 1972, 1981, 1983 Senior Knockout Teams (2) 2006, 2009 Keohane North American Swiss Teams (2) 1991, 1992 Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1980 Chicago Mixed Board-a-Match (1) 1967
References
External links – with video interview