EPISODE 31: Adam Kaplan and Richard Jeng

At the age of 10 years and 43 days Adam Kaplan set the record as the American Contract Bridge League’s youngest ever life master. A subsequent article in the ACBL Bridge Bulletin, commemorating Adam’s achievement, inspired his successor Richard Jeng who broke Adam’s record with ease at the age of 9 years, 6 months, and 12 days.

Both Richard and Adam are members of the USA1 Under 21 team whose journey in the 14th World Youth Team Championships we chronicle in Double Dummy. A film which Adam largely inspired. Here are two brief conversations about Richard and Adam’s quest to become the youngest life master and what the title meant to them.

Episode Highlights:
2:16- The event where Adam won his last needed masterpoints

4:04- Two club games per day—the dedication needed to get those masterpoints

6:39- The fame ensuing after his achievement

7:46- What the achievement means to him

9:14- “I was a terrible partner” ~ Adam

12:14- Adam’s current level of bridge involvement

14:04- The story behind Adam’s nickname

15:39- Adam’s partner in Double Dummy

19:54- An optimistic grand bid by Adam

24:09- Adam’s current career plans

26:30- Richard’s first reaction on hearing about Andrew Chen’s achievement

27:05- How Richard first started playing bridge

28:40- Richard’s inspiration on becoming the Youngest Life Master

29:50- Richard’s meeting up with the teen whose record he planned on beating

30:35- This record is meant to be broken!

31:35- Life Master is a title given only to those who mastered life

31:55- The event where Richard won his last needed master points

Link to listen to episode

Transcript:

John McAllister: please state your name and age.

Adam Kaplan: yeah. I'm Adam Kaplan. I'm 24.

John McAllister: And how old were you when you became the ACB L's youngest life master.

Adam Kaplan: I think I was 10 years and 43 or 47 days. One or the other.

John McAllister: I think it was, I read 42, but you're close.

Adam Kaplan: I'm modest. What can I say?

 John McAllister: do you remember the event in which you were playing?

Adam Kaplan: it was a club game, I believe because I needed a ton of black points. so I just played club games and online games until like, I finally managed to get enough. Blackwoods.

John McAllister: And do you remember what the, totals you had to get in order to become youngest, like to become a life master at that time?

Adam Kaplan: I know it was 300. I think it was 50 black points. and you know, I was 10, so I didn't go to the club that much. so I wound up playing a lot with, both Jim Soma, only one of my first partners, as well as. My dad, I think I made it Blake with Joe.

 John McAllister: that's what I read in a little, something I saw online just earlier that you've made it with Jim, that you won the game, you got a 67%, you needed one point something and you, you got a 3.17.

Adam Kaplan: just a bit of overkill, never hurts. I, if I remember right, there was actually an issue where. we weren't quite sure whether one of the games would count and so we'd lost it, the exact count. And, so that, that extra little bit was actually kind of important.

 John McAllister: so did they know then, like how did it, how did you find out that you were a life master and, the fact, the youngest life master.

Adam Kaplan: Oh, I was counting, we, we were keeping her at the, at that point, we were keeping a sort of running count of, you know, how close I was and we knew sort of what the, what the record was and, and, how far off I was. so the idea was I was basically going to the club playing twice a day until.

You know, reaching that magic number, but I do know there was some uncertainty there around exactly, you know, whether it was like 1.9, seven or 2.2, three, or whatever.

John McAllister: So you were playing twice a day at the club for how long?

Adam Kaplan: probably like. Three to five, maybe a month close to that. Like, and like, it was, it was quite a while. and like we did, uh, I, you know, I was playing online a bunch and, you know, once I realized that I was close, I was kind of like, okay, you know, sure. Why not? We'll go for it. And yeah, the, the black ones were really, the big thing that I was missing.

John McAllister: So did you have in excess of 300 points? Well, before you actually became a life-master then, is that what you're saying?

Adam Kaplan: Yeah, so I, so I definitely had over 300, but I was very, very short on the black book. So that's, that's my, I don't know how much over 300 I was, but yeah, it was lots of black points.

John McAllister: And whose record did you be?

Adam Kaplan: let's see, I should know this and

I should know this. I, I want to say that it was Dan Herman. I'm almost certain that's right. 

John McAllister: It was Dan Hirschman.

Adam Kaplan: Okay. Cool.

John McAllister: he, [00:03:20] his record was 10 years, two months and 20 days. So you beat him by about 40 or? Yeah, by about 40 days, I guess, approximately. Yeah.

Adam Kaplan: I actually, I ran into him in an elevator at some tournament a couple of years after him. It was the first time I'd actually met him in person. cause you know, he, I don't think he really was playing that much anymore. I don't remember where it was, but, uh, I recognized, I was like, Oh, Hey, you know, I think I was, or I think you were the person whose record I beat.

It was like, yeah. 

John McAllister: sorta thought in my mind that maybe you started the quest a lot younger than how you referred to it. Uh, just earlier here on the call,

Adam Kaplan: so I, I think I had started trying for it, probably like five or six months earlier when I realized that, you know, I wasn't that far off, but it wasn't until. I was actually close. I had all of the other requirements that I was like, Oh wait, you know, I need black points. and you know, it was as though once a week at the club or something like that or into, you know, twice a day, like seven days a week at the club.

like club championships were my thing. I remember, I think we, I think we drove like, down to Clearwater or something. instead of going to like one of the closer ones at some point, because they were doing some sort of double points  

John McAllister: did you feel like people, start to know you as being the youngest life master? did that increase? how much people knew about you?

Adam Kaplan: yeah. people started to recognize me a little bit. I think it was more once, you know, sort of right. You know, I was in the bulletin and, you know, that there was. Yeah. People would recognize me at least a little bit as you know, that kid. and you know, I kind of got used to that and for him, for awhile, you know, that was sort of the main point of recognition was, Oh, you were the youngest like master.

Okay.

John McAllister: well, it's amazing that you, beat the record and you, the record stood for 12 years. Dan's record stood for 12 years. So, it was, a long time coming.

Adam Kaplan: it was, and I guess my mind didn't stand for nearly as long. but you know, I, actually, I'm happy to have had a part in that to some extent, 

John McAllister: Helping Richard, uh, Richard J so Richard Jang broke your record.

Adam Kaplan: right, right. Yeah. So Richard Jang broke by record and I think it was at the Atlanta tournament that I, and I was there, went to dinner with his family, I think the, the night after. so it was quite cool.

 John McAllister: What was it like for you becoming the youngest life master? what was the experience like?

Adam Kaplan: it was kind of the first real thing that I did in the bridge world. you know, I was, you know, a nine year old going to tournaments and Oh yeah, that's nice. And that's cool, but it was, my first like real sort of bridge accomplishment. and. No, it was cool. And, to some extent still is neat to, have been the record holder for some time.

you know, it's certainly set me up to, you know, at least I have some something to say about, you know, Oh, what have you, what have you done? Well, you know, this, because up until I was sort of on the under, 21 team, that was kind of, that was my thing.

John McAllister: You have more? Is there more you're you look like? You're ready to say something [00:06:40] else.

Adam Kaplan: I'm honestly, so it's been a while, um, 14 years. but, it was. by the time that I had made it, it was also kind of a, you know, a bit of a relief because I, you know, I was going, you know, going to clubs twice a day. trying to grind out those last few points.

Yeah. Yeah. So it was, you know, it was, it was kind of a relief and, you know, of course It was cool. there was some local coverage and, you know, other sort of fun things that came along with it, but, you know, it was, for me, it was very much, you know, just like that first thing that I, that I did, where I really had to sort of commit myself to it and, actually make it happen.

 John McAllister: What do you think your level of play was when you became youngest life master? Do you have any idea?

Adam Kaplan: I don't know how my level of play was, but I knew that do know that I was terrible, terrible partner at the table. I like to yell and scream and I, and, and, you know, I did until I was 13 or 14 even. I was a very bad partner. And regardless of what my level of play actually was, if you were listening to my yelling and screaming, you might've thought it was significantly better.

So, I couldn't actually tell you, you know, sort of where, where on that spectrum I actually was, I was, I still have certainly a lot to it.

John McAllister: Were you a result merchant, you think? Or a,

Adam Kaplan: I was the result merchant of all the result. Moultrie merchants. Yes. Yes. If you look, if you took a two way finesse the wrong way, it was your fault and you should have got it. Right. 

John McAllister: Oh my God. So wait, so you, it was just horrible. The gym. Yeah.

Adam Kaplan: I was very, very hard on them. Um, and you know, sometimes maybe it was. well well-placed or correct, but, I doubt that it was nearly as often as I thought it was. he put up with me, which I appreciate.

John McAllister: Do you think there was anybody between Dan and you who tried to go for youngest life master and didn't get it. Did you ever hear a story like that?

Adam Kaplan: That's an interesting question. I actually never heard of anyone. and I'm not sure if that's because they, you know, somebody may have tried and, you know, wound up stopped playing and, and sort of, you know, moved on. But I don't. I know, but nobody has ever told me, Oh, you know, you wouldn't have had this.

If I, if I had just won this game or, Yeah, I was almost there and I

John McAllister: Maybe, maybe those people will come out of the woodwork after we released this program.

Adam Kaplan: Yeah, yeah. I mean, the, you know, it was, there was a full 14 years that they had plenty of time. but you know, at the same time, the sort of junior bridge world didn't really start. you know, I was kind of the first, I was the last of the older generation of, junior players. So you're sort of, you know, J law cran, yak, uh, gree, you know, I, I was sort of, uh, you know, Owen, Kevin.

I was, I, you know, a few years off from that, and overlapped with them like once, and sort of the first of this next generation of players.  you know, you have Richard Jane, you have, you know, um, you know, the grass sex and, you know, this [00:10:00] sort of new, the people who, you know, now sort of are, leading junior bridge players or, you know, priests extra.

So, you know, because of that, because there was sort of that middle ground, you know, for, for a long time, you know, I was always the youngest one to add a tournament. and it didn't matter whether I was six or 15, because it was still the case.

John McAllister: how much bridge are you playing nowadays?

Adam Kaplan: not very much, I actually did play, the first, online JLL tournament, with Ron Smith. and you know, Ron is always lots of fun to play with and is generally an awesome person. So, you know, um, I, I enjoy playing bridge with people that I love. Uh, and I try to prioritize that, uh, if I am going to play, I, you know, weekly practices for the junior team.

and aside from that, no, I do a little bit of teaching here and there, but not that much.

John McAllister: How do you think you're able to maintain your, status on like the top junior team and not playing as much as maybe, you know, you did at one time. I mean, you think you're, you think you're just as good or you think you're, you're rusty? Like, do you, do you.

Adam Kaplan: I'm rustier than I would like to be. But I think some of these things are a bit like riding a bike. once you sort of learned how to do them and learn how to be good at them, figured out the situations where you need to, you need to pay attention, you need to catch yourself and you can't just be crude, you know, sort of cruising along on cruise control.

And, and, and for that matter, being able to play a little bit during the weekly practices and things like that, you know, it does mean that I stay probably reasonably sharp. but certainly not as much as if I was playing 40 weeks a year. you know, that's not something that I've really, no one want to be dealing with myself. So, you know, I, I'm happy to be able to. Yeah, stay fairly sharp and, you know, still be able to be competitive to, you know, reasonably good, in, higher level events. So.

John McAllister: I have some questions that could be off the record. do you mind if we just record, I mean, we're not going to put them in there. If you,

Adam Kaplan: Sure, sure.

John McAllister: Y that gross, I call you Mordecai.

Adam Kaplan: That is a very good question. Um, so I don't know exactly when it started, but, I was, Oh man. Uh, it w I think it had to be the, one of it was at one of the Atlanta junior trials. and. I made some, like, it was some sort of extended joke or bit about, you know, my Jewishness, I'm not particularly Jewish, but certainly I am.

so, you know, at first it was rabbi. And then, after a little while, I think it was Adam was drunk and slurred a bit and, and it, it. Did become Mordecai. and of course that got shortened to Morty and, yeah. Then there was also of course, Carol, and,

John McAllister: know that one.

Adam Kaplan: uh, that, uh, reference to Carol Weinstein.

and I, I don't know exactly why it's a reference to Carol Weinstein, but, you know, yeah, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's a, she's a, uh, doing Lillibridge bridge player. Um, but I, but I don't know specifically why that reference. but I never could quite figure [00:13:20] that out. but yes, he does call me Morty.

I, I answered to Morty.

John McAllister: I Googled Mordecai like yesterday or two days ago. And I, and I didn't get it based on I read on the wig.

Adam Kaplan: no, there's, there's not like a specific, you know, fancy reference there that, you know, it's just like, you know, okay, this is a very Jewish sounding name and, here you go. 

John McAllister: does Brasco still play.

Adam Kaplan: I actually don't know. I heard he joined the air force. and I have not actually heard from him in a long, long time. I think he joined the air force and is doing that. we were not, you know, the most talkative partners, like, you know, to some extent it was sort of, you know, okay, we'll play bridge and, you know, then go do our own separate thing.

whereas with someone like jolly, I'm probably. You know, as soon as I can, I'm probably gonna go down and visit him in Atlanta because, you know, I used to, he's one of my favorite people. and like whether I'm playing bridge with him or not, I enjoy spending time with them. it makes me want to play a little more rich.

John McAllister: But Jolly's age tower.

Adam Kaplan: Yeah. Yeah. Jolly is, he aged out for the, in 2017. So the year that we won, was his last year.

John McAllister: So when you and Briscoe played for the, youngsters in 2012, what was the extent of your partnership?   

Adam Kaplan: that was actually, that was the first tournament that we had played together or the first, worlds, because I played in 2010 and 2011 with Adam Grassic.

John McAllister: Oh, wow.

Adam Kaplan: Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, I used to play with that. and, then usually, Dan Wolkowitz and I would add particularly in 2011, Adam was still a sort of, you know, he had a bit of the Zack screaming as him.

John McAllister: Zach's what?

Adam Kaplan: screaming us. Um, yeah. Dan Wolkowitz was playing with Roger Lee and, you know, Roger Lee was also, you know, going through that phase. and so Dan and I would go, hang out, like a little play, uh, courtyard. Um, right by the plane decide and gracious, and we would go go sort of be each other's counselors for a little while.

like you wouldn't believe this shit, you know, like, look, look what they got upset at us. You know, it was, it was that sort of thing.  so you and Adam Groesbeck had played together, how did the four of you guys decide to team up for playing in the youngsters trials?

I mean, it was very much, Adam also had a partnership with Zach, and I had been playing and doing some important things with Owen, sort of separately. and Zach had been on some of those teams and Zach also. Yeah. Yeah. Zach Brett skull. Um, and Zach also had learned the sort of super complex, messy relay system that, Owen and I had sort of concocted.

John McAllister: was that you can co you guys can talk to it yourself.

Adam Kaplan: Yeah. Yeah. It was a sort of homegrown realized system. obviously, you know, inspired by a bunch of existing things, there was a good deal of sort of mad, mad scientist that went into it. and you know, Owen and, and I it's probably spent. hundreds, if not thousands of hours just bidding hands.

So at the time, you know, I kind of knew the relay, like the, you know, like the back of my hand, because, I had it very, very well memorized [00:16:40] having, practiced it so so much.

 of course when we refer as learning, it, it was, a little rough, but, Zach had also sort of practiced a lot of the relay system with Elwin because they were a regular partnership before Owen sort of aged out as well.

or I guess Owen didn't eat it out. He aged out of under 21 and Zach was still eligible. and so it was kind of made sense that, okay, you know, Zack, the grass X should play together and I'll play with that. we played the sort of super complex, messy relay system. I don't think we had too many mishaps, although there was definitely one, we wound up in a grand slam.

I don't know, actually, I don't know that this was a miss out if this was a mishap or, um, just like, uh, Weird judgment thing. We wound up in a, you know, five, one grant fit in a grand slam. and basically you had to decide are Trump's five, two, or is the side suit that you have to cross back to your hand?

for hours. Um, and, uh, thankfully it w guests, right. That, you know, Trump's were five to the side suit was not for him, so it

John McAllister: And you made the game. You made the grant in

Adam Kaplan: uh, he, he did, he did. Yeah. if he had guests wrong and, you know, play to overtake, it would have been so nice. So, yeah, I think it was a miss.

I think it was a relay misfire rather than a, like, Oh, let's go play our five one grand slam, but I honestly don't know.

John McAllister: A hand from Tyson from Thai shine, which, you had seven solid. You didn't have the Jack, you had ACE Jack fourth of hearts and ACE in a club. And you're vulnerable. The ponds were not, this was against USA too, in 2012 in the USA to match. So your, I think your opener, you open a strong club. They bet three diamonds. Sack doubles. I think showing no direction.

Adam Kaplan: Yeah, just values.

John McAllister: right-hand bids, five diamonds, and now you've had six diamonds.

Adam Kaplan: Interesting.

John McAllister: And your partner, Mr. Briscoe bid six spades. And so you raised

Adam Kaplan: Wow. I was an optimist. My God. you said I had the ACE Jack fourth of hearts. So then what, what was going on in the hearts? If he did six hearts, I could see it. I could see bidding's up in spades, but if he'd been six spades, how did that

John McAllister: he had Jack fourth, stiff three little and King queen six, maybe.

Adam Kaplan: No, actually I, yeah. I mean, thinking about it a little more, he has to have something somewhere. I would rather embed six arts so that I could at least have some so right. Or, or I think that's what I was going for was that I was planning to bid six bid six spades over six hearts.

But the idea that like, this is, you know, Hey, I'm, I am actually interested in the grand, you know, if you have the right stuff, 

John McAllister: So you weren't expecting him to bid spades that night. That makes sense. Cause

Adam Kaplan: Right.

John McAllister: have like the video of the auction, of you talking about the auction here, I'll send you the hand.

Adam Kaplan: so I think it almost certainly I was expecting him to bid, so it's hard to over this, over which I did did six beds, and I haven't necessarily considered the ramifications of what has he been? Six beds. and. I guess finally decided, okay, well, if he doesn't, you know, if his best major thing, right, is [00:20:00] the Jack of spades, right.

If he has like Jack third and spades and two small hearts or something, then where's his stuff, right. He doubled three diamonds. So unless, you know, maybe I'm going to catch like King Jack for the diamonds and it will be sad. Um, and you know, I, if I was at the table today, I probably would not be the Brian's clamp, but.

I could see how I convinced myself that, you know, he had to have stuff somewhere. Uh, was this the w we were not down in significance as much.

John McAllister: No, this was just a round Robin match against USA too. You crushed them. They stopped in five spades at the other table. They opened two clubs. we've got the whole post-mortem in the hallway. I just sent you the actual deal. So Zach was four one, one seven with King queen, seventh of clubs and Jack fourth of spades. So you had a total claimer. 

Adam Kaplan: I'm not sure. my guess is that I essentially just assumed that he must have, stuff somewhere and, you know, he probably doesn't.

John McAllister: That's what you said in the thing. But what I was curious, I hadn't considered that you thought he was going to bid six hearts and now you could bid six spades making a grand slam tri I hadn't considered that aspect of it.

Adam Kaplan: Yeah. You know, that was kind of, that almost certainly was, was, you know, what I was going for and, and, you know, it's a, it's a creative bit, 

John McAllister: I think so.

Adam Kaplan: whether or not I technically have enough for it. I, you know, it's hard to say, but you know, his double was sort of positive without direction. So.

You know, he's, he's got to have steps on work and, you know, as long as he doesn't have a ton of the diamond wastage, then you know, it's actually, you know, it's a real, it's reasonable to at least give it a shot. Worst case. I play six spades and maybe we missed your grand, but it's better having dried

John McAllister: Yeah, I just didn't consider that you were expecting probably he was going to bid six hearts and now you could bid six spades and make your grand slam try that way. That makes,

Adam Kaplan: Yeah. Yeah. I, that, that was definitely like the plan. And then he ruined the plan. It was a nice plan.

John McAllister: think he definitely had it raised by the way, if he had been six hearts, but he problem was he had a Singleton heart.

Adam Kaplan: right. I mean, you know, like I said, he wrote, he ruined the plan.  

John McAllister: What's going on with get lost.

 Adam Kaplan: we pretty much let it, let it be. we didn't officially shut it down, but, certainly not doing anything more with it, for a while. I'm still sort of on the fence about whether I want to, you know, if we gave it a shot, we obviously had horrific timing.

And, you know, and then it becomes a question of whether it makes sense to give it another shot, let's say, in the future versus doing something else. if so, what that is. Um, and so for right now, I've actually just been, doing a bunch of crypto training. Um, and which has, you know, it wound up being, you know, rather good timing.

and you know, I've done very well for myself, but, that is very much, more of a sort of random thing then something that I want to be doing for any meaningful periods time. So at least not in that direct. Yeah. And not, it's not even like normal crypto stuff. It's NFT is like game [00:23:20] assets.

it's really, really niche. when I put the time in, I get to know my niche and do very well with, so, um,

John McAllister: Cool, man. I'm glad to hear it.

Richard Jeng

John McAllister: You're the first one, a non Andrew you're the first, youngest life master after Andrew Chen,  that I'm interviewing   

Richard Jeng: Actually, I met Andrew's dad first at the LNN EVC. And then he was like, Oh, I'm bringing my children in for the youth and NABC like a week later in Atlanta. And so I was like, wow, that's really cool that you're like his whole family plays. Right. So I thought it was really interesting. And then, I actually met Andrew at the Vegas NBC in 2019.

So that was pretty cool.

John McAllister: what were the circumstances around your meeting? Andrew's dad at the, Atlanta and NABC.

Richard Jeng: Well, my current partner, Brent was playing with his dad in the Vons afterwards. So I stayed the night at his, please.

John McAllister: Gotcha. And did Andrew's dad have any inkling at that time? Atlanta was a summer of did Andrew's dad had a mini inkling that he was going to be going after the youngest life master at that point.

 Richard Jeng: I wasn't aware of it at the time. So

John McAllister: He didn't say anything to you about it.

Richard Jeng: did not say anything.

John McAllister: So what was your reaction when you saw that Andrew had broken the record?

Richard Jeng: I think Debbie Rosenberg mentioned to me, she was like, she just gave me a heads up that, Oh, Andrew might break your record. And so I knew it was possible. And I mean, it's just pretty cool to see someone else at the age of eight because the person who previously broke my records, Zach Garrison, he was nine in a few days, So it's crazy that now it's eight years old, who knows maybe the next person will be seven.  

John McAllister: Well, they're going to have to be pretty close to seven because I think Andrew did it like as an eight year old with three days.  tell us about how you started playing bridge.

Richard Jeng: So I started playing bridge through a summer camp, hosted by Atlanta junior bridge, which is hosted by Patty Tucker. And so my parents just saw an ad for Atlanta junior bridge in the newspaper and one of my grandparents, played bridge. So my mom knew kind of what bridge was and how card games worked.

And so she signed me and my brother up for it, and I was six years old at the time. And ever since that one summer camp, I just loved bridge.

 John McAllister: do you know if the camp did it include like an age range, for the camp when your mom signed you up?

Richard Jeng: I think there was, but I don't know the exact range. I know there was something like, like nine to 18 or something. And I remember, some of the energy, new bridge, summer camps they held, they set said I was too young and I couldn't, Partake in them, but they like made an exception for me, but sometimes I still could enter a participant.

I think if I remember correctly. Yeah.

John McAllister: so your mom was not daunted by both of her children being younger than the, possible suggested age on the flyer.

 Richard Jeng: I think Andrew was nine, so he barely made it. So, but yeah, she was not done.

John McAllister: So the first time you, held a bridge hand was at this, summer camp.

Richard Jeng: Well, I think I've held cards before. I think I have some like David pictures of me holding cards, but nothing related to bridge. Also, it wasn't my first time, like seeing a deck of cards, but definitely my first time actually playing bridge because I've seen my grandfather play like some on some bridge software on like windows 97 machine or something.

But other than that, yeah, it's first time.

John McAllister: And so when did the possibility of breaking Adam Caplin's record for youngest life master? When did that come into focus for you?

 Richard Jeng: I read it in the bulletin Adam's record. I think it was in either Oh six or Oh seven. I'm not sure what time he got the record, but I read it and I just read a story about how he. Basically became like master. And I was like, wait, this is something I could do. Cause I was six or seven at the time that I read it.

And so ever since then, I just went to tournaments, play at the club, went through different regionals and stuff. And I still remember like my first gold point at a regional and I was so happy about it. 

It's crazy. 

John McAllister: so really from that moment on, it sounds like you're saying it really, pushed you to play more tournaments.

Richard Jeng: yeah, for sure that when I read that article in the bulletin, I, that definitely inspired me to go down this path to collect more massive amounts of guys. So, you know, definitely inspiring for me.

John McAllister: How many master points do you think you had when you found out about, 

Richard Jeng: definitely under. 50 20. So yeah, it's definitely inspirational for me.

 John McAllister: was it, it was 300 when you,

Richard Jeng: Yeah. It was 300. So a lot easier back then.

John McAllister: And did you meet Adam before you broke his record?

Richard Jeng: I think I did at the, yeah, I definitely did because at the first. Youth at NBC, which was held in Atlanta in 2008. I remember meeting Adam talking to him and I distinctly remember my parents even took them out to dinner. We talked about it and I, I told that, Hey, I am interested in meeting your record and I'm thankful for you for being an inspiration for me. So, yeah,

John McAllister: So he knew you were coming for him.

Richard Jeng: yeah.

John McAllister: will you just say like how old you are,  

Richard Jeng: I am currently 20 years old. it's been 11 years since

John McAllister: so you broke the record when you were, 

Richard Jeng: nine years old, nine years old and seven or eight months or something. Yeah.

John McAllister: so Adam knew you were coming for him. Was he encouraging or was he like possessive of the, I love the record.

Richard Jeng: he made no mention of being possessive. So my, impression was definitely that he was very encouraging. Yeah. Yeah. And as we all know, Adam is a very nice, very nice person. And so, 

John McAllister: And what was it like when Zach broke your records at Garrison,

Richard Jeng: It was just like, I know I was inspired by Adam and I don't know if Zach was also inspired by me or not, but it's just, it's good to see. Camille is a very cliche phrase, but it's good to see other young people playing bridge. And that's just, yeah.

John McAllister: Totally. Yeah. Yeah. It's a record that's meant to be broken. I think,  you were the youngest life master for, for how long

Richard Jeng: I don't think it's very long, only two, three years. So yes, I broke it pretty quickly. But ever since they changed the master plan requirements, that's why Zach's record beginning. So so long cause the 300 to 500 is pretty big, pretty big difference.

 John McAllister: what was it like for you breaking the record?

 Richard Jeng: Well, I got to tell all my friends that I was returning his life masters, so they all thought it was really cool that that was a life pastor. Like somehow I conquered what life has to bring. And so I've always thought the title of life master. It was really funny. So yeah.

John McAllister: Yeah.

What was the, what was the event that you, where you broke the record?

Richard Jeng: It was just a regular club game, getting some flat points, like I've had enough flat points at the time, but it was just a regular old club thing. I thought it was just nice that, I played at a club where I normally play. And so just kind of like going back to my roots or whatever. So.

John McAllister: And did they know it immediately? Like as soon as you,

Richard Jeng: Yeah. They, we, when I earned my sportsman that we knew that I broke 300 and we took a picture and everything. So,

John McAllister: do you have that picture somewhere? I wonder if it's in the stuff you've sent us previously.

Richard Jeng: it's the picture they used in the bulletins. So it should be available. Yeah.

John McAllister: Okay, man. anything else you want to say? 

Richard Jeng: nothing but just best of luck and hopefully someone else can break the Andrews record just for the heck of it.

John McAllister: Yeah. Yeah. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Richard Jeng: TAVI. And it's probably needs to be from a rich playing family for starters and the 500 points. It's definitely a lot. And it's crazy that Andrew, only did it in two years. I think so. Very impressive. Like for me, it took three years for 300 points and he did two years for 500. So 

John McAllister: did Adam call you up when you broke, when you beat him?

Richard Jeng: You get hidden. I come here.

John McAllister: Oh man. Did you call him back?

Richard Jeng: I did not do the Andrew calls.

John McAllister: I don't think so. He hadn't heard from Zach when I spoke to him.  thanks for, thanks for doing this.

Richard Jeng: Thanks for having me.