Jacob Freeman and Finn Kolesnik are 20 and 16 years old respectively. They first proposed the idea of appearing on The Setting Trick, seemingly as a lark, at the 2019 Fall North American Bridge Championships. As the podcast's founder and host, I was delighted that it mattered to them, and amused by being asked during a chance run in on a street corner!
Find out the amazing story about how these two teenagers put together the "amateur" F Kolesnik team, calling on four hall of famers each of whom are more than twice their age.
These two up-and-coming bridge players who have already found much success in the game. Even though they are both still teenagers, they made waves in the bridge world when they recently tied for first place in the inaugural NAOBC Knockout.
I got the chance to chat with them about both of their backgrounds and how they got into playing bridge. The two young men tell the story of how they became a team. I ask them about their thoughts on the future of Bridge and about their short-term and long-term goals.
After losing the first 30 minutes of our first recording session, Jacob and Finn were generous enough to chat with me for a second time. In this episode, I have put together both interviews so you as a listener can gain all the insight!
Thanks for listening, and if you like what you hear, give us a review on iTunes.
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Show Notes:
Bridgewinners thread on Andrew Robson and David Gold bidding to 7 diamonds from 2017 Transnational Teams Playoff
Episode Highlights:
2:25" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 2:25 - How the Kolesnik Team came together
15:55" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 15:55 - Finn's and Jacob's favorite tournament
21:55" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 21:55 - Bob Hamman is a hilarious man
25:00" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 25:00 - Finn's college and future plans
27:50" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 27:50 - Jacob's future plans
34:25" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 34:25 - Finn and Jacob discusses co-championing in the NAOBC KO
42:30" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 42:30 - How Jacob and Finn met
46:05" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 46:05 - What it was like after realizing they tied for first and the celebration afterwards
50:25" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 50:25 - Hamman said sorry when Finn placed fourth in the Life Master Pairs
52:50" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 52:50 - How Finn and Jacob became so good at bridge
56:40" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 56:40 - Finn's partnership with Michael Xu
1:00:10" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 1:00:10 - How Finn and Jacob work on their partnership
1:01:50" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 1:01:50 - How they decided to play together in the NAOBC
1:09:10" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 1:09:10 - Why John made Double Dummy and started this podcast!
1:14:55" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 1:14:55 - Funny story about Finn's dad superstitious occurrences
1:15:40" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 1:15:40 - Finn and Jacob's professional bridge scene
1:20:45" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 1:20:45 - Finn and Jacob's youth international bridge plans