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Gonzolo Goded started playing on Spain’s junior team in 1996 and joined the open team in 2008. He studied computer science and worked as a programmer before he became a full-time pro. He is currently working on the Bridge Owl system, which uses cameras at clubs and tournaments to create a full and (hopefully) accurate record of the bidding and play. I first met him at the NABC in San Francisco, where he was doing a test of the system in the Soloway.

Sjoert Brink is one of the top players in the world. Together with his partner Bas Drijver, he has won the Bermuda Bowl three times—once for the Netherlands (2011) and twice for Switzerland (2021 and 2023)—and the Open Olympiad for the Netherlands (2016). He also won the Mixed world championships playing with Barbara Ferm in 2022. He has won many European and North American championships as well. Sjoert has 2 kids—Daan and Froukje—and studied economics at Tilburg University. He plays padel tennis, runs, and always goes wrong in the stock market.

Kim Frazer was an international rifle shooter who represented Australia at all levels of competition over a 28-year period from 1978 to 2006. She competed at the Olympic Games in Athens as well as 4 World Championships, 4 Commonwealth Games, winning Gold medals on 3 occasions and multiple World Cups. She became interested in the mental side of sport following an introduction to the subject during a training camp in 1985 and she used mental tools extensively during her shooting career. She played cards with the family as a child and first played a few games of bridge at lunchtimes while at university in the late 70’s and really liked the game. After retiring from international shooting, she returned to bridge at a local club in 2005 and applied the same passion and competitiveness to the game that she had brought success with her shooting career. She represented Australia on the women’s team in 2017 in Orlando Florida, and has represented her home state of Victoria on Open, Women’s and Senior teams since 2014. She started writing a series of articles for Australian bridge magazines on Mental Management for bridge in 2014, and these articles became the basis for her book Gaining the Mental Edge at Bridge which won an IBPA award for Book of the Year. Professionally, Kim held management roles in marketing and business development with Kodak & Telstra. Since retiring from corporate life, she has served on committees at her shooting club and the state & national bridge associations. She is currently treasurer of the IBPA. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband John and blue heeler Zoe. Outside bridge she still enjoys shooting, and also cooking, reading, and watching TV series & movies.

Alan Shillitoe is the current England U16 Squad Leader and a former U21/U26 Coach and England junior international. In over 20 years working with the squads, he has coached more than 200 players to have played internationally, many of whom have won medals at Euro/World level. He also developed the English national Junior Award Scheme and curriculum for youth players and in 2024 was a recipient of the EBU Silver Award for his outstanding service to junior Bridge.

Gavin Wolpert is a 43-year old Canadian American Pro Bridge player turned online teacher. He grew up in a bridge playing family in Toronto. From age 14 he began traveling the world playing bridge. In 2001, he became a full-time professional bridge player and has never looked back. During the pandemic Gavin began teaching online and has developed a large following of players playing the system taught in his “master series” on wolpertbridge.com Gavin currently lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with his wife Jenny and their 3 children. Two of his kids have turned into bridge players and are part of the USBF Junior Program. Gavin is a World Grand Master and ACBL Grand Life Master with over 27000 Masterpoints. Gavin is a world champion, an 8-time NABC Champion with 7 different partners including the Blue Ribbon Pairs with his then fiancé Jenny, and most recently the 2025 Soloway KO. He believes his success with so many different partners comes down to keeping a simple but modern system and being a good partner.

Per-Ola Cullin is a member of the Swedish Open team and lives in Stockholm with his wife and two kids. He is an associate judge at the Court of Appeals in Stockholm, currently working at the office of the Ombudsman of Justice monitoring the legality and appropriateness of the activities of public authorities. Some impressive results include wins in the Life Master Pairs 2011 and World Mind Games 2012 and third place this year in the Bermuda Bowl 2025.

Jason Feldman is an immigration attorney and accomplished professional bridge player. Raised in a bridge-playing family, he learned the game at ten and went on to win the World Junior Championship (2006), the NABC Open Swiss Teams (2008), and Canada’s CNTC titles in 2023 and 2025, along with numerous additional top-ten finishes. Beyond the table, Jason co-founded BridgeWinners.com, a leading online hub for players, teachers, and fans. He also leads a successful immigration law firm with his mother—expert player Lynne Feldman—helping clients, including many bridge players, pursue their dreams of working and living in the U.S. A longtime San Diegan who later lived in the ski town of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Jason now spends most of his time in Florida. When he isn’t working or playing bridge, he’s with his wife, three kids (ages 6, 9, and 11), and two dogs—or out chasing adventures like surfing, skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey, and disc golf.

In 1991, Jeff Ferro performed the rare feat of playing in two world championships: he represented the USA in the Bermuda Bowl and the junior world championships. His team made the quarterfinals in the Bermuda Bowl and won the youth championships. Two years later, he added on a bronze medal in the junior world championships and a win in the Grand National Teams. Then followed a 25-year hiatus during which he played very little as he focused on his advertising career. He won the Masters Mixed Board-a-Match in 2000, but that was about it for his bridge until 2020. Since coming back, he has won several online events, including the two-day pairs event during the online summer NABC in 2021.

Jill Meyers has won 8 world championships: four Venice Cups, one mixed team, one McConnell, and two women’s pairs. She currently ranks 10th on the WBF’s women’s all-time list. She has won 17 NABC+ titles and finished 2nd an additional 23 times. She was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2014. Jill only plays bridge part-time, because she has a career in Hollywood: she is the music supervisor on movies and TV shows including The Voice and was formerly Vice President of Music at Tri-Star Pictures.

Daniel Korbel was born in Toronto, Canada, but currently resides in Las Vegas. He has won four Canadian Championships and four NABCs. He has 7 second place finishes in NABCs, a world championship silver, and two world championship bronze medals. When not playing bridge, you can find Daniel in the gym, at the piano bench, or at the Texas Hold’em poker tables.

Geoff Hampson was born and raised in Toronto Canada and emigrated to the USA 31 years ago. He has lived in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the last 18 years. Seen above with his wife Lindsay and their golden retriever, Charlie. Geoff has won 25 NABC+ championships, with an additional 15 second place finishes. He is a World Grand Master, with wins in the Rosenblum in 2010 and 2022. He and longtime partner Eric Greco joined the Nickell team in 2020 and are considered one of the top pairs in the world.

Almost every top player I’ve had on the podcast has mentioned that one of the key tools they use working on their partnerships is Cuebids, an app that was developed by Emanuel Unge and Daniel Koval Gullberg. So I wanted to have them on the podcast to talk about it. The episode comes off as a bit of an advertisement for Cuebids, but I think that’s appropriate—it’s such a great app and has become an essential tool for any serious partnership. Greg and I use it every day. I encourage you to check it out! Emanuel Unge is the founder of Cuebids. He discovered bridge at the age of 25 and quickly fell in love with the game. Passionate about technology and gadgets, he also enjoys playing all kinds of games—video, board, and card games alike. He occasionally takes on the challenge of golf, though he admits it’s a tough game. Emanuel lives in the south of Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife Erika and their three-year-old daughter, Saga. Daniel Koval Gullberg learned bridge in high school in Stockholm. On the Swedish junior team he won gold in both European and World championships. Daniel works as a software engineer. He recently moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bill Neumann learned bridge at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, becoming an ACBL Life Master in 1972. After a long break from tournament play, he returned eight years ago and has since posted several NABC+ top-10 finishes in the last two years. A decades-long daily reader of The Bridge World, Bill writes about skill acquisition in bridge; he created the Red–Green framework and a companion flash-card system used for training and as a concise alternative to traditional system notes. He lives in Columbia, MD, and works full-time as a Principal Solution Architect and Systems Engineer at Connection (Microsoft Azure & Microsoft 365). Read his series on Red-Green at billneumann.substack.com.

Ida Grönkvist played her first international bridge tournament for Sweden when she was 12 years old and hasn’t been able to stop since. Now 30, Ida lives in Stockholm, where she works as an acting associate judge at The Svea Court of Appeals. Since 2022, she has served as a member on the executive council of the EBL and the chair of the EBL Youth Committee. Outside of bridge, she enjoys reading, running, hiking and choir practice. Though she couldn’t make time to play the Venice Cup this year, Ida has been a mainstay on the Swedish women’s team since 2016. They won the Venice Cup in 2019 and were second at the World Bridge Games in 2024. She also represented Sweden on several gold medal junior teams.

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