Bridge | 24 May 2018

Martin Hoffman, who died last week, had an extraordinary life. Born in Prague in 1929, he was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust and came to live in England soon after being liberated in 1945. He learned bridge by kibbitzing at a local club and became one of the most brilliant card players of all time — considered the best pairs player in the world for many years. The week before he died, he won a club duplicate and the day before he gave me some hands for this column. ‘Always count the opponents’ hands’ was his favourite tip and no one did that faster than Martin.

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