Ralph Katz was born in 1957 in Pittsburgh, PA, and raised in Steubenville, OH. He started playing bridge at 16. After completing college, he moved to Chicago to trade options. At 22, he won his first NABC title, the Life Master Pairs, and at 24, he won both the Spingold and the Master Mixed Teams at the Summer NABC. Ralph was the ACBL Player of the Year in 2001 and won the Fishbein Trophy in 1981 and 2001. Some of his many wins include the Bermuda Bowl (2009), the Rosenblum (2022), the Vanderbilt (1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2017, 2024), the Spingold (1981, 2001, 2002), and the Reisinger (2000, 2009, 2021). In 2018, Ralph was a first-ballot selection for the ACBL Hall of Fame.
Ralph and his wife, Martha, herself a World Junior Champion, have an adult son, Sam, who was King of Bridge in 2006. Sam and his wife, Jenni, have given Ralph and Martha two adorable future players, Ben and Izzy.
Next to bridge and family, Ralph’s biggest loves are the Pirates and the Steelers.
I’ve included the video here, or you can watch it on YouTube. You can also listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Some of the highlights:
Working on the skill of letting errors go (3:15)
Counting needs to be like breathing (4:00)
Bridge is like baseball (6:00)
Ralph’s ocular convergence issues (8:40)
Why do bridge players make good options traders? (16:25)
Starting to play with Nick Nickell (22:00)
Routines at a tournament (25:00)
What differentiates the top players (28:30)
Why the game has gotten stronger (31:00)
