From learning bridge as a teenager to helping shape the future of online play through BBO, David Smith’s journey with the game has been anything but ordinary. A former investor in BBO and now a passionate robot tournament player, David recently topped the charts to win the prestigious NABC Robot Individual. We caught up with him to hear more about his bridge background, his bold style with the bots, and what keeps him coming back to the table every morning.

Tell us a bit about your background and how you started playing bridge

I started playing duplicate bridge when I was 14 because my parents played (I am 74 now). We moved to the Bay Area from Oregon when I was in High School and I was fortunate to be mentored by world class players including Hugh Ross, Peter Pender, and Mike Lawrence. However, I quit bridge cold turkey when I was in my late 20’s to start a career in banking and raise a son.

After I retired from banking I had the opportunity to invest in BBO along with Sharon Osberg and Bill Gates. During the 10 years I was involved I got to see first hand the brilliance of Fred, Uday and Sheri (the founders). My main contribution was to push for expansion of robot games which was a very minor piece of the business when I joined.

I am glad to see that BBO still seems to be in good hands.

David getting ready to hike down into the Grand Canyon

What is your playing style with the robots?

I am very aggressive in the bidding (particularly bidding NT). I think the robots bid reasonably well but you can sometimes take advantage of defensive mistakes. My scores are generally lower when I am defending vs. playing the hand.

However, I love playing the robots. They never complain and I don’t have to worry about revoking.

Some people get up in the morning and do the NY Times crossword puzzle. I usually start the morning playing a BBO robot tournament.

Do you have any other hobbies?

I play table tennis at local clubs and my wife and I take biking and hiking trips each year around the world (while we still can). This year we hiked the Grand Canyon and biked in Sweden and Denmark.

I like active travel in general. Antarctica is my favorite place. I have been there 5 times.

How does it feel to win the NABC tournament?

It feels like I was very lucky.

Congratulations and thank you David!

From bold NT bids to biking in Scandinavia and five trips to Antarctica, David brings the same spirit of adventure to both bridge and life. Players like him remind us what makes the NABC Robot Individual special—and we’re already looking forward to the next edition.