Winner October Stars and Platinum

We recently caught up with Lin-Huan Chen from Missouri in the USA. He's the latest winner of Stars and Platinum, where he secured top spot on the leaderboard. He's very modest and describes himself as a virtual unknown in the bridge world - but we think this is going to change!

Lin-Huan lives in Missouri, USA, with his wife of over 30 years and their feline companion, Lulu. His wife, Ding-Hwa Hsieh, is not only his life partner but also his beloved bridge partner! They're retired and spend much of their time traveling and playing bridge together.

Lin-Huan's bridge journey began more than four decades ago when he was a college freshman in Taiwan. It was during this time that he was introduced to the game that would become a lifelong passion. Over the years, Lin-Huan and Ding-hwa developed a deep connection not only in their marriage but also at the bridge table.

While bridge had always been a part of their lives, they found a new dimension to their passion during the pandemic.

"Thanks to BBO, we connected with world-class bridge players who were kind enough to team up with us for events. Playing with them definitely helped us become better bridge players."

After the pandemic, the couple made the decision to start playing in bridge events around the world. One of their proudest achievements came this summer when their team, 54Fun (Nikolas Bausback, Lin-Huan Chen, Ding-hwa Hsieh, Hong Ding, and Adam Wildavsky) finished second in the Mixed BAM at the 10th European Transnational Championships in Strasbourg, France.

"On the podium, we were surrounded with world-class players; my wife and I were “nobody-knows” players."

When asked about his experience in the Stars & Platinum Festival, Lin-Huan said this about how he approached the tournament,

"It's about minimizing the damage rather than trying to get the top score by miracle/sensational play."

Perhaps you'll be up against Lin-Huan in the upcoming Stars and Platinum event next month? We'll certainly be looking out for how he gets on, but maybe it will be Ding-Hwa who'll come good next month!

If you'd like to add the game to your calendar it's played over three days and starts on Monday, November 6. Click here for all the details.