A Note from Larry King:  I have known Bernie for over 30 years. I have always liked him even though when I first met him I thought him a little loud and opinionated. Then I realized he was from New York and that explained a lot. Have you ever tried to hail a cab in New York ? Loud is necessary for survival there. I have followed his career since those days at Art Weinstein’s San Mateo Bridge Club in the 1970’s. Besides being an expert player, he has developed into an expert teacher. Using his bridge newsletter, seminars and cruises as tools, he holds a bridge group’s attention with his stories, jokes and wit, all the while improving their bridge game.       When he approached me at the Orlando NABC with the idea of us joining forces to begin the Bridge University , I agreed without hesitation. I know we need prize money in bridge to make the public understand this great game and its importance to society. But, equally important, we need to strive to raise the understanding of bridge across the board for all of us, for bridge to continue to grow and be part of a dynamic future that Bernie and I envision for this great game. A university for the advanced study and development of bridge and its players is necessary and natural.          Bernie has agreed to be a regular columnist for Score. In this first column, Bernie will tell you about himself. I know you will enjoy learning from Bernie in his column, and I hope you join us to experience Bernie, and a number of great professors of bridge (including World Champions Freddy Hamilton and Alan Sontag) at the first Bridge University in August in Las Vegas, NV at the Tuscany Suites & Casino.                                                                                                 Larry King, Publisher About Bernie Chazen In 1942, Melvin Bernard Chazen was born in Brooklyn , New York . My parents called me Bernie. It stuck, and this is how I am known to the bridge world. As a high school senior, I worked as a deli waiter on weekends, holding this job until graduating from City College of New York in 1962. After graduation, I taught mathematics at Tilden High School in Brooklyn .             Luckily I did not discover bridge until AFTER graduation when I was invited to play bridge at a friends' fraternity house. I told them I didn't know how to play, but they insisted and taught me the rules. The briefing took only five minutes and years later I realized that they had taught me everything they knew about the game. Teaching mathematics by day and playing bridge every night, I honed my bridge expertise and eventually changed careers, becoming a computer programmer and systems analyst. In the early 1980's, through a quirk of fate, bridge became my full-time career. I taught and played tournaments with my students and began giving group lectures, quickly developed a following. My bridge students found out what my high school students knew years before: I had the knack of turning learning into a fun and interesting experience, like some comedians.             My bridge newsletter for intermediate players was begun in 1995. It was extremely successful and continues to this day, now known as Bridge Sense. In January 2000, I began a second newsletter with Bobby Wolfe called Bobby Wolfe's Aces' Bridge Monthly, for the "home-bound" player. The thousands of subscribers to these publications have become the base of my most popular endeavor: Bridge Cruises - on land and on sea. It is on these ‘cruises’ that my students get the best of Bernie -- my talents as a lecturer and jokester and my nationally recognized bridge expertise -- provide my cruise "family" with the absolute best in cruising: great bridge, great lectures, great ships and superb destinations. Over the years I have enjoyed working with many other famous bridge teachers. ‘Bridge weekends’, ‘bridge camps’, bridge cruises and even Q&A’s at regionals have often found me working with some of the bridge world’s most famous players: Larry Cohen, Alan Sontag, Al Roth, Zeke Zabbour, Alan Cokin, and Michael Seamon, Jeff Meckstroph, Eric Rodwell, Paul Soloway, Mike Passell and Mark Lair just to name a few. In August, I will join forces with Larry King ( Prize Money Bridge ) to launch the first event of our newest venture: the Bridge University . If you were thinking that this is a school for bridge, then you would be partially correct. However, it is much more than that. It is fun and entertainment presided over by energetic, quick-witted bridge experts like the ones mentioned earlier. Finally you will have a chance to get to know these bridge stars personally instead of watching them from afar. The purpose of the Bridge University is to provide all the typical extras you would find on any upscale, luxury vacation while helping to make you a better player through lessons, lectures, seminars, duplicate play and a variety of fantastic stories, jokes and hands on bridge. In fact, the first Bridge University event will be held in Las Vegas at the luxurious Tuscany Suites & Casino Hotel from Monday August 15 through Thursday August 18, 2005 (as of this writing World Champions Freddie Hamilton and Alan Sontag have agreed to join me as two of our Professors). Intended for club tournament players at all levels, the Bridge University will run daily from 9AM until 5PM and will include a catered continental breakfast and a catered buffet lunch. Evenings are left open for you to experience the shows and excitement of the great city of Las Vegas or simply relax in your 600 sq. ft. luxurious suite-quality room!    more . . .