About Us

Bridge Biography

Mike, a card player for as long as he can remember, learned to play bridge in 1993 in law school. In late 1994, Mike won the right to represent his district at the Nationals in the Non-Life Master North American Pairs. In 1995, Mike won the National Non-Life Master Pairs. In 1996, Mike came in 4th in the Red Ribbon Pairs. In 1997, Mike won the right to represent District 3 in Flight B Grand National Teams and finished 2nd in the country. Mike took the ACBL Teacher Accreditation Program to become an accredited bridge teacher. Mike’s time at the bridge table was greatly reduced in the late nineties as he focused on his very successful options trading business, as he focused on blackjack, and as his first partner retired from bridge to get married and raise a family. Mike returned to Bridge after 9/11 and the birth of his son. He soon finished 7th in the World Bridge Production Pairs in Las Vegas in 2002. In late 2002, Mike & Sylwia started playing together.

Sylwia, at age 18, learned to play bridge from her math teacher in Poland. After playing for a few weeks, Sylwia represented her school in the National Junior Bridge Olympics in Poland, where she came in 4th in the Women’s event. After that performance, she was hooked on bridge. In 1994, at age 19, Sylwia came to USA. After a few months she found a bridge club. With bidding boxes and partner explaining her bids, Sylwia played tournament bridge in the United States without knowing English. Some of the first English she learned was “ask my partner”. In 1996, Sylwia represented District 3 in the NAOP. She didn’t win; but she won her first regional title and was featured in an article in the Daily Bulletin at Nationals. In 2002, Sylwia won the Plate Transnational Mixed Pairs at the World Championships in Montreal with an average of almost 62%. (Notice who came in 137th). In 2003, Sylwia was featured on the front cover of Bridge Today Magazine for her performance on the Bridge Pro Tour.

Curricula Vitae

Mike is a Professor at Capella University, an accredited all-online university. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in business ethics and various areas of business law. Mike had three graduate degrees at the age of 25. He graduated from The Johns Hopkins University in 3 years with a B.A. in Spanish and a minor in Psychology and was Class President while he was there. Next, Mike spent 3 years at Boston University, where he earned an M.B.A. and a J.D. (Law Degree). While in law school, Mike won the right to represent BU at the Kaufman National Securities Law Moot Court Competition, where he won the award for the best-written brief in the country and was a semi-finalist in the oral arguments. Mike passed the bar exam in three states and is a member of the New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts Bar Associations. He is also a member of Mensa. Upon graduation from BU, Mike took a position as an attorney with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. While at the NY Fed, Mike attended Fordham University Law School in the evening, earning an L.L.M. in Banking, Corporate and Finance Law. In 1996, Mike left the Fed to take a position, which he had obtained through bridge connections, making markets in equity options on the floor of the American Stock Exchange. After a year on the floor, Mike started his own company. As a market maker, Mike held a NASD series 4, 7 & 63. Mike was under the 2nd tower of the World Trade Center when the second plane hit on 9/11. Due to imposed regulations by the Justice Department and the advent of electronic trading, the options market-making business ceased to exist as a profitable endeavor after 9/11. As a result, Mike turned to teaching college courses and teaching bridge, as well as pursuing profitable hobbies such as blackjack and poker. Mike spends his time away from the table with Sylwia and his 8-year old son Drew. Drew and Mike both study Tae Kwon Do, where Mike has a black belt.

Sylwia McNamara (maiden name Uniwersal) was born in

Poland

. At age 19, Sylwia’s family applied for Green Cards thru the immigration lottery. Sylwia was the only one that got a green card. Sylwia came to the

United States

on her own speaking no English. For the first few years, Sylwia worked as an au pair. Then she worked as a dental assistant for a wonderful bridge player, Steve Maltzman. Working for him was not only fun, but also she was able to play all National events since the office was closed. Sylwia later graduated from Chubb Institute, where she received a diploma in Computer Programming. Sylwia also earned a Bachelors Degree in Business from Centenary College. She was working on her Masters degree in Computer Science at Pace University when she decided to turn her full attention to bridge. Sylwia still does some computer consulting work when away from the bridge table, including designing this website. In their personal lives, Sylwia and Mike enjoy traveling and spending time with Mike’s 8-year old son, Drew.

Mike & Sylwia started playing together in late 2002, but they soon curtailed their bridge play to focus on the exploding poker scene. In 2004, while they were still playing poker, Mike took his first bridge client, the late Billionaire Sydney Frank, founder of Grey Goose Vodka. By 2006, Mike started directing games at The Bridge Deck, while Sylwia still teaches the Tuesday afternoon supervised play. In addition, they began teaching courses, playing in games with more students, and playing together more frequently. Since coming back to bridge full-time, Mike & Sylwia have had numerous Sectional and Regional wins. In addition, Mike & Sylwia have had several top finishes in National Events over the past several years both playing together and with separate partners, including their recent national championship in the Bruce LM Pairs. Mike & Sylwia also lecture and run the bridge game on cruise ships, including a cruise on the Baltic in 2007 and a cruise on the Mediterranean in 2009, and an upcoming cruise on the Sea of China in 2011. Also, in 2007, Mike started serving on the Board for our Unit, the Westchester County Bridge Association, and now currently serves as Vice-President. Mike is also a member of the District 3 Board