LAKEWOOD, Wash. – Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett are good bridge players but not always the best, competitors have established.
A team that included Gates and Buffett, the world’s two wealthiest individuals as rated by Forbes magazine, finished second Sunday after playing seven of the 24 teams in a tournament at the Lakewood Senior Center.
Vernon Myers, president of the Tacoma Unit No. 451 of the American Contract Bridge League, said he “certainly had no inkling” that they would be attending.
“Surprised? Yes,” Myers said. “On the other hand, knowing they both are avid bridge players and occasionally attend bridge tournaments together, it wasn’t a total surprise.”
Both had partners who are well-regarded in bridge circles, Fred Gitelman of Las Vegas with Gates and Susan Osberg of San Francisco with Buffett.
The billionaires got plenty of stares but were “very sociable,” Myers said.
“They just got together and talked about bridge like all the rest of our players,” he said. “They played bridge and minded their own business.”
Nor was anyone star-struck, he added.
“They’re not any more accomplished than our best bridge players in this area,” Myers said.
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