Fred Parker

Biography

Frederick Parker was born in Hungary, escaped the Communist regime in 1949, and immigrated to Australia, where he earned an engineering degree. He later took postgraduate courses in macro- and microeconomics. He has lived in the United States since 1958 and is a retired general manager of a high-tech international company in Silicon Valley. He and his wife, Mary-Anne, have two sons and three grandchildren.

A lifelong interest in bridge became a second career as a player and writer. He is an ACBL Sapphire Life Master (member R012222) with 3,853 masterpoints. He has competed successfully at club, sectional, regional, and North American Bridge Championship (NABC) events, and a La Jolla Bridge Club review of Win at Duplicate Bridgecalled him San Diego's foremost bridge book author — crediting practical methods (sometimes called the Parker Power Bidding System) that helped him win dozens of local club games.

Beyond bridge he has also written on manufacturing management (Strategy and Teamwork = Great Products) and on American politics (Cancer in American Democracy — The Causes and The Cures), drawing on firsthand experience of authoritarianism abroad and a career in U.S. industry. Publisher notes for his bridge books are at Master Point Press.

ACBL credentials & Ace of Clubs standings

Current standing (from the author): Sapphire Life Master, 3,853 total masterpoints, ACBL number R012222. ACBL tournament records list him as Frederick Parker, San Diego CA. Sapphire Life Master is the ACBL rank for Life Masters with at least 3,500 masterpoints (plus pigmented-point requirements where they apply).

National Ace of Clubs (peak years)

Mid-2000s national club races show the climb into Life Master brackets:

• 2005

  #46 nationally among Bronze Life Masters in the ACBL Ace of Clubs race (147 MPs); #4 in District 22 (Southern California).

• 2006

  #13 nationally in the 500–1000 masterpoint Ace of Clubs division (195.28 club MPs).

• 2007

  #58 nationally in the 1000–2500 masterpoint Ace of Clubs division (207.65 MPs).

• 2008

  #43 nationally in the 1000–2500 Ace of Clubs division (243.26 club MPs); #1 in District 22 in that same bracket.

Example primary source: 2005 ACBL Ace of Clubs — Bronze Life Master of the Year (rank 46, Frederick Parker, San Diego CA, 147 points).

San Diego Unit 539 — it did not stop in 2008

After the national peak years he kept posting strong Helen Shanbrom Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKenney results in Unit 539. The lifetime brackets in those tables track his rise from 1000–2500 → 2500–3500 → 3500–5000 masterpoints:

• 2009

  Ace of Clubs #1 in Unit 539 (1000–2500), 215.20 club MPs; also #5 District 22. Mini-McKenney #6 unit (305.07).

• 2010

  Ace of Clubs #5 unit (184.08); Mini-McKenney #9 unit (229.95).

• 2011

  Ace of Clubs #3 unit (163.39); Mini-McKenney #6 unit (198.97).

• 2012

  Ace of Clubs #5 unit (134.83) in the 1000–2500 bracket.

• 2016–2019

  Regular top-10 finishes in Unit 539’s 2500–3500 Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKenney races (e.g. Ace of Clubs #6 in 2017 with 105.52; Mini-McKenney #9–10 with ~95–140 MPs/year).

• 2020

  Ace of Clubs #10 unit in 2500–3500 (21.89) — still listed through the pandemic year.

• 2022

  Listed in Unit 539’s 3500–5000 lifetime bracket (Ace of Clubs #9 / Mini-McKenney #10) — consistent with Sapphire Life Master at 3,853 total MPs.

Example primary source: 2009 Unit 539 Ace of Clubs — 1000 to 2500 (#1, Frederick Parker, San Diego CA, 215.20). Later unit tables are on the same ACBL masterpoint-race archive.

Beyond the club game

Selected national and regional results:

• 2000 Summer NABC — with Audrey Wicks, 2nd in section, ACBL/ABA Stratified Pairs (first session).
• 2003 Summer NABC — with Maritha Pottenger, 5th in section, Mixed Pairs session.
• 2009 San Diego NABC — 16.24 masterpoints earned during the championship.
• 2017 San Diego NABC — with Alan Rowen, 12th overall in the Tuesday Daylight A/B/C Pairs (58.34%, 11.13 MPs, 79-table field).
• 2007 Pacific Southwest Regional — with Milton Spinner, 5th overall Saturday Senior Pairs and 1st in B flight (7.08 MPs).
• Sectional and unit open pairs results into the 2010s (e.g. La Jolla 2014; San Diego Unit 539 Spring Open Pairs 2019), plus strong club games against high-average fields.

Bridge books

• Win at Duplicate Bridge(2018)

  Bid Difficult Bridge Hands Like an Expert

  Judgment-heavy bidding for difficult hands: evaluation, competitive auctions, and the conventions worth keeping — with quizzes throughout.

  Author: Fred Parker · Master Point Press

  View on Amazon →

• Bridge Bidding Tips(2023)

  For Intermediate Duplicate Bridge Players

  Borderline cases across openings, preempts, responses, doubles, slam tries, 2/1, NMF, inverted minors, Lebensohl, and more — tip-and-quiz format.

  Author: Fred Parker · Master Point Press

  View on Amazon →