The Red Ribbon Pairs national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League

American Contract Bridge League

The American Contract Bridge League is the largest contract bridge organization in North America. It promotes the game of bridge in the United States, Mexico, Bermuda, and Canada, and is a member of the World Bridge Federation...

 (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship

North American Bridge Championships

North American Bridge Championships are three annual bridge conventions sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League . The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven days. They comprise both championship and side contests of...

 (NABC).

The Red Ribbon Pairs is a four-session matchpoint (MP) pairs event with two qualifying and two final sessions. The event typically starts on the second Thursday of the NABC. The event is restricted to those with fewer than 2,000 masterpoints

Masterpoints

Masterpoints or master points are points awarded by national and other bridge organisations for success in bridge tournaments run under their auspices. Organisations which issue these points include the American Contract Bridge League , the American Bridge Association, the English Bridge Union ,...

 and have earned a red ribbon qualification.

History

The Red Ribbon Pairs is an ACBL event with national rating open to players with fewer than 2000 masterpoints.

Players earn qualification by placing first or second overall in regionally rated events of at least Flight B status. Neither member of a qualifying pair may hold more than 2000 masterpoints at the time of qualification.

The four-session event began in 1986 and winners have their names inscribed on the Percy X. Bean Trophy. The trophy was designated by the ACBL Board of Directors in 1996 to honor Bean, ACBL president in 1972 and chairman of the Board in 1973.

Bean (1916–1992) represented District 19 on the Board from 1964 until 1988 and served as president of the ACBL Charity Foundation from 1974 until 1981. He was a member of the National Goodwill Committee and the National Board of Governors and general chairman of arrangements for the World Team Olympiad

World Team Olympiad

The World Team Olympiad was a contract bridge meet organized by the World Bridge Federation every four years from 1960 to 2004. Its main events were world championships for national teams, always including one open and one restricted to women...

 in Seattle in 1984.

Bean was the editor of Mad, Mad World of Bridge, a publication that strongly championed players of less than expert class.

Winners

Winners of Red Ribbon Pairs

Year	Winners	Runners-up
1986	Wayne Perrin, Martin Newland	Hugh Ogle, Charlie Cargile
1987	Jim Gaarder, Jimmy Ritzenberg	Charles Moser, Paul Bratton
1988	Leni Holtz, Guy Green	Anthony Trafecanty, Michael Trafecanty
1989	Lu Kohutiak, Yvonne Hernandez	2/3. Charlie Cargile, Warren Haynie 2/3. Bill Goldberg, Bill McKenna
1990	Phil Gordon Phil Gordon Philip Stewart Gordon is an American professional poker player, commentator and author.-Personal life:Gordon was born in El Paso, Texas. He spent his formative years in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Gordon began attending Georgia Tech at the age of 15 while still attending high school... , Mike Grodsky	Rajendra Agarwal, Don Chilrud
1991	Dan Marthaler, Robert Johnstone	Steven Gaynor, Art Ardy Bakshian
1992	Duncan McCallum, Peter Peng	Andy Goodman, Steve Zolotow Steve Zolotow Steve Zolotow is an American businessman and professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada. He has won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker. He was one of the regulars at the famed Mayfair Club while he lived in New York City.-New York Years:...
1993	Ron Weinstock, John Gillette	Hank Meyer, Marty Graf
1994	T.C. Petty, Steve Altus	Grant Robinson, Joe Walden
1995	Marc Umeno, Hank Youngerman	Bernie Greenspan, Keith Sechler
1996	Vinay Sarin, Ringo Chung	Burton Lipsky, Arnold Goldstein
1997	Tony Miller, Diane Miller	Mark Bumgardner, Nagy Kamel
1998	Paul Spear, Jim Johnsen	David Halasi, Mike Nadler
1999	Jenni Hartsman, Andrew Rosenthal	Martin Hunter, Andy Stark
2000	Nie Wei Ping, Christopher Leung	David Yang, Xiaodong Shi
2001	Brandon Carpenter, LaToss Carpenter	Mike Nadler, Gurhun Baykal
2002	Rich Atwater, Chris Pesce	Bob Sievers, Georgia Heth
2003	Chi-Yen Lai, Bin Dai	Edward Leach, Bruce Schwaidelson
2004	Martin Harris, Jacob Morgan	Mark Brighouse, Harvinder Sidhu
2005	Yeong-Long Shiue, David Margolin	Jim Lyle, Robert Todd
2006	Chris Buchanan, B.J. Trelford	Everett Boyer, Mansoor Gowani
2007	Jack Hawthorne, Paul Spear	Jim Kehoe, Chuck Michalski
2008	Mike Develin Mike Develin Michael Lee Develin is an American mathematician known for his work in combinatorics and discrete geometry.-Early life:... , Li-Chung Chen	Sidney Kanter, Ron Nelken
2009	Daniel Jackson, Bill Gervais	Steven Towner, Mitch Towner
2010	Robert Levey, Jimmy Ritzenberg	George Dragich, Rosemary Dragich
2011	David Amsterdam, Brad Barry	Neil Cohen, Eric Goff

Sources

List of previous winners, Page 20
2009 winners, Page 1