House Of Cards

The inside scoop on the greatest scam in the history of professional bridge—and the player who put a stop to it

- John Colapinto

ON AUGUST 22, 2015, Boye Brogeland posted a provocative comment to the website Bridgewinners. com. “Very soon there will come out mind-boggling stuff,” wrote the Norwegian bridge player, then age 43 and ranked 64th in the world. “It will give us a tremendous momentum to clean the game up.”

A few days later, Brogeland launched his own website, Bridgecheaters.com. The homepage featured a huge photo of Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz, a young Israeli duo who, since breaking into the international ranks in 2011, had snapped up the game’s top trophies. They appeared under the tagline “The greatest scam in the history of bridge!”

Brogeland posted examples of what he claimed to be suspiciously illogical hands played by the pair. He also laid out a pattern of alleged cheating and bad sportsmanship going as far back as 2003, when Fisher and Schwartz were in their mid-teens.

For the game of contract bridge, it was an earthquake equal to the jolt that shook international cycling when Lance Armstrong was banned from competition for doping. Fisher and Schwartz denied all wrongdoing and hired lawyers who dispatched a letter to Brogeland threatening a lawsuit and offering to settle if he paid them US$1 million. In a message he denies was intended for Brogeland, Ron Fisher posted to his Facebook page: “Jealousy made you sick. Get ready for a meeting with the devil.”