About Bridge Base Inc. Back to the index Bridge Base Inc. was founded in 1990 by Fred Gitelman, President, and Dr. Sheri Winestock, Vice-President. Their first two products, BASE II (1990) and BASE III (1991) were analytical tools designed for serious students of bridge. In 1992 Bridge Base Inc. released the DOS version of Bridge Master, an educational software product designed for players of all levels of ability. Bridge Master has been translated into Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Norwegian. Bridge Master is widely considered the greatest medium ever devised for learning declarer play technique. In 1994 Bridge Base Inc. began the development of Bridge Engine. Bridge Engine is an authoring tool for creating bridge software products for Windows. One of the uses of Bridge Engine is to convert bridge books into interactive software products. The Club Series (1995), Counting at Bridge (1996), Private Bridge Lessons Volumes 1 and 2 (both 1998), and Defense (1999) are examples of these sorts of Bridge Engine applications. Bridge Master for Windows (1996) is another Bridge Engine application. Bridge Base Inc. developed the Pendergraph vugraph software using Bridge Engine. Pendergraph is the vugraph program used in all North American Championships and all World Championships held in North America. The advantage of using one program (Bridge Engine) to create several applications is that all of the resulting applications will have the same look and feel, making it easier for the user to learn to use our software. We have also added the ability to create web pages to Bridge Engine. The bridge hand and auction diagrams on our web site, www.bridgebase.com, were created using Bridge Engine. Our web site is one of the most popular bridge sites on the web and receives an average of over 5000 hits per day. The Deal of the Week is the most popular feature on our web site. Bridgebase.com also contains dozens of bridge articles by Fred Gitelman, a page of bridge links, and information about our software products. In 1999 the basic Bridge Engine user interface was rewritten to take advantage of the recent advances in hardware and software technologies. Learn to Play Bridge, available for free download at www.acbl.org, was the first program to use this new interface. Bridge Master 2000 also uses the new Bridge Engine interface. Fred Gitelman is currently responsible for all software design and development as well as bridge analysis. Sheri Winestock is responsible for documentation, software testing, and running the day-to-day operations of the company. Sheri is in charge of "animation" - the process of using Bridge Engine to convert written bridge material into computer software products. Sheri is the Webmaster of bridgebase.com. Bridge Base Inc. also employs Chrys Schock and Shelagh Paulsson of Toronto on a part-time basis. Chrys and Shelagh are responsible for data entry, software testing, and artwork. Fred Gitelman, (1965), has a strong background in both computer science and bridge. Fred learned to program in BASIC when he was 12 years old. He studied computer science at the University of Toronto. Before founding Bridge Base Inc., Fred worked for three years in the Research and Development department of Netron Inc. of Toronto, a world leader in developing software engineering tools. Fred currently does most of his programming in C, C++, and Java. Fred learned to play bridge at age 18 and was immediately captivated by the game. Fred has studied and played bridge intensely since the early 1980s and he is now widely considered one of the strongest Canadian-born players in history. He was a member of the Canadian National Bridge Team for most of the 1990s. Fred has finished second in three World Championship events (1991 World Junior Championships, 1995 Bermuda Bowl, and 2000 World Transnational Temas) and he was part of the Canadian Team that won Gold Medal at the 2001 International Olympic Committee Grand Prix. Fred is frequently invited to play in international bridge events. In the past few years, Fred has played bridge in The Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Denmark, Iceland, South Africa, Tunisia, China, France, Greece, Bermuda, and in several cities in Canada and the United States. Fred is also a successful bridge writer as well as a part-time professional player. Fred's other interests include: downhill skiing, tennis, golf, juggling, computer science, and mathematics. Sheri Winestock, (1962), is also an excellent bridge player who has represented Canada in international competition. Sheri has only been playing bridge since the late 1980s and is already considered one of the top Canadian-born woman players. In 1994 Sheri completed her Doctorate in the History and Philosophy of Psychology at York University in Toronto. Sheri has worked full-time for Bridge Base Inc. since her graduation. Her excellent management, organizational, bridge, and language skills have made a major contribution to the success of our company. Sheri has some programming experience as well. Sheri's other interests include: golf, downhill skiing, tennis, jigsaw puzzles, and cryptic crossword puzzles. Fred and Sheri lived most of their lives in Toronto, but they now reside in a house in Las Vegas. Throughout the history of our company we have been fortunate to receive the support of several prominent bridge players including: Warren Buffett, Audrey Grant, Bob Hamman, Eric Kokish, Michael Lawrence, Zia Mahmood, Brent Manley, and Eric Rodwell. We would like to thank the following people who helped in the development and testing of this product: - Koen Gijsman (design of logo and fancy playing cards). - Chyrs Schock (animation of bridge movies, software testing) - Hans Leber (German translation, software testing, programming support) - Ib Axelsen (Danish translation, software testing) - Vincenzo Della Cave (Italian translation, software testing) - Bernard Marcoux (French translation) - John Plaut (Spanish translation) - Han Kuijf (Dutch translation) - William Bailey (software testing, programming support) - Lex De Groot (Dutch translation, software testing) We would also like to thank our many loyal customers who have supported our company over the years and made suggestions for improvements to our products. Back to the index