Larry Cohen

Who is Larry Cohen?

Larry Neil Cohen is an American bridge player and writer best known as an advocate for the "Law of Total Tricks" as a guide in the bidding. He has won 25 North American Bridge Championships events including the Vanderbilt, two Spingolds, two Reisingers, three Life Master Pairs, and four Blue Ribbon Pairs, and he is a two-time winner of the Cavendish Invitational Pairs cash prize tournament.

Cohen's most important work on "the Law" was To Bid or Not to Bid: The LAW of Total Tricks, published in 1992. It was the best-selling bridge book of the 1990s with more than 55,000 copies sold in six different languages and its sequel Following the Law was another bridge best seller. He is known for long-term expert partnerships with Marty Bergen, Ron Gerard, and David Berkowitz, but announced his retirement from high-level competition in 2009 to devote more time to writing and teaching the game. However, he has, on occasion, played in high-level competition thereafter.

Cohen was born in New York City. He learned to play bridge at age six from his grandparents, started playing duplicate at age 14, and began playing in tournaments at age 15.