Mary Paul was born in Bucharest, Romania and moved to Montreal as a child.
Even though she learned bridge at a young age, it was her husband, Maurice Paul, who helped her develop her game to the expert level. Together they formed a very successful partnership for over 20 years.
Mary was the first woman to win the open Canadian National Teams Championship (CNTC), winning the first ever CNTC held in 1977. She won the event again in 1993. In addition, she won seven of the nine Canadian Women Teams Championships (CWTC) held between 1980 and 1991.
Mary represented Canada in six bridge Olympiads (1968, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992), and four Venice Cups (1989, 1991, 1995 and 1997), winning two bronze medals (1988 Women Teams Olympiad and 1989 Venice Cup).
The following hand from 1979 was reported by Ted Horning in the Toronto Star.
Dealer South. NS Vul.
♠ 10943
♥ K9
♦ AKJ4
♣ 973
♠ J8 ♠ Q7652
♥ J876532 ♥ Void
♦ 5 ♦ Q10873
♣ AK3 ♣ Q102
♠ AK
♥ AQ104
♦ 962
♣ J865
South West North East
Mary Maurice
Paul Paul
1♣ 2♥† Dbl‡ Pass
2NT Pass 3NT All Pass
Opening Lead: ♥6
† Weak
‡ Negative Double
The opening lead was taken by dummy’s ♥9. At trick two Mary ran the ♣9 to South’s King and won the heart return with dummy’s King. She cashed the ♦K and played another club covering East’s ♣10 with the Jack. West won the ♣A and persisted with a heart to Mary’s Queen. A third round of clubs forced East’s Queen and established the 9th trick. Mary won the spade return with the King leaving the following 5 card ending.
♠ 109
♥ —
♦ AJ4
♣ —
♠ J ♠ Q7
♥ J876 ♥ —
♦ — ♦ Q108
♣ — ♣ —
♠ A
♥ A
♦ 96
♣ 8
When Mary played the ♣8, West threw a heart while North and East both discarded a diamond. She then cashed the ♥A discarding the ♦J from the dummy to catch East in a “criss-cross” squeeze. If East threw a spade, Mary would cash the ♠A establishing dummy’s ♠10 for her 10th trick. If East discarded a diamond instead, Mary would cash the ♦A and return to her hand with the ♠A to cash the last diamond.