Background
Nail was born in Kansas City, Missouri, with the congenital bone disorder osteogenesis imperfecta.
Nail was born in Kansas City, Missouri, with the congenital bone disorder osteogenesis imperfecta.
He represented the United States twice in the Bermuda Bowl, finishing second in 1963. He was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2001. The Nail Life Master Open Pairs event is named after him.
Nail and Robert Stucker invented the Big Diamond bidding system and presented it in the 1965 book Revolution in Bridge.
A major departure from Standard American bidding concepts of the day, it featured a weak notrump, an unbalanced big 1♦ opening and a 1♣ opening that was forcing but not necessarily strong. Honors Wins Runners-up North American Bridge Championships von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs (1) 1979 Silodor Open Pairs (1) 1970 Wernher Open Pairs (1) 1949 Blue Ribbon Pairs (1) 1980 North American Pairs (1) 1989 Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (1) 1988 Vanderbilt (1) 1985 Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams (2) 1961, 1964 Reisinger (1) 1960 Spingold (1) 1962.