VOORHEESVILLE — The King of Bridge has been coronated, and he wears a plastic crown.

Andrew Dubay grew up with card-playing parents, which is how he learned the somewhat esoteric game of bridge, he said.

An only child, Dubay often went to local bridge tournaments with his parents, William and Judy Dubay. His reach became international, though, in the summer of 2006 when he traveled to Slovakia for the World Youth Pairs Championships. There, he spent two weeks with about 400 young bridge players from around the world.
"You have to speak English at the table," he said, so communication wasn’t a problem for him.

Along with the crown, which sits on his parents’ coat rack, Dubay was awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the American Contract Bridge League.
This fall, Dubay, a graduate of Clayton A. Bouton High, began his freshman year at Reed College in Oregon, where he has identified "at least three other bridge players," he said, and he might start a bridge club.
"It’s not as complicated as people imagine," Dubay said of his game.