In 1932, Schenken formed a partnership with David Burnstine who had left the "Four Horsemen", the most successful team in tournament play at the time.
Burnstine created the "Bid-rite Team" consisting initially of himself, Schenken, Richard L. Frey and Charles Lochridge.
They published a book of their methods in 1935, The Four Aces System of Contract Bridge, and tried to challenge Culbertson into another of his much publicized matches, but he declined.
Schenken is recognized by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) as Life Master #3, one of ten named in 1936[a] – behind Burnstine and Jacoby.
He also took part in the successful defenses of the trophy in 1951 and 1953, but subsequently played on the US or North America team only on four occasions during the early 1960s.
They wrote it jointly until 1970 when Schenken became the sole author once more; meanwhile it became the longest continuously published national bridge column.