[4] Nico (Nehemi) Goldinger was born in Riga, Latvia, then part of Imperial Russia, into a wealthy Jewish family.
Gardener was multi-lingual, capable of conducting lessons and practice in Latvian, Russian, German, French, Italian and English.
[4] One of Gardener's established partners was the outstanding and prolific bridge writer Victor Mollo, a contemporary whose family fled Russia after the 1917 revolution.
[4] Gardener's partners in bridge competition included some of the great players of the day, such as Pedro Juan, Victor Mollo, Louis Tarlo, Iain Macleod and Adam Meredith.
He won the Sunday Times Invitational Pairs in 1970 with Tony Priday; this prestigious tournament featured some of the world's strongest partnerships.