January 2025 - 47

Newer Players
BY ADAM PARRISH
adam@adamparrishbridge.com
adamparrishbridge.com
A
s both a teacher and a competitor,
I'm fascinated with
what makes people get
better at something. Why do some
people improve at bridge or golf or
accounting, while others put in the
same amount of time but show little
improvement? I frequently see bridge
players who have stayed at the same
level for 20 or 30 years. As a teacher,
how can I best facilitate my students'
progress? As a player, what do I need
to do to reach the next level?
I'm certainly not the first to ask
these questions. There are plenty of
books on improving skill and achievement.
I'm going to rely on some of
them in this project. But I've never
seen this applied directly to bridge.
Bridge is a series of plateaus. You
reach a certain level and feel like
you've got this game figured out. And
then something opens your eyes,
and you realize there's a whole other
world you didn't realize existed. And
you ask, " Has everyone known about
this all along? "
I remember one of those " aha "
moments for me: It was reading Kit
Woolsey's classic book " Matchpoints. "
Expert matchpoint thinking requires
considering what is going to happen
on the board at other tables?
That had never crossed my mind!
Was everyone thinking about this?
I moved on to a new level and never
looked back.
Everyone has a next plateau to
reach. This might be a newer player
trying to make Life Master, or someone
who is comfortable in Gold Rush
moving into the open game. It could
be someone who plays in NABC+
events starting to routinely make the
cut for day two. In my case, it's going
Parrish the Thought
A question for the new year
from very good to great. I've won
a national championship; I have a
handful of top-10 finishes in NABC+
events. How do I get to the next
level, being in regular contention
in top events like the Spingold and
Vanderbilt?
My question for this year is: How
does a bridge player reach the next
plateau? It's not uncommon to spend
years at about the same level. Is there
a way to speed that process up? What
would a dedicated regimen designed
to improve bridge skill look like?
I'm going to use myself as a guinea
pig this year as I try to answer these
questions. And I'm going to share my
journey with you. I hope some of you
will join me and try to level up your
game along with me.
I'll be documenting my progress
here in my column in the Bulletin.
I've also started a Substack newsletter
where I will post what I'm up to
more regularly: details of what I'm
doing week-by-week, videos of interesting
hands while I train, reviews
of books I read. If this idea interests
you, I encourage you to subscribe (for
free) and follow along. You can share
your thoughts and your progress in
the comments.
adamparrishthethought.substack.com
The first step is designing the training
regimen. I reached out to several
top players for their advice: how
did they get good? How would they
construct a training program? Most
offered similar advice: Play as much
as you can, with and against the best
competition you can. That's advice I
give my students: Always play up if
you can. Don't be scared of the open
game - that's where you learn.
Playing is only as good as the effort
you put in, though. If you're not digging
in on every hand and counting
and counting and counting, the repetition
isn't all that useful. The best
golfers don't play that many rounds
of golf - they spend their time on the
driving range and the putting green.
What is the bridge equivalent? What
does intense practice look like?
I'm going to try to figure that out. I
hope you'll join me. 2
CLUB DIRECTOR
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January 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
47
http://www.adamparrishbridge.com http://my.acbl.org/events/lookup http://adamparrishthethought.substack.com http://www.acbl.org/portfolio/ http://www.acbl.org/
January 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2025
