March 2025 - 47

Newer Players
BY ADAM PARRISH
adam@adamparrishbridge.com
adamparrishbridge.com
A
ll practice is not created
equal. There's a difference between
working on your scales
and having fun playing a piece you already
know. Some practice makes you
better and some keeps you where you
are. How do you make sure your time
is being spent on productive practice?
Deliberate Practice is the type
of practice that makes you better.
In his fantastic book " Talent
is Overrated, " Geoffrey Colvin, an
award-winning thinker, author,
broadcaster and speaker on today's
most significant trends in business,
spells out several elements that
define Deliberate Practice:
It's designed. You focus on a
specific skill and design a regimen
to improve that skill. It needs to be
something just at the edge of your
ability - too easy and the practice
doesn't do you any good; too hard
and you can't do it and you get frustrated.
Just saying, " I want to get
better at bridge " isn't specific enough.
It has to be more like, " I'm going to
work on counting out the distribution. "
And then working diligently on
that one skill. Over and over.
It gives you immediate feedback.
You have to be able to effectively
learn from both your mistakes
and your successes. Having a coach
or teacher who can spot mistakes and
point them out is ideal; without that,
you need to find tools that allow you
to know immediately if you have succeeded
or failed.
It can be repeated. A lot. You
don't get better practicing something
a couple of times; it takes repetition.
An afternoon of practicing your serve
isn't going to win you Wimbledon;
you're going to need tens of thousands
serves.
Parrish the Thought
Deliberate practice
It's hard. If your practice is fun,
it's probably not helping you improve.
Did Michael Jordan enjoy shooting
shot after shot after shot by himself
in the gym? I'm sure it would have
been more fun to play a pick-up game
with buddies. And I'm sure he did
that, too. But what made him great
was the hard, no-fun work he put
in by himself. Deliberate Practice is
mentally demanding.
What should a Deliberate Practice
regimen for bridge look like? You
want to focus on a specific skill, in a
way in which you can get immediate
feedback. It's not just playing at the
club or online with your friend - it's
mostly solitary drilling. You can also
work on improving some of your
favorite partnerships, but in the end,
it's going to come down to how hard
you are willing to work individually.
Choose a skill where you need
work. We all need work everywhere,
but for any given session, focus on
one thing. And make it specific.
" Declarer play " is too broad. What
aspects of declarer play do you struggle
with? Maybe you want to study
your suit combinations. Maybe you
want to drill on counting out shape or
high-card points. It could be counting
losers and making a plan. Don't
try to do it all at once, choose a single
area to focus on in each practice
session. Make sure it's in that magic
spot just outside your comfort zone.
And find a tool that lets you practice
it a lot and gives you immediate feedback.
(We'll talk about some of my
favorite practice tools next month.)
You'll certainly want to spend time
working on bidding, but that's much
too broad. You could focus on bidding
judgment. " It's Your Call " in the
Bulletin is a great resource for this:
March 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
47
you're posed a difficult problem, and
then you get immediate feedback
from the experts on the panel. " The
Bidding Box " is a great tool for partnership
bidding: bid the hands out
with your favorite partner and then
see how your auction compares to the
experts. Everything you need, right
here in the Bridge Bulletin!
If you're struggling with a specific
convention, find a way to drill it.
Over and over. In a format that gives
you immediate feedback, whether
you are right or wrong. Many teachers
(including me) have sets of hands
available that you can find online
and use to drill. BridgeBee is another
great tool for this.
Everyone learns differently. I'm
going to be trying a lot of different
things and reporting back on how
I'm using them and what I'm finding
most helpful. What works best for
me won't necessarily work for you.
What's important is understanding
the principles of Deliberate Practice
and either working with a teacher
or designing a training regimen for
yourself that focuses on the areas just
outside your reach where you need
work and gives you immediate feedback.
Learn what works for you and
do it diligently. Good luck! 2
http://www.adamparrishbridge.com
March 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2025
