Welcome
The purpose of this site is to help my partnerships and teams achieve better results. My best friend and longtime bridge partner and teammate is Phil Warden. Phil is an extremely talented and successful player, known by anyone who has played more than a few hands against him. Many years ago Phil told me that he could not get his partners to do what he thought was right, he could only explain to them how he played. He could tell them how he looked at the game, approached problems, and made his decisions. By this communication his partners would perform better, since they could understand what he was doing.
Those in my group are amateur players, competing in a world of professionals. Many of us could have been professional bridge players, if we had taken that road, but there were other opportunities. As a result we all have full-time jobs that are very demanding. Despite this we attend the North American Bridge Championships and compete against the best whenever possible. We have achieved some success, including some top ten finishes.
The journal is about this quest and how we can do better in top-flight competition. The issue may be which methods to use and how complex our system should be. The question may be one of getting the most from our ability. And of course, we just have some “you hold” problems that might improve our agreements.
Sometimes the stories will make us seem foolish. That is inherent in analysis. We must look at our problems to improve, but the focus on the problems highlights how we might have done better and won crucial matches.
That is my approach. I intend to explain my bridge philosophy and what I do to get the most from my ability. By describing problems and what I think about them, I hope to raise some interesting questions. Even if my partners do not agree, they will understand how I look at the world.
I want to stress that no hand is intended as a criticism of my partners. They are all great players, or I would not play with them. I generally present my own hand as the problem. In fact, this is a team rule for us. Following the advice of my great friend Ralph Katz, one of the leading players in the world, I work on my own game, always trying to see what I could have done to improve the result. When partner seems to have gone wrong, I try very hard to visualize it from his/her perspective.
I may wind up commenting on an action by partner, but that is an essential part of the process. I will not identify that particular partner, and I stress that it is only my view. Comments are always invited.
I leave the site open for public view so that it is easy for all of us to comment and discuss. I doubt that many of our opponents will try scouting us!