Bridge is simple: Engineer and statistician gives Bridge lessons requiring no memory

Sharon is a very pleasant student from Exeter and its famous climate. Acol is obviously the local standard, but quite the old way. Sharon is working hard on improving her performance at the game by grasping modern techniques in bidding that she can then propose to her partners. The lack of better tools comes to light on random deals, emphasizing the need for specific improvements. The reward should soon come alive at the table!

Eliot wondered whether the game of bridge would be worth learning. Eliot had already played similar games. It was therefore easy to bridge the gaps and make him quickly understand the basics of the game as well as, much more importantly, all its excitement and potential. Eliot has proven to be an educated student, extremely quick to understand and open to discoveries and new interesting concepts, full of potential. My opinion is that Eliot can become a top-level competitor if he wishes to. Best of fun, Eliot!

When Connie contacted me, she was struggling in the bridge class of her club, counting on the support of a cheat card to find there the "right" bid according to the HCPs of her hand. The reason why Connie was not successful compared to her mates is not that Connie was less smart or did not have the required skills. With some support from me, Connie is now heading to do do better than her mates: she grasps very quickly the real basements of bridge, based no more on HCPs, memory and stress but tricks, common sense and right focus for her energy. Connie is very pleasant to work with as she is clever, open-mined, and prompt to understand and digest new concepts. Thanks Connie for making our classes so enjoyable!

Julia is a bright bridge student, quickly understanding the fundamentals of bridge and easily joining the dots. As she is very excited about the game, building on her initial knowledge and structuring new concepts is a piece of cake! Actually, Julia is sharing her enthusiasm so much that it makes it tough for the teacher to end the lessons on time... Thanks so much Julia!

Martine a joué quand elle était édudiante, et en a gardé un bon souvenir. Elle a pu après tant d'années retrouver ses sensations, et retrouve un bridge ingénieux et logique, qui ne demande qu'à tester ses créations et sa concentration. Bravo Martine, et pas seulement pour ton enthousiasme mais pour toutes tes qualités dont ton ouverture d'esprit et ton adaptabilité!

Louise and Simon reside in the core of the UK. As expected, they take no nonsense and appreciate straight and nonest exchanges. They started by giving me a quantified evaluation of their skill level, which was very helpful. With their precious indications that they provided me beforehand, I could address more precisely and in a priority sequence the identified quick wins. I appreciated very much not only their kindness but also their way of thinking. As an example of good surprise, theyr were my first students ever to pass a high hurdle in our first deal: I was astonished. I am convinced they do have the high potential they display. Not only should they notice soon and continuously a measurable and significant improvement of their skills and scores, but most important, I expect them to have an increasing pleasure when they play.

Diane has a mathematical background, enabling her to grasp quickly the logic required to exploit the rules of bridge in order to maximize the score. She is an amazingly quick learner. If she has time to invest long enough her time in bridge, the sky is her limit!

Catherine a commencé avec Gilles à jouer au bridge en prenant des cours dans leur club. L'approche a évolué dans le bon sens car ils apprennent carte en main avec du vrai bridge, mais néanmoins des limitations: seuls les contrats à SA au départ, et les points H sont malheureusement encore mis à l'honneur. Catherine et Gilles apprennent avec moi en parallèle pour avancer plus vite, et surtout mieux: ils se familiarisent à présent avec les fondamentaux, habituellement passés sous silence car inconnus de la plupart des profs. La priorité reste le plaisir dans la simplicité, la logique et la créativité. Adieu la mémorisation, et bienvenue aux vibrations! Tous deux montrent leur capacité à voir le jeu sous un jour nouveau, ouvert à leur potentiel, et réellement dans leurs mains, suivant le temps qu'ils ont envie d'y consacrer par eux-memes, avec de temps en temps des questions/réponses et mises au point avec moi, ainsi que de nouvelles découvertes inattendues aux enchères comme au jeu de la carte. Ils iront sûrement cueillir un plaisir grandissant et des scores de plus en plus satisfaisants.

Claude estvif et souple. Malgré le bourrage de crane des cours classiques de la FFB, il arrive avec une belle aisance à changer de perspective et remplacer peu à peu la mémoire par le bon sens accompagné de simples petites additions menant au nombre de levées. Je suis convanincu que son plaisir à la table en devient sensiblement augmenté, ainsi dailleurs que ses performances. Encore un bon joueur à suivre!

Diana is very cool, pleasant and always taking everything with a nice smile. She is overcoming slowly but surely the nasty hurdles preventing the game from being fun and enjoyment.

Kevin is curious, very open-minded, and ready for big improvements at the bridge table. He appreciates that simple is beautiful, and that less trimming can provide better yield. We are on our way implementing our program to fill up the gaps and connect the dots. Congrats, Kevin!

Philippe et son partenaire (un autre Philippe!) montrent une belle entente et un intérêt évident dans les plus gros trous à combler pour passer au niveau supérieur. A présent, même leurs épouses participent bien agréablement à nos cours!

Jeff came in with a heavy and quality luggage. He is extremely open-minded and attentive to details: a excellent builder. We have been layering a sound bidding system and are still heavily busy with the foundations and some of the basement, checking every part before adding it to the assembly. Nice job, Jeff!

Barbara is clearly eager to learn and build on her skills. She has unfortunately be disappointed by the services provided by Superprof. In particullar she was expecting a free class after the first class we enjoyed together during 2 hours.

Liza has made up her mind: now is the time to learn that fantastic game of bridge! Liza is very enthusiastic and understands easily the many new concepts in our adventure. No pain, no gain! and she endures the process with that permanent smile on her face, chewing and digesting one difficulty after the other. This way she senses the nectar of the game, drop after drop, and sometimes rather bucket after bucket! An outstanding student who puts her analytical mind as well as her intuition at full power. Congrats, Lisa!

We have 4 students in the class, although the class is mostly split into 2 groups. All 4 are already making significant progress, starting with foundations and the sound but quick wins. Grisha is showing skills definitely enabling him to look for a bright future in bridge, provided he can invest enough time into the game. Vika is learning quickly and plays in a conservative, sound way, matching her improvements in the card play. Varda and Greg haven't had so far as much time to spend in the game, but are nonetheless progressing also at a good pace.

Carola and her family are very nice to teach: always enthusiastic, smiling and kidding. They get really hooked to the game and use the famous Italian inventivity to explore new paths with the help of the weapons that I make them discover. With them, bridge gets back all the creativity and excitement it deserves. Thank you my friends for sharing with me your experience and discoveries! Using their BBO nick names, here are the major skills I found out for each one: Cippos is very careful, analytical and concentrated. Tiziano61 is a gambler, willing to explore and take risks, likes psychological coups and bluffs; he is an epicurian. Cippos is a mixture between these two extremes; she is also a good organizer. We learnt that the best partnership between the 4 of us is having Cippins and Cippos together, against Tiziano and myself on the wilder side.

You cannot find anybody more enthusiastic than Ishkiia! She has been immersed into bridge as a child, filling the gap when a player was missing, and managed to be called again and again despite having received no prior training. And she did well! After all these years, Ishkiia felt the call of the table, and is now back. Time has come for getting the foundations so many players lack, and being well prepared to shine while still keeping the original fun and excitement. Ishkiia proves to be the perfect candidate to enjoy the game by using at best all her skills. Her common sense and natural logic backed by intuition make her a quick learner who will promptly be able to swim with grace among the sharks and other experienced menagerie found in the clubs and social games. Last but not least, she is just such a pleasure for her teacher: quick on the ball and always smiling!

Anne est passionnée de bridge. Tellement que je vais avoir du mal à lui transmettre encore plus d'envie de jouer, à part le plaisir de gagner davantage, d'augmenter sa confiance en soi, et celle du partenaire en sa maîtrise du jeu. Pour ce faire, nous bâtissons ensemble un édifice solide de fondamentaux qui transforment progressivement un historique de mémorisation en une attitude sereine faite de logique bien enracinée et de bonnes pratiques automatiques. Ceci permet de jouir de la table en mettant son énergie juste où et quand il faut. Anne s'applique bien et mérite amplement ses progrès. Elle est en outre d'une gentillesse et d'une modestie à toute épreuve.

Mayada started her adventure with me with a lot of potential. She had been playing old sound bridge a few years ago, and this kind of solid bridge approach is far from being outdated by current practices we are seeing around. On the contrary! I see her making quickly a lot of progress, by absorbing the intangible fundamentals which are actually almost never taught, and hands-on practice on the thought process that concentrates at the table on the essential reasoning and winning tactics. As promised, key to success is logic, not memory, and Mayada proves to have the abilities to massively benefit from this on her road to being a respected winner.

Christiane est débutante, mais elle en veut et ne se laisse pas décourager. Après tout, j'ai remarqué que c'est souvent un avantage d'être novice, car pas encore trop pollué par les dévots du bridge qui ne pensent que par les enseignements ex cathedra d'autrui. Comme dans tout enseignement, il s'agit de transmettre, non pas tant son savoir que l'essence de son expérience, et plus apprendre à nager par soi-même que mener en bateau...

Jean-Charles est très étonnamment extrêmement vif alors qu'il compte déjà pas mal de décennies. Il pose des questions très enrichissantes pour moi et apprend à très grande vitesse. Il est très nettement au-dessus de la moyenne des centaines d'élèves de bridge que j'ai déjà eus, alors qu'il les dépasse largement en âge.