Leveling Up

My Bridge Training Program For 2025

There’s a saying that anyone who is good enough to come in second place is good enough to be disappointed by it. We all feel that way about bridge a little bit, don’t we? No matter how good we are—even if we’re Jeff Meckstroth or Steve Weinstein—we can get better. We make mistakes.

How do you get better? That’s the question that has been on my mind lately. What could I do to improve my game? What does “getting better” mean? What does it look like? What does it take?

I’m going to spend the year trying to find out. I’m putting together a training regimen for myself. I’m going to try a lot of different things. Some will certainly work better than others. Some will be things I do on my own—reading books, playing robot games, studying VuGraph deals, etc.—some will be things I do with others. My partner Greg Humphreys and I are going to work on our partnership. I’m going to solicit help and guidance from as many top players and teachers as will help me.

I’m inviting you to join me on this journey. I’ll be sharing my progress in this newsletter. I’m hoping to post a weekly update on my training. I’m going to make videos of interesting hands and post them here and on social media. I’ll probably write some articles and post polls on Bridge Winners.

I want you to be a part of this endeavor. I’m interested not just in how I can improve, but how I can help my students and the entire bridge community improve. I’m not expecting everyone to be as diligent about this training as I plan to be—not everyone is as crazy as I am! But I want you to see what it takes to really, systematically, improve.

I’m pretty good at bridge. But I know I can get better. Greg and I won a national title a couple of years ago. We can win more. I’ve got a dozen or so top-ten finishes in NABC+ events. But I’ve never made it far in any of the big team events. I don’t even play them all that often. I want to change that. I want to play with and against the best and do everything I can to get better.

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I’m also moving my subscriber newsletter to Substack. Subscribers get a weekly newsletter and video. I’ll also be posting subscriber-only content for this Leveling Up project — hands, videos, articles.

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I really appreciate your support and hope you’ll join me on this journey. I think you will get a lot out of it. The curriculum I’m creating for myself isn’t just for someone who is already an expert and wants to become world class; it will help anyone at any level reach the next level.

I also want all the advice I can get. If you have ideas about ways to design a bridge training regimen, please share them. Comment here on the Substack or email me directly. I want this to be a community endeavor that launches a conversation about what it really takes to improve your bridge game.

Let’s level up together!