A few years ago, I sat down at a bridge club in Liverpool and was introduced to one of my opponents as, “‘So and so’… who was a national champion 30 years ago.” In reply he said, “It’s a lot harder to lose a reputation than to get one.” Now for me, that’s something worth thinking about in everyday life…
OK - In what game is this guy a "World Champion"?
Bridge is a complex multi-disciplinary activity and there is never a time when the learning stops.
So what of question in this blog title? Well, it is a question often asked of people that have not started learning, who are curious about what it entails and so forth. It is a question loaded with pessimism really, because people who ask it are generally looking for a reason why they should not take up the activity…
“Bridge is really complex. It is too difficult – Bridge is a discipline that takes forever. There is no point me even trying to start because I haven’t the time or the inclination to delve into ‘all of that’.”
The whole point is this:
Within one hour, you CAN be playing the game and having fun. And each new discovery, each new learnt skill is a pleasurable “haa haa” moment.
One of the reasons why I am so enthusiastic about a graded and modular assessment system is that beginners can have targets to aim for rather than think about the “incredibly laborious never-ending back to school learning and studying” thing.
So how long does it take to learn the basics?
I’d say about a term. 10 to 15 lessons. In my case, I just read this book.
And then, I’d say the next challenge is to aim to play duplicate in a club.
And then the next target is to become, “World Champion!!!”
What do you think are the milestone targets?
Interesting points about never stopping learning – spoilt for me by one of the increasingly common errors of English – to “loose” a reputation would be to slacken it: the word is “lose”, a totally different verb!
It ranks for me alongside “should OF” and “could OF”, and not announcing strength of No Trump openers, stayman and transfers as being capital offences, which should be punishable by either death or never getting more than 8 points in any hand at bridge for the rest of your life!
1. OK Peter… I do know how to spell! I have been writing this blog for 18 months and that’s the first error highlighted by a reader – Not a bad record for a dyslexic like me. Actually, in my “Best 5 posts of 2011” blog, I do have a go at readers for not pointing out to me that there was a typo in the headline title of one of my blogs last year. Thanks for pointing this typo out… I do appreciate the feedback.
2. Hey Peter… Fancy partnering me on BBO sometime? I love the opportunity to wind you up by NOT announcing – lol
This guy is a Scrabble champ? Glad it’s not Bridge, he looks too scary.
I gave up BBO – too many grumpy folk. I now use BCL instead, and can play in either the Social room, for fun bridge, or the more serious MPS, where one’s grade is affected by success or failure. Offences such as I mention can be reported to a moderator, and the offender given a yellow or red card, with loss of membership as a final sanction (with no refund of annual fee!)
I am gradually training fellow players at our club to leave the bidding cards on the table until the opening lead is made face down – another crime! lol
Peter, You may find this post of interest regarding the use of bidding cards. There had been some debate about the matter.
Hi Mark,
I agree with your 15 lesson estimate (and possibly a couple more). When I took lessons (about 3 years ago), our teacher advised us on two things: a) learn bridge slowly b) always pause and make a plan before you play to trick one. She was right on both accounts.
Our lessons were well structured. Each week we would spend 30-45 mins learning a certain bidding topic, and then we would play set hands, which focused on this new topic. For example:
Week 1 – Opening 1NT / Responding with a balanced hand
Week 2 – … / Responding with an unbalanced hand
Week 3 – … / Responding with Stayman
etc.
I loved this drip-feed approach. Ok, it took 3 weeks to learn No Trump opening and responses, but it was served up in manageable chunks, and it didn’t feel like learning. I’m sure that if all that was dumped on me on the first night, that I would have been overwhelmed, and that 3 weeks later I would have still have been none the wiser.
According to the CBAI website (Ireland), a person is a novice from the start of taking lessons to the end of the fifth year.
You can teach minibridge in about 5 minutes to someone who has played cards before. It takes maybe 10 minutes more if the person has not played any card game before.
At our club we teach the basics of dutch acol in 12 lessons. In that time we cover 2 books (leer bridgen met berry 1 & 2). In the average bridge course you cover at most 1 book in the same time. However because we focus on students and young professionals (specifically those who just graduated)we can cover more in the same time. However we do advice our students to stick to the same system for a year before they start adding new conventions and tricks.
Part of the lessons is playing at the club with a experienced player in a seperate group/ line. After the lessons this is continued with the students who have shown interest to join the club. When they are used to playing at the club they can form a partnership with whoever they want.