Part of me feels for Samantha and Brian. In a world where bridge teachers are generally hostile to those who don’t play cards much, they came the closest to making me want to stick around. But as someone with a learning disability, it takes physical whiteboard lectures to make concepts stick for note-taking purposes. To their credit, since they have material that begins from “there are 52 cards in the deck”, having an amicable conversation about my options was easier than it was for anyone else. But after some soul searching and realizing that I was in Samantha-or-bust territory because I never see Brian in these videos, I had to come to the conclusion that my heart wasn’t in chasing this game anymore. Trust was going to take too long to build at $100/hour. It still hurts that I had to walk away and move on to less hostile environments…but I don’t blame TBT. They were the only resource I looked into and tried that made a bona fide effort to ease me in. Just wasn’t enough. :(
Bridge is a fantastic game and I am sorry to see you go. I appreciate your notes and feedback. As a result, I have incorporated significantly more onscreen notes in my video lessons for the website (not for RUclips as teaching real-life hand examples requires a slightly different approach). Best of luck in all your endeavors.
@@thebridgeteachers And I hope I'm not trying to imply that I'm at you (compared to everyone else I tried to reach out, it's beyond a shadow of a doubt that you and Brian were the best listeners). I think what I'm trying to say is that there is a general problem with the bridge teaching community -- outside of you -- which basically screams "if you don't have access to a physical club and aren't 70 years of age and retired, we don't want you". They also miss something else: Even so much as a sample, condensed version of a physical whiteboard lecture sends the clear message to potential players that if the conventional way of teaching online doesn't work and you don't have access to a club, there's still ways for you to learn, even if 1-to-1 is more your speed. If you want to do any favor at all, I would suggest getting in touch with the ACBL's education department and tell them that their current attitude towards teaching is killing their game. Their Intro to Bridge course is in dire need of a self-study version with only physical whiteboard lectures for those who learn differently, but Stephanie Threlkeld (ACBL education direction) is too stiff-necked, ignorant, or possibly both to accept that. You'll get your share of students because you deserve them, but there is a reason the retention rate of potential players is an atrocious 1 in 10; most people don't take feedback anywhere near as well as you do. Best of luck with all your endeavors in the future.
@@journeymanproject1756 I appreciate hearing your thoughts. I love this game. I think it's an amazing game and it is our mission to introduce as many people to it as possible and to make it as accessible as possible. So thank you for your thoughts. As I said, I made changes to how I edit my videos because of your feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to share. This is the most amazing game, and the more people we can show that to, the better.
The only strategy you didn't mention is to hold on to the 7 diamonds and take the last trick with it. It is the Beer card and your partner buys! Thanks
Am i correct that it would be kind of 'safety play' to play one trump trick more before playing diamonds to have a better chance of opponents not ruffing because of a possible 3 -1 of diamonds in opponents' hands? Now eventually they were 2 -2, but the chance of 3 -1 is higher. That would give have given the opponents 1 more trick.
One problem with playing another round of spades before working on diamonds is that then dummy would be out of spades and the opponents might be able to set up a trick in either trumps or hearts by playing hearts when they win the Ace of Diamonds. Our teacher did not show all the hands so East may have had four hearts to start with.
Great question! I agree with @dancle167. One of the dangers of playing in a 4-3 trump fit is being forced to trump on the long side. The trumps are most likely to be 4-2. If we are forced to trump on the long side, then the defender with four trumps now has more trump than we do in our hand. Keeping the spade in dummy while losing the diamond will allow us to trump on the short side if a heart is led, protecting our length in trump in our hand. There is definitely risk in playing diamonds with trump outstanding, but we can afford to lose a spade trick and still make the hand. And if the trumps were 4-2, another round won't help as the person with the four spades will still have one and the person with 2 is already out. Playing diamonds with 2 trump outstanding may cost a trick, but I think it's more likely that keeping the trump in dummy will be helpful when we lose the lead.
@@dancle167 Great answer! It turns out that the hearts were 5-3 (with west having 5). But your point is still extremely valid, because there's no guarantee that the hand that wins the Ad is out of hearts. It could just as easily be the other hand and now you'll be grateful for that trump in dummy!
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Thanks for this example. Clear & understandable to me 😊
You're welcome! Thank you for watching.
Part of me feels for Samantha and Brian. In a world where bridge teachers are generally hostile to those who don’t play cards much, they came the closest to making me want to stick around. But as someone with a learning disability, it takes physical whiteboard lectures to make concepts stick for note-taking purposes.
To their credit, since they have material that begins from “there are 52 cards in the deck”, having an amicable conversation about my options was easier than it was for anyone else. But after some soul searching and realizing that I was in Samantha-or-bust territory because I never see Brian in these videos, I had to come to the conclusion that my heart wasn’t in chasing this game anymore. Trust was going to take too long to build at $100/hour.
It still hurts that I had to walk away and move on to less hostile environments…but I don’t blame TBT. They were the only resource I looked into and tried that made a bona fide effort to ease me in. Just wasn’t enough. :(
Bridge is a fantastic game and I am sorry to see you go. I appreciate your notes and feedback. As a result, I have incorporated significantly more onscreen notes in my video lessons for the website (not for RUclips as teaching real-life hand examples requires a slightly different approach). Best of luck in all your endeavors.
@@thebridgeteachers And I hope I'm not trying to imply that I'm at you (compared to everyone else I tried to reach out, it's beyond a shadow of a doubt that you and Brian were the best listeners).
I think what I'm trying to say is that there is a general problem with the bridge teaching community -- outside of you -- which basically screams "if you don't have access to a physical club and aren't 70 years of age and retired, we don't want you". They also miss something else: Even so much as a sample, condensed version of a physical whiteboard lecture sends the clear message to potential players that if the conventional way of teaching online doesn't work and you don't have access to a club, there's still ways for you to learn, even if 1-to-1 is more your speed.
If you want to do any favor at all, I would suggest getting in touch with the ACBL's education department and tell them that their current attitude towards teaching is killing their game. Their Intro to Bridge course is in dire need of a self-study version with only physical whiteboard lectures for those who learn differently, but Stephanie Threlkeld (ACBL education direction) is too stiff-necked, ignorant, or possibly both to accept that.
You'll get your share of students because you deserve them, but there is a reason the retention rate of potential players is an atrocious 1 in 10; most people don't take feedback anywhere near as well as you do. Best of luck with all your endeavors in the future.
@@journeymanproject1756 I appreciate hearing your thoughts. I love this game. I think it's an amazing game and it is our mission to introduce as many people to it as possible and to make it as accessible as possible. So thank you for your thoughts. As I said, I made changes to how I edit my videos because of your feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to share. This is the most amazing game, and the more people we can show that to, the better.
The only strategy you didn't mention is to hold on to the 7 diamonds and take the last trick with it. It is the Beer card and your partner buys! Thanks
That's a great adjustment to the strategy of the hand! Free beer should always be our first consideration, for certain.
Am i correct that it would be kind of 'safety play' to play one trump trick more before playing diamonds to have a better chance of opponents not ruffing because of a possible 3 -1 of diamonds in opponents' hands? Now eventually they were 2 -2, but the chance of 3 -1 is higher. That would give have given the opponents 1 more trick.
One problem with playing another round of spades before working on diamonds is that then dummy would be out of spades and the opponents might be able to set up a trick in either trumps or hearts by playing hearts when they win the Ace of Diamonds. Our teacher did not show all the hands so East may have had four hearts to start with.
Great question! I agree with @dancle167. One of the dangers of playing in a 4-3 trump fit is being forced to trump on the long side. The trumps are most likely to be 4-2. If we are forced to trump on the long side, then the defender with four trumps now has more trump than we do in our hand. Keeping the spade in dummy while losing the diamond will allow us to trump on the short side if a heart is led, protecting our length in trump in our hand. There is definitely risk in playing diamonds with trump outstanding, but we can afford to lose a spade trick and still make the hand. And if the trumps were 4-2, another round won't help as the person with the four spades will still have one and the person with 2 is already out. Playing diamonds with 2 trump outstanding may cost a trick, but I think it's more likely that keeping the trump in dummy will be helpful when we lose the lead.
@@dancle167 Great answer! It turns out that the hearts were 5-3 (with west having 5). But your point is still extremely valid, because there's no guarantee that the hand that wins the Ad is out of hearts. It could just as easily be the other hand and now you'll be grateful for that trump in dummy!