Diary of a Bridge Pro #39

Springfield, April 23

Trying something different with the blog/column today - I wrote these tips back in April, and I revised them this morning at a September regional in downstate Illinois. I’ll return to the usual format in Blog #40, but here, below, I present some broad advice for any of you among the readership who might wish to enter the industry and attempt to earn a livelihood by playing professionally. How to best go about this is a frequent subject for casual discourse when pros congregate, so I offer this up as a kind of collected wisdom, accumulated over the years. Here goes:

Seven Tips for Aspiring Bridge Pros

by Brian Glubok
with Denis Wilsonovich

1) You are in the "Entertaining Rich People" business, not the "Playing Bridge" Business. Your success or failure in the industry is based on your capacity to be a good companion to rich people.

Rich people have certain traits in common, generally. While an individual, specific, wealthy person may not have these traits, and there are "exceptions to every rule", as a bridge player we know that we should "go with the odds until proven otherwise".

2) Be punctual - early, even. This one is hard to adhere to, especially in large cities where there are myriad distractions and constant traffic. Incidentally, this tip will serve you well in your dealings with middle-class and poor people, too.

3) Be aware of societal norms. I was never very good at following this tip, but this collection of advice falls into the “Do as I say, not as I do,” category. Rich people generally don’t like to be conspicuous.

4) Make allowances for the special nature of bridge players. Bridge players are immensely more likely than the general population to suffer syndromes like Asperger’s or autism. Bear this in mind and try to manifest kindness and compassion, towards yourself and others.

5) Be conscious of the reasons people hire pros. There are of course all of the obvious and apparent reasons, like “They want to get better at bridge,” or “They want to finish higher in tournaments.” But there is also this: “They want to show other people how smart they are.” Arguably, this is one of the major reasons we compete in tournaments in the first place.

Thanks to Chris and Donna Compton for that insight.

6) Talk to your clients as though they are grandmasters (at bridge) I want to thank Miami’s Tudor King for this one. He offered it to me when I solicited some advice from him on how to better serve my clients. It proved to be great advice, but I want to be clear on one point - I am suggesting that you treat your clients as grand masters, in conversation, not in the game itself.

In the game itself, you must consistently

7) Build a fence around your partner - protect him from himself. This is sound advice to follow with other top players, but is especially useful, naturally, when partnering weak players. Following this tip can take many forms: On defense, make it obvious. In the bidding, don’t set traps. Don’t make a complicated bid when a simple one will do.

Bonus Tip: Have a good time, all the time.

If you can manage to appear to be enjoying your bridge game and your day, you will be far more valuable to your clients than otherwise - no one wants a sullen bridge pro.

I want to acknowledge that I lifted that “Bonus Tip” from the epilogue to Rob Reiner’s Spinal Tap. Here’s the clip:

​Thanks for reading!
- BG/DW