In-Person Instruction & Play

Robert and other AiB instructors help students in many different ways:   

  • Tournaments - where we frequently give guest lectures.

  • Workshops - where our current students introduce us to their friends.

  • Online - when students contact us directly.

In-Person Instruction

We teach bridge all across the country and in many different formats, particularly through AiB Seminars and Workshops.

  • Seminars - Seminars are the primary way in which members of AiB conduct in-person teaching. These are classes that contain both bridge instruction and play, usually for 4 to 25 tables. In a typical seminar, we begin with a lecture on a specialized topic and follow-up by playing a series of pre-constructed hands that relate to the topic we have discussed. This instruction and directed practice is a great way to reinforce what the students have just learned. Look for an AiB Bridge Festival (a series of Seminars) in your area.

  • Workshops - Workshops are similar to our Seminars, but are smaller and restricted to a private group of students. These workshops, usually 1-4 tables in size, can be a great way to focus on the details of a specific topic for you and your friends. In fact, Workshops can be used differently from Seminars to diagnose areas in which you and your partners need help. Many of our students ask for a workshop with no specific topic or one designed by AiB with a large variety of topics to help us determine what they most need help with to improve their games.

  • Lectures - Lectures are usually free talks that Robert and other members of the AiB team give at bridge tournaments and when asked at other charitable events.

Note:  Feel free to contact us to organize a Seminar or Workshop in your area. 

Seminar Topics

Here are some examples of common Seminar/Workshop topics:

Constructive Bidding

  • 2/1 Game Forcing

  • Bidding Your Games

  • Bidding Your Majors

  • Big Hands

  • Finding Fits

  • Hand Evaluation and Re-Evaluation

  • Teams vs. Pairs (IMPs vs. Matchpoints)

  • Investigating Game

  • Is it Forcing?

  • Matchpoint Strategy

  • Precision

  • Problem Opening Hands

  • Slam Bidding

  • Strong Unbalanced Hands

  • Preempts

  • Opening 1NT with a 5-card Major

  • Destructive Bidding

  • Raising Partner's Major

  • Raising Responder's Major

Competitive Bidding

  • Overcalls

  • Advancing Partner's Overcall

  • Doubles and Competitive Bidding

  • Low Level Competitive Bidding

  • Doubles

  • More on Doubles

  • Simplesohl

  • Dealing with the Opponents' Preempts

  • Cuebids by All

Defense

  • Opening Leads

  • Defensive Signals/Carding

  • Defensive Concepts

Play

  • General Play - Making a Plan

  • Play in Suit Contracts

  • Play In Notrump Contracts

AiB can provide material and expertise on most any topic that interests you.

Cost:  We charge between $60-150 per person (based on location, duration, and expenses of event) for a Seminar or Workshop.   

 

In-Person Play

After students have worked with us for several months they often want to find out how they can arrange for one of our teachers to come and play with them in a tournament.  We are proud of the fact that we quickly become the favorite partners of many of our students and we enjoy the opportunity to get to play with them in person.

In-Person Play is one of the best ways for our students to learn new things and for our teachers to determine on which areas our students need to focus their attention.  After just a few days of playing together we generally have a sizable list of topics and concepts to work on with our students - a list large enough to last us for several months of online instruction. 

Tournaments

The most common places that we play with our students are ACBL tournaments.   There is a tournament of some kind every weekend of the year, and often many choices all across the country.   

  • Sectionals - Sectional tournaments are the core of ACBL tournaments. Sectionals are typically weekend-long, smaller, and hosted by the local bridge clubs.
    We often play with students that live in our areas (although we are happy to travel), but we also frequently coordinate our 3-4 day seminars to be held just before a sectional tournament in a student's area. This allows us a full week of being in an area working with the students there in a variety of ways.

  • Regionals - Regional tournaments are our favorite kind of tournament for in-person instruction, improvement, and competition. Regionals are week-long, larger tournaments with a varied level of competition and a variety of different events. Our students tend to attend regional tournaments for 3 to 7 days with us. They traditionally begin by playing team events and progress to a mix of pairs and team events. Most weeks of the year there are 2-3 Regionals being played around the country. This provides many opportunities for students to play in tournaments in their area or in places they are interested in visiting.

  • NABCs - North American Bridge Championships (NABCs) are held three times a year – Spring, Summer, and Fall - and the locations vary throughout North America. These tournaments are 10+ days in length and have events for players from Beginners to World Champions. We recommend that every bridge player experience these tournaments – they are a unique experience in the world of bridge.

 

Other Play Events

  • Club Games - We frequently play with our students in their local club when we are in the area.

  • International Events - There are bridge tournaments all around the world. Many of our students like to combine their love of travel with their love of bridge. We are happy to join in!

  • Bridge Adventures - We offer many types of bridge adventures, including custom travel, teaching, and play events designed and organized by AiB to fit our students' desires.

  • AiB Tournaments - These are sanctioned events that AiB organizes and hosts in locations to which we frequently travel. We are happy to organize and direct events in your area.

Cost:   The price of In-Person Play varies dramatically based on type of event, attached expenses, and instructor.   Please contact us to find out more information about playing with us in-person.