What makes a good bridge player?

[jonottawa]

Take Justin for example. I suppose it could be that he inherited some magical talent from his dad. And he's certainly a bright guy, although there are plenty of weaker bridge players who might be closer to the genius level on an IQ test. However, I suspect that the secrets to his success are that he really cares about being a good bridge player and puts in a huge amount of time, that he started very young, that he was talking to the right teachers even early on (his dad, Bob Hamman), ...

Justin's dad is Bob Hamman?

[pirate22]

An interesting topic---where does a good bridge player,come from,

firstly if one is fortunate to have parents,that play cards simple games, such as snap/beat your neibours out of doors,thenprogress to whist/solo,which can lead onto blackjack/bragg,but this can cost money,then the bridge game appears on the Horizon-but the advantage here is Duplicate no wagers involved.

Find a partner, play with a Senior person,Discipline comes in, also invite a person of similar age,play a simple system,not to many widgets,but discuss after the game,any mishaps constructively,and build a wavelength,learn to walk before you run-there are so many things to do at the beginning,

Partnership compatability is very important,one of you has to be a leader,be flexible,if partner takes over the mantle,you be the follower.

As at any time, the top players of today,had an added bonus, a sponsor came along,early on,this takes away,the chore of having to earn a living,and support a family,private sponsorship was not around 50 years ago.

it would be interesting if 30/40+ top players gave an input to this theme.

to sum up there are many good points in this theme,

from my point of view-I wish i knew what i know now,40 years ago,but im still learning,and above all i enjoy my bridge with certain partners.

regards

[peaceman]

I don't believe this you must have ego thing to be a good player. I think that:

 

1) People who are good are very likely to be smart and competitive.

 

2) People who are smart and competitive are likely to have egos. This is for obvious reasons.

 

3) The population of good bridge players that have a big ego is no different than the population of smart+competitive people that have egos.

 

The fact is, most people have ego for a reason. Sure it may be inflated, but it is completely backwards to say something like "The top 100 players in the world all have ego, ergo ego is necessary to become one of the top 100 players in the world." More like they all have ego because they have been able to achieve a level that very few people can, and because they probably have succeeded in other areas of life because they are smart and capable and have good work ethic (obviously, since bridge takes so long to get good at), and because they have been looked up to on their rise up the bridge world, and because they are looked up to now...etc etc etc.

Big egos definitely seem to go along with bridge, and game players generally.

 

Bridge seems to suffer particularly accutely (along with poker) from individual players greatly exaggerating in their own mind how good they are.

 

A classic ego sign. By no means confined to expert players (who obviously have some excuse to think they r great, but still tend to overextimate their position on the expert gradient.)

 

Many experts r nice, but not that many r truly humble in my experience, and the weaker the player, the more they seem to think they know what is going on... pure ego.