What I do
Professional play
Partner (Pro-Client)
The best type of professional bridge is a student-teacher (pro-sponsor) format. You can hire me as a student's partner for a club game, national or international tournaments. In doing so you and I work to improve your game while competing and having a good time. This is the best way for people to learn to play bridge. In each session of bridge, we are able to discuss many topics on bidding, defence and card play. In just one session, we'll discuss more topics than you could learn in a day long class!
Professional pair
I play as a professional pair as well - I and my professional partners play as teammates with a pro-client pair or on a full professional team. It is a lot of fun to play at the highest levels against the best pairs in the world. If you are looking for a strong teammates to help you compete in bracket 1 or to try to help you win gold points, hiring a professional pair as well as a professional partner are great ways to go.
Public services
Team building for companies
Are you organizing a team building for your employees? Do you want to learn something new and have fun in a group?
A bridge workshop is a great way to go. It can be for as few as 2 hours or your employees can spend a whole day of playing games, competing and learning how to cooperate as a team to ensure the best results.
All companies have budget contrictions - a bridge workshop is the best value for your money.
Bridge classes for high school and university students
Contract bridge is the best game for young people. It develops important new skills and provides the socialization often lacking in popular electronic games. Here are some of the essential skills pupils can learn and improve upon: logical thinking, strategical planning, practicing math and statistics, making good decisions under time pressure, improving memory and ability to focus, empathy, team work, and so much more.
That is why I am deeply involved in teaching bridge at schools and helping to organize bridge events for young players. I am the coordinator of the project: Bridge to Schools in Prague. If you are interested in having a bridge class in your school, let me know and I can arrange it.
Teaching
I enjoy teaching bridge to all levels of players - starting from the beginners up to experts. And, I also like to learn from my students. Bridge is an unlimited source of knowledge and you can always learn something new. Bridge players are energic, enthusiastic, motivated and engaged in learning - that is why teaching is a great fun for both sides :-)
Workshops - practice play
Workshops are the most common type of bridge teaching that I do in person. A workshop is a small group of players
(4 is best) working together on an interesting topic (each workshop usually has a theme). It consists of some theory and practicing on prepared deals.
Online instruction
One of my favorite (and most common) ways of working with students is online. I give lectures on BBO, setting up a teaching table to discuss the hands via skype. Teaching this way is beneficial both for me and my client since we can link up from anywhere in the world.
I am available for playing in small tournaments, kibitzing at partnership bidding or advice at the teaching table. A weekly 1-2 session is a great way to learn new conventions or strategies and to keep improving your game.
Seminars
Seminars are for larger groups. A seminar is typically a one or two day event or several evenings. It varies in the amount of lecturing and actual play. We often give detailed discussion of some interesting bridge problems and then play hands related to those problems. This is a good way to open your bridge game up to some new issues and to start moving to
a new level of play.
Partnership coaching
Another type of teaching/training I provide is partnership coaching. I work intensively with a partnership of any level to help them improve their communication and agreements. I also work as a mediator helping to settle disputes and allowing players to effectively work through issues that arise at the table.