Partnership Bridge (New Offering!)
Instructor: Ralph Letizia
Starts: On-demand by appointment
Length: No set number of sessions; everything is on-demand and scheduled
Text: None required – all materials furnished by instructor
Prerequisite: Only offered to partnerships, new or established
Class Format: Approximately one-third to one-half lecture and the rest online practice
Class Length: 2-2.5 hours per session and includes email and text consultation on request
Bridge is a partnership game. There is no legitimate form of bridge that you can play by yourself. Finding
(and keeping) the right partner is a learned process. It is as much psychological is it is technical. For
example, rarely are the two players in a partnership of equal ability; one is always going to be better at
something or another. They may also have very different styles. One may be a high risk bidder and the
other may be a very conservative bidder. One may make brilliant plays from time-to-time while the
other may be a solid player that rarely makes a mistake. There is no perfect formula for a successful
bridge partnership.
There are, however, practical requirements for any successful partnership in most any walk of life, and
bridge is no different. Randy Baron, whom all of you know quite well, and I have been bridge partners
for 46 years. We totally enjoy each other’s company in many ways, and are also best of friends. As many
of you know, bridge can place a terrible strain on a friendship or even a relationship (it takes a very
special couple to be able to have both a successful marriage and bridge partnership).
While I consider myself an excellent partner, it wasn’t always so, and it was a long learning process. But I
worked really hard and now am able to “wheel” (wheeling is when you play with multiple partners on
the same team for the entire event) very well on a 5 or 6 person team. But, like anyone else, I have my
favorites, and I have a strong preference for certain traits. For example, I am an aggressive bidder, and
you would think I would like playing with more conservative bidders to balance out my aggressiveness.
In reality, the complete opposite is true. I do much better with someone that plays as aggressive, or
more so than I do, and tend to not often do well with conservative bidders. Why? Because I inherently
know how to compensate for aggressiveness, but not conservative bidding.
I have therefore decided to do some knowledge transfer and help others maximize their bridge
partnership(s) by taking on a limited number of partnerships and help them maximize their
effectiveness. I will teach you everything I have learned about the nurturing and care of partners, and
even help you determine the right partnership. I will teach you how to adapt to each other, and how to
communicate, especially when things aren’t going as well as you would like. Just know that every
partnership has growing pains, and every partnership has its high and low points.
So, you ask, “How will I do that?”. I will analyze your partnership and give each of you a very direct and
blunt assessment of where you stand, and what you need to grow. That part may not be pleasant and
your ego will surely be bruised. You will, however, get over it and if you heed my advice, will
immediately start improving your partnership.
Outside of the first session, everything we work on is up to the two of you. It can be any area that you
seem to be struggling, for example, slam bidding or defensive signaling. The range of topics is virtually unlimited. And since every session is on-demand and appointment only, I will easily be able to tailor the
lesson to you and your partner’s whim.
Here are some examples of topics we can cover:
• 2/1 bidding agreements (these also apply to precision since 2/1 GF is usually applied to all
limited suit bids at the one level).
• Precision
• Should we play attitude or count at the first trick and other defensive agreements.
• We missed a slam because partner would not cue bid their diamond control. What should we
have done?
• We are playing odd/even discards but partner doesn’t often play or return the suit I “ask for”.
• Partner likes to open weak two bids on a five card suit when they only have 5-10 HCP. I hate it
and never seem to guess right.
• My partner frequently criticizes my opening leads when they “don’t work”. And of course, they
would always make the lead that does work.
• My partner likes to overcall on bad suits, and then yell at me for leading their suit. That doesn’t
feel fair.
Or hundreds of other partnership nuances of any kind.
Now for the mundane details:
1. This class is limited to partnerships only. Individuals will not be accommodated and if you need
an evaluation to determine why you cannot find the right partner then we can discuss an
individual session.
2. Lesson cost is only $35 per person, per session regardless of length of lesson (up to 2.5+ hours).
This is a bargain considering of I am sharing 46 years of partnership experience with you, and
saving you from the misery of having to work out why your partnership is not functioning as well
as you think it should be.
3. Lessons are by appointment only, but I am very flexible with the timing. There are, however,
some constraints such as no lessons extending beyond 9 PM at any time. So approximately 7 PM
is the latest a lesson can start. There is no limit to how early we can meet as I am usually up and
running at 5 AM.
4. The first session of every partnership lesson is mostly analysis. I will perform a thorough
evaluation of each person’s style as well as approximately where they stand in competency. We
can then discuss growth and learning goals.
5. The lesson content and topics are up to you. I can make many suggestions though and after the
first session analysis, I will provide several areas where I believe the partnership needs the most
work.
6. At least half of the lesson time will be spent online playing with each other while I watch and
evaluate the partnership dynamics. This online play can happen in many forms. Most common
would be playing against me and a robot in a practice match but I am quite open to other
options. I provide no guarantee that I can “fix” your partnership, but I can provide enough information for YOU to
do so if that is what you want. I can also recommend partnerships based on what I know about each of
you, but I make no guarantee that it will work, or survive. Only you can do that.
If you are interested, or would like to talk more, just drop me a line at rvletiziajr@gmail.com or text me
at (502) 292-9258.
Thanks and stay safe!
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