ACBL Unit 191 Bright Leaf
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Mentoring Program
Unit 191 Mentoring Program

The 2025-2026 Mentoring Program starts in September 2025.  For a description of the Mentoring Program, Click Here.  There will be two tiers of mentees.  Tier I is for mentees who have fewer than 250 masterpoints and mentors who have fewer than 500, with possibly a few exceptions approved by the Mentoring Committee.  Tier II is for everyone else.  If you want to be a Tier II mentee and have fewer than 500 masterpoints, you will receive priority for getting a Tier II mentor if you also agree to be a Tier I mentor.  To sign up as either a mentee or mentor or with questions about the program, please email Michael Lavine at mlavine@umass.edu.

2025-2026 Mentee-Mentor Game Schedule
  • Tier I will have a monthly in-person game at Triangle Bridge Academy at 10:00 AM on the fourth Tuesday of each month, starting on September 23rd. The game will be preceded by an optional lesson at 9:15- 9:45 AM.
  • Tier II will have a monthly in-person game at Triangle Bridge Academy at 10:00 AM on the second Tuesday of each month, starting on September 9th. The game will be preceded by a short lesson at 9:15 a.m.
  • Online Mentoring Game- An online mentoring game will be held on BBO at 7:00 PM on the third Wednesday of each month, starting on September 17th.

 

2025-2026 Mentor-Mentee Lessons

Online Mentor-Mentee Notes

     September 17, 2025- Click Here.
     October 15, 2025- Click Here.
     
November 19, 2025- Click Here.
     
December 17, 2025- Click Here.

 


2025-2026 Mentor-Mentee Lessons
      September 11, 2025- Ian Cloudsdale Lesson- Click Here.

 


2025-2026 Mentor-Mentee Discussions
      
October 14, 2025- Tier II-  Click Here.
      
November 11, 2025- Tier II- Click Here.
      
December 9, 2025- Tier II- Click Here.

Past Discussions

Mentee-Mentor Lesson Handouts

2024-2025 Lessons 2023-2024 Lessons 2022-2023 Lessons

Mentor Discussions

2024-2025 Discussions 2023-2024 Discussions 2022-2023 Discussions

 

Mentoring Program Documents

Mentoring Program Documents

For a description of the Mentor-Mentee Program, Click Here: Mentoring Program Mission

For Mentoring Program Guidelines, Click Here: Mentoring Program Guidelines

For Mentee and Mentor Responsibilities, Click Here: Mentee and Mentor Responsibilities

Useful Links for Learning

GENERAL

The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is the organization that oversees competitive duplicate bridge in North America.  Its webpage on convention cards has several useful items.  There is a pdf file of a blank convention card; a filled out card with a very basic bidding system; a filled out card for Standard American Yellow Card (SAYC), a slightly more complex system; a booklet describing SAYC; and a description of Bridge Bulletin Standard (BBS), a bidding system used in bidding contests in the ACBL Bulletin.  BBS is a bit more complex than SAYC but less complex than a full-blown 2/1 system.

The webpage on convention cards also has links to Conventional Wisdom and Conventional Wisdom Lite, two series of articles on what different parts of the convention card mean and how to fill them out, as well as the  Bidding Toolkit, a list of common conventions with explanations.

Larry Cohen has a website with lots of information and lessons for both beginning and advanced players.

Loeb Bridge is a site with articles on many aspects of bridge bidding, play, and defense.  Articles are classified for beginnersintermediates, and advanced.

Karen Walker's website has lessons for players of all levels, including beginners.

Richard Pavlicek has a website with many bridge resources for all levels, including beginners. 

Bridge Base Online is a site for playing bridge online.  The homepage has links where you can play bridge for free – matchpointsIMPsJust Play Bridge, and Bridge 4 – as well as other useful links.

IntoBridge is another site for playing bridge online. Features allow you to replay hands (all of your previously played boards) to see where you might have gone wrong or how you would have done in another contract. It also calculates player rankings, similar to chess rankings, with its Ranked Games feature.

Trickster Cards is a site for online play of many trick-taking card games, including Bridge. The other trick-taking card games are: Spades; Euchre; Pitch; Hearts; Whist (the precursor to bridge); 500; Pinochle; and Oh Hell.

New Zealand Bridge offers resources for new and intermediate players. Click Here.

Audrey Grant’s Better Bridge has resources, including a page on What’s Standard and a page on Conventions. Click Here.

 

PARTNERSHIP BIDDING

Larry Cohen's lessons on Standard American bidding

Larry Cohen's lessons on two-over-one bidding

Larry Cohen's recommendations for what conventions to play

Larry Cohen's hands for you and your partner to practice bidding

Karen Walker's bidding lessons for all levels, including beginners.

Richard Pavlicek’s Standard American bidding lessons for beginners.

Richard Pavlicek’s hands for you and your partner to practice bidding.

The Bridgebum website has thorough articles on many popular bidding conventions.

 

COMPETITIVE BIDDING

Karen Walker has a website with a few lessons on competitive bidding.

The Bridgebum website has thorough articles on many popular bidding conventions.

Richard Pavlicek has a website with many bridge resources including lessons and quizzes on competitive bidding: Beginner & Advanced.

 

DECLARER PLAY

Karen Walker has a website with a few lessons on declarer play

Bridge Base Online is a site for playing bridge online.  It includes Bridge Master, a series of exercises in declarer play, presented in increasing order of difficulty and Just Declare, where you are presented with a stream of hands to play.

Richard Pavlicek has a website with many bridge resources including lessons and quizzes on declarer play.

Larry Cohen's lessons on declarer play

 

DEFENSE

Karen Walker has a website with a few lessons on defense.

Richard Pavlicek has a website with many bridge resources including lessons and quizzes on on defensive play: Beginner & Advanced.

Larry Cohen's lessons on defense

 

BRIDGE TIPS

BOLS EXPERT TIPS: From 1974 to 1994 the world's bridge experts submitted expert tips to BOLS, a Dutch Distiller, who each year asked a panel of eminent members of The International Bridge Press Association (IBPA) to vote on the very best of these tips. These BOLS Bridge Tips can now be viewed courtesy of the IBPA.

Rhoda's Rules: Rhoda's wisdom and experience about the greatest game on Earth: BRIDGE! Rhoda Walsh is an ACBL Grand Life Master and a World Bridge Federation World Master.

46 Bridge Rules To Live By (plus 12 more) of World Grand Master Kate McCallum.

 

Unit 191 Lessons

Ian Cloudsdale- Bergen Hand Evaluation Part 1Click Here.
Ian Cloudsdale- Bergen Hand Evaluation Part 2- Click Here.