If you’re rather new to the game of bridge (or returning to play after some time spent absent), then the following post might make for a useful read.

When first starting out at bridge, I relied on books and articles about the game more than teachers or tutors. I’m one of the players who wasn’t taught by family members or a genial janitor (like The Queen’s Gambit or The Karate Kid).

What did I wish someone had told me about bridge earlier on?

Looking back at several years of writing, reading, and playing, I thought that it would be an appropriate post for Prime to imagine the bits of advice I could have used at the start.

Beginning the journey or returning to the game can seem overwhelming. Honestly, just understanding what a bidding convention was feels like it took me weeks. But it doesn’t have to be this difficult.

Here are 5 bits of advice for new or returning bridge players.

1. Don’t try to learn everything about bridge right now.

Bridge can appear overwhelming, but so does music theory, chemistry, poetry, graphic design, and Magic: The Gathering at first.

Never attempt to learn everything at once, or imagine that you have to learn every single convention in this article/book within one sitting. Learning in bridge will come with experience – and once you use conventions during play often, they’ll click.

Doesn’t that just take the edge right off?

2. Crawl with some beginner bridge resources first.

It’s easy to be tempted by advanced bridge resources, and to dive right in. If you were going swimming instead of playing bridge, you would think twice about doing that – and even in bridge, I’m encouraging you to have a second thought there.

Start with beginning bridge resources at first. Absorb these (and make very sure that you have) before having the courage to move on with anything else.

If you don’t, you’ll be right back to feeling very overwhelmed when you don’t need to.

3. Never limit your learning to a single type of resource.

At the very beginning, I made the mistake of learning only from books – and only later, realized that I was ignoring the entire internet as a learning resource to my own detriment.

Don’t limit your learning to only a single type of resource. Diversify to include several, like books, articles, and YouTube videos. You’ll learn more about bridge so much faster.

4. Always play more bridge.

More bridge playing is always a good idea for the new and returning player. At the start, I was doing far more bridge reading than I was playing – and it’s fair to say that I think this made my first games tougher than they could have been.

Play bridge, and play often, or you’ll get stuck and feel absolutely bewildered during the bridge games you play in-between reading material.

If you feel self-conscious about your playing at first, play against bots. They won’t point out any bad bidding!

5. You won’t know everything (and not even your heroes do).

The pressure I felt as a newer bridge player was mostly self-imposed, and I imagined that I was pressed into learning everything about the game.

Don’t feel like you have to become a champion bridge player overnight. Even your heroes don’t know everything about conventions, play, or the game (and it’s unfair to put the same pressure on yourself).