INTERVIEW WITH ELLEN "CAITLIN" POMER
Ellen Pomer, known as "Caitlin" online, is founder of Bridge Forum International, the largest online bridge school featuring prominent expert affiliates and teachers from around the world. Ellen has contributed to many online publications as well as The Bridge Teacher and The Bridge Bulletin.
How did you first get into playing bridge?
My father played old style Goren bridge with the same group of male buddies for over 50 years. When I was younger, I often watched before bedtime. Years later I joined a private group out of a friend’s home with an instructor. None of us knew what we were doing but soon after I ventured to a duplicate club and played in the Novice game. Thinking I knew much more than I actually did, I moved to the Open game where partner and I were continually clobbered. Actually, it wasn’t till I met my ex-husband, who was initially (!) very patient with me, that I took the game seriouslyDo you have any memorable learning experiences?
Early on in my bridge career, Audrey Grant and Eric Rodwell were writing The Joy of Bridge and Audrey held some lessons at her home. As I played, Eric watched at our table. We had just learned what a finesse was. I successfully took one. So Eric said to me: “Now that you know how to take a finesse, you will soon learn when not to take a finesse.” I didn’t know what he meant at the time, but I sure do now. Had the finesse lost, I would have gone down in a cold game!
How do you feel online bridge differs from bridge played around a
physical table?
Online bridge is free if you play on Fred Gitelman’s amazing site, Bridge Base Online (BBO). In BBO’s BIL (Beginner & Intermediate Lounge), BBO_IAC (Intermediate/Advanced Club) and BBOJuniors, one can join in on free lessons nearly 24 hours a day. For real bridge junkies, you can even play 24 hours a day. You can arrange to play with friends you know online (during those snowy, bleak days or those hot, humid ones) or you can choose to meet people from all around the world. You don’t see your partner’s face grimace when you make an obvious mistake, although one needs to pay heed to folks who just leave the table and be sure not play with or against them again. The vugraphs on BBO are truly amazing, with championships not just from NABC’s, but from all over the world. You definitely learn who the top players are, not only in North America but throughout the world. As well, ACBL and other types of tournaments are held all the time on most online bridge sites so it’s an easy way to work on your partnership and get some masterpoints. Face to face bridge, which gets you out of your home and going to live tournaments, is also so important. I suggest one never dismiss online bridge but certainly never dismiss live bridge. Human beings are social creatures and supporting our local bridge clubs as well as sectional, regional and national tournaments is very important.
What do you think makes SAYC a good system, apart from it being one that strangers can agree upon?
SAYC has become modern day Standard American as it is based on five-card majors. With the right guidance, is not hard to learn. At the same time, learning SAYC provides you with the fundamentals one needs. You learn everything from hand evaluation to takeout, negative and penalty doubles, to preemption and slam bidding, yet you don’t have to be bogged down with a lot of conventions. Many beginners think such bids as negative doubles and fourth suit forcing, for example, are conventions. They are not; rather they are bridge bids. There aren’t many conventions in the original SAYC, and they include Jacoby transfers, Jacoby 2NT, Jordan, and few more. However, given that SAYC is a bidding system, one can add any convention one likes over time. I have students who are advanced SAYC players, using Rubensohl, four way transfers, Kokish relays over 2C openers and more.
What are some of your favorite bridge books? (besides your own, of
course!)
I love Kantar’s and Bergen’s books for students. I also think Bridge Baron is an invaluable learning tool. As far as the 2/1 system goes, Paul Thurston’s 25 Steps to Learning 2/1 is the easiest to follow and I highly recommend it. Right now I am reading Ron Klinger’s “Right Through the Pack Again” based on the 1947 book by Robert Darvas and Norman de V. Hart. It is brilliant.
What is the most rewarding thing about playing bridge?
The most rewarding part of playing bridge is that you never truly master the game. I need challenges and bridge certainly gives an abundance of those. At the same time, as with my students, one can sense when you are a notch better than you were a month, a year ago. It is also a great game to keep one’s memory intact and I have had the pleasure of working with one woman who has the beginnings of Alzheimer’s. Her doctor recommended she learn bridge.
What is your teaching philosophy and/or your favorite teaching method?
My teaching philosophy is to remind students that this is their hobby and we take up hobbies to enjoy ourselves! There is always room for praise and I don’t think most people learn without a supportive environment. I love teaching novices and am told I have the patience of a saint. I highly doubt such is true in other parts of my life but I just so admire folks who want to learn this game and all my students have started to play this game at an older age than I did. I can’t imagine trying to teach in the abstract, thus I use pre-dealt hands for specific topics, which can be uploaded on BBO. When you set the table to teaching mode, I can see all the hands while my student sees only his/hers. I am very thorough and although we start with notrump bidding, I soon introduce the topic of declarer planning. I have full sets of hands (about 15 per topic) on SAYC, which follow the book I co-authored with Ned Downey, Standard Bidding with SAYC, on learning the 2/1 system, most conventions, declarer play and defense. As well, I use the partnership bidding feature on BBO. When the student feels ready, we play games, typically in the BBO’s BIL and review each after. Each hand is saved in the ‘movie’ feature. I would also hope that students learn from Bridge Forum, which I founded 11 years ago. The website is www.bridge-forum.com with expert affiliates Marty Bergen, Larry Cohen, Fred Gitelman, Ron Klinger, Marshall Miles and Kit Woolsey. We send out a free Bridge Forum Bulletin quarterly and there you get a taste of articles to be found on the website, which also changes quarterly.
How do you balance your work life/bridge life with the rest of your life, and what are some of your other hobbies?
There was a time when I was teaching online up to 12 hours a day. This was very unhealthy as sitting at a computer for long periods of time can be so alienating. Now I limit my time, teaching 2 groups per week, one with John Gowdy, a well known Canadian World Class player and coach; I take on about 6 private students and from time to time I do commentate at BBO vugraphs. However, I am off the computer once my work is done. This doesn’t leave me time to play my own game but that is OK for now. Given the dawning of spring, I will start playing at a local club weekly. However bridge is only one part of my life. The most precious part of my life is parenting two teenagers. As well I make one-of-a-kind semi-precious jewelry which I sell from my home and at shows. I love to walk my nine-year-old Golden Retriever, do volunteer work, and unfortunately I shop too much![ Back to Top ]
