Charlie Wilkins is a bridge enthusiast who loves the game and studies it carefully, but he is not an expert. He retired in 2021 after a long career in commercial real estate. Since mid-2017, he has been collecting deals from actual play, where non-experts made technically correct bids and plays that gained lots of matchpoints. He calls these deals “Real World Bridge” to distinguish them from deals that occur in all-expert games, deals that require expert skills, and deals that were invented by authors. Since COVID, most of these deals have occurred in large online Open Pairs games with 50+ tables.
A word from Charlie: “You won’t be surprised to learn that Val is a master technician, or that he is a difficult opponent. But you may be surprised to learn that he is a great teacher and a great partner. I’ve read hundreds of bridge books and studied bridge for over sixty years (yikes), but my game really started to improve when I started getting coaching from Val (initially, in my partnership with Dennis Dawson, and then after Dennis died in 2022, in my partnership with Val).”
Val Kovachev is an expert; he has coached several European national teams.
A word from Val: “Bridge is my career and livelihood. I have a deep passion for the game. I have a long history of coaching and mentoring fellow bridge players. This is my attempt to share the secrets of my success and help you win more often at this beautiful game that I love.”
