Ep. 105: Teaching Bridge to a New Generation with Maya Jonas-Silver

I was inspired to interview Maya Jonas-Silver, because of this post she made on Bridge Winners bemoaning the lack of playing opportunities for her recent bridge initiates. After winning the 2023 20-50 Mini McKenney award Maya hasn't stopped. She has become a passionate advocate for bringing young adults into the game. Here she shares her journey from learning bridge at summer camp to becoming a bridge teacher and director at Honors Bridge Club in New York City. Her teaching philosophy, that bridge doesn't need to be intimidating or require years of study before you can actually play and enjoy the game, has helped me be more willing to introduce friends to the game using her framework. Maya believes in getting beginners to the table quickly, and no feedback! We discuss the barriers facing young bridge players, from finding affordable games to navigating the tournament scene without mentors. Maya reflects on the critical moments in her own bridge career, when someone like Yoko Sobel stepped in to encourage her and her husband Jack. She also shares her vision for growing the game, including making beginner classes more accessible, creating online teaching modules, and building a network of bridge mentors to help newcomers transition from lessons to competitive play. Plus, we touch on the joys and challenges of playing bridge with your spouse and balancing bridge with parenthood. _____________________________________________________________ Key Highlights: 🎓 Teaching Bridge Fast: Maya's approach to teaching beginners focuses on getting people playing right away. She believes bridge is simple enough to learn in an hour and emphasizes playing over endless study. 🏆 From Beginner to National Competitor: Maya shares how she went from playing kitchen table bridge to qualifying for Nationals in GNT, finishing second and sending teams to represent New York, including students who had only been playing for 6-18 months. 💡 The Mentorship Gap: Maya discusses how critical it was to have people like Yoko Sobel, Alan Davidson, and Drew Cavalier invest in her development, and why building a network of mentors for young adults is essential for growing the game. 🎯 Making Bridge Accessible: Maya advocates for free or low-cost beginner games, online teaching modules, and better pathways from lessons to duplicate play. She sees young adults as an underserved demographic in the bridge world who need structured support. ❤️ Playing with Your Partner: Maya and her husband Jack navigate the joys and tensions of being bridge partners and life partners. She shares their philosophy: she can handle being the better player, but when he's better, expectations get too high! 🎲 Bridge vs. Board Games: Maya compares bridge to popular board games like Settlers of Catan, arguing that bridge is actually simpler than many games people willingly spend hours learning. _____________________________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps: 📱 Practice your skills on FunBridge - Maya's favorite app for beginners because you can replay hands and learn from mistakes. 🎯 Bid with your partner asynchronously using Cuebids - A great tool for getting more practice without needing to coordinate schedules. 🏛️ Visit Maya at Honors Bridge Club in New York City (110 East 55th Street) for beginner classes and supervised play. 📱 Maya's Instructions for teaching bridge to beginners 🎧 More Stories Like This -

You can listen to Ep. 105: Teaching Bridge to a New Generation with Maya Jonas-Silver online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Ep. 105: Teaching Bridge to a New Generation with Maya Jonas-Silver is an episode from The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players by John McAllister.

This episode is 01:38:00 long.

This episode was published on Jan 29, 2026.

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