Ep: 107: Adam Parrish on Leveling Up, Writing Bridge Books and What It Takes to Win at the Nationals

In this episode, I sit down with Adam Parrish, a two-time winner of the American Bridge Teachers Book of the Year Award, host of the Leveling Up podcast, and author of six bridge books. Adam spent all of 2025 on a self-improvement project, dedicating an entire year to getting better at bridge while documenting every step publicly. We dive into what that year actually looked like, from tracking hours of study instead of chasing results, to working with top coaches like Joyjit Sensarma and learning key lessons from players like Steve Weinstein, Bobby Levin, and Gavin Wolpert. Did he actually level up? We also dig into some boards from the team trials, the art of listening as a podcaster, and why Adam believes you cannot improve in isolation. He shares stories about his longtime partner Greg Humphreys, how their NABC Fast Pairs win unfolded in Reno, and his experience playing the USA Team Trials on LoveBridge. Plus, we explore his journey from learning bridge from his maternal grandmother to writing a bridge novel, and what it takes to truly level up at this humbling, wonderful game. Key Highlights: 📋 The Leveling Up Project: Adam spent all of 2025 publicly documenting his year-long mission to improve at bridge, tracking hours of study and process rather than just chasing results. 🏆 NABC Fast Pairs Victory: The story behind winning the national Fast Pairs with partner Greg Humphreys in Reno, including the celebration dinner, the trophy photo scandal, and the near-repeat the following year derailed by COVID. 🎯 Learning from the Best: How working with coaches like Joyjit Sensarma, and picking the brains of Gavin Wolpert, Bobby Levin, and Steve Weinstein, transformed Adam's approach to system and decision-making at the table. 🖥️ LoveBridge Team Trials Deep Dive: Why Adam loves the USA Team Trials format on LoveBridge, how he uses VuGraph sessions for study, and who is more fun to share a room with Marty Fleisher or Kevin Bathurst at the event. 📚 Six Books and Counting: From a bridge novel to "When to Draw Trumps" and beyond, Adam explains what inspires each book, how student feedback shapes his writing, and why a simple request can turn into 350 pages. 🎭 The Art of the Interview: A candid conversation between two podcast hosts about preparation, listening, letting conversations breathe, and why going in without a rigid agenda produces the best results. Resources & Next Steps: 🎧 Listen to Adam's podcast: Leveling Up with Adam Parrish . 📰 Explore Adam's monthly newsletter . 📖 Browse Adam's bridge books including When to Draw Trumps and his other titles. 💻 Check out the Love Bridge and experience the online bridge platform Adam recommends for serious study. 🎴 Watch hands and study expert play using Bridge Winners , the website built by Greg. 🎧 More Stories Like This –

You can listen to Ep: 107: Adam Parrish on Leveling Up, Writing Bridge Books and What It Takes to Win at the Nationals online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Ep: 107: Adam Parrish on Leveling Up, Writing Bridge Books and What It Takes to Win at the Nationals is an episode from The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players by John McAllister.

This episode is 01:26:45 long.

This episode was published on Feb 26, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Setting Trick: Conversations with World Class Bridge Players when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.