[JLOGIC]

jogs, on 2011-July-22, 21:12, said:

Bridge is dominated by pros in their sixties.

o rly

[blackshoe]

You're older than you thought you were, Justin.

[mrdct]

hotShot, on 2011-July-23, 01:49, said:

2) The "average" pro has to find clients in local clubs, how many of your usually club members would want to hire a 20 year old pro?

I think plenty of them do for a variety of reasons:
- they feel they are supporting youth bridge by giving a younger play a leg-up;
- they might be able to get a younger pro at a more affordable rate;
- for clients not aspiring to winning national events, but just want to be competitive in whatever flight/strata they play in, a younger pro is probably going to suit better as they are more likley to below the masterpoint cut-offs;
- some of these "20 year old pros" are bloodly good bridge players.

I only ever played professionally when I was in my early 20s and still at university. I wasn't a particularly good bridge player in open competition at the time (nor am I now) but I was doing OK in youth events having made a few state and national teams. My client was happy as all she wanted was to win a duplicate every now and then and not have her partner yelling at her but get a few constructive comments after the session. The $100 or so per week I'd pull from a couple of club duplicates was more than enough to put petrol in my car and pay for the week's beer and pizza.