Adam Parrish is exploring how one gets better at bridge and advances to the next level—be that from intermediate to advanced or expert to world class. Adam is an expert player himself—a national champion and a Master Teacher—but he's looking to get to the next level, and devoting the year to figuring out what that takes. Adam will be talking to world-class bridge players about how they got to where they are and what they do to maintain and hone their game. He'll also talk to non-expert bridge players about how they work to get better, and to experts in fields outside of bridge.
John Ramos was born and raised in New York City. He learned the rules of bridge at a very young age from his father and grandmother. After graduating from Princeton University in 1992, he returned to NYC and pursued tournament bridge, being mentored by some of the best players the city had to offer.
Following careers in options trading and film, the latter of which took him across the country to Los Angeles, in 2016 he transitioned to teaching and playing bridge full-time. Since he decided to make bridge his vocation, John has established himself as one of Los Angeles’s premier teachers, holding regular classes at both public and private clubs all over the city and building up a devoted client base. In addition, he’s a top tournament player, having placed in the top 5 in Open US National events on four occasions. He is also a partner in Bridge And Beyond (https://www.bridgeandbeyond.com/), a bridge education and luxury travel company he formed with fellow pros Giorgia Botta and Christopher Rivera.
22 Sept 2026
Phil Clayton
Phil Clayton became a Life Master at age 22 and is currently an Emerald Life Master. He is a USBF junior mentor and coach and was the Non-Playing Captain of the USA2 Seniors team at the world championships in Herning, DK. He is a member of the ACBL Advisory Council and the Online Ethical Oversight Committee. He is a good friend of mine and a frequent teammate.
8 Sept 2026
Marc Smith
Marc Smith was a member of the Great Britain team that won the Junior Teams at the European Union Championships in 1985. Marc has won most of England’s national events at some point in the past 40+ years, most recently picking up the Premier Grand Masters Pairs title in 2025.
However, it is as a bridge writer that he best known. Marc is the co-author, along with Barbara Seagram, of the best-selling bridge book since Culbertson, “25 Conventions You Should Know.” He collaborated with David Bird on two award-winning series of books: “Bridge Technique” and “Bridge Cardplay: An Easy Guide.” He has also co-written books with Jeff Meckstroth, Martin Hoffman, Julian Pottage, and Tim Bourke. Marc now has more than 50 titles to his name, including the “World Class” series and the “Enterprising Tales” books (bridge stories set in the “Star Trek” universe). These days, Marc conducts the world’s most popular bidding competition, hosted on the RealBridge website, and he also writes a regular cardplay column in the ACBL Bulletin. Marc also teaches numerous weekly online classes. For more details of both his classes and his books, visit Marc’s website at www.bridge-teacher.com (http://www.bridge-teacher.com).
Who has been a guest on Leveling Up
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Sjoert Brink
Kim Frazer
Alan Shillitoe
Gavin Wolpert
Per-Ola Cullin
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YouTube views
26,197,691
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
11 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 64 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
78
Social presence
0
YouTube
93
Engagement
32
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