[jerdonald]

BBO forum,

I always tell new bridge players that the most
important thing you can do on defense is "watch
your partner's discards" and the hardest thing to
do on defense is "watch your partner's discards".

I'm currently trying to make a short list of just
the worst mistakes at bridge. Here, in no particular
order, is what I have so far.

Not taking enough time to think about partner's bids.
Not analyzing the opening lead.
Forgetting the trump count.
Loosing trump control.
Take a finesse when there is a possible endplay.
Not watching your partners discards.

Any additions, comments, etc. remembering that
these are for relatively new players.

jerryd

[Elianna]

 jerdonald, on 2011-November-19, 23:31, said:

BBO forum,

I always tell new bridge players that the most
important thing you can do on defense is "watch
your partner's discards" and the hardest thing to
do on defense is "watch your partner's discards".

I'm currently trying to make a short list of just
the worst mistakes at bridge. Here, in no particular
order, is what I have so far.

Not taking enough time to think about partner's bids.
Not analyzing the opening lead.
Forgetting the trump count.
Loosing trump control.
Take a finesse when there is a possible endplay.
Not watching your partners discards.

Any additions, comments, etc. remembering that
these are for relatively new players.

jerryd

Off the top of my head I would change not thinking about partner's bids to not thinking of the auction in general.

Or add not thinking enough about the opponents' bids. For example, if you are declaring, and LHO was dealer and passed, and you see that LHO has shown up with an AK, and an A, you know that she does not have a missing Q (unless she misbid).

[Trinidad]

Worst mistakes at bridge:
- Not caring about partner
- Letting (good or bad) results of previous boards get to your head
- Forgetting to drink (and sometimes eat) enough

Rik

[BunnyGo]

I think that most of the card play problems above come from not counting and recounting and rerecounting the hand:

1) What shape did the players start with?
2) What do they have left?

I think that Rik is correct that the problems he mentioned are more important (and more likely to get in the way of your results and your fun both), but in terms of defense I think Kelsey (Killing Defense) had it exactly right, it all starts with counting. You can often get away with not looking at anything else if you can count out the hand for yourself.

[CSGibson]

The worst mistake is the one that you don't learn from.

A less glib answer: Believing that counting is "too hard" for a new/intermediate/bad player. Unless you didn't complete 2nd grade, I have confidence in your ability to count if you just try.

[kgr]

 Trinidad, on 2011-November-20, 02:10, said:

- Forgetting to drink (and sometimes eat) enough

Drinking too much

[kgr]

Some time ago there was a post on the forums about hand paterns.
4333-5332-6331...
Learn these and really focus as much as possible during the play.
This is probably the advise that has improved my bridge the most. And still on some hands I'm not yet focussed enough. Sometimes I only start focussing in the middle of the hand when it is to late.
Any study of Squeeze, endplays, ... will be much more valuable if you first do the above.

Edited

[Fluffy]

my worst mistakes are when I don´t think enough. I play a lot better against slow players than against fast players, and that is an important sympthom.

[aguahombre]

 kgr, on 2011-November-20, 04:13, said:

Some time ago there was a post on the forums about hand paterns.
4443-5332-6331...
Learn these.

One of those, I choose to forget But, Absolutely valuable for people struggling to count. I tell any newer player willing to listen that they should memorize those, and just fill in the missing number ---rather than subtract from 13 each time.

[guido]

IMHO, the three most important items for a developing player to work on are:
1) counting
2) counting
3) counting

[EricK]

Not appreciating how the value of a hand changes during the auction.

Bidding or playing one bid/trick at a time rather than forming a plan for the future.

[JLOGIC]

 BunnyGo, on 2011-November-20, 02:17, said:

I think that most of the card play problems above come from not counting and recounting and rerecounting the hand:

1) What shape did the players start with?
2) What do they have left?

I think that Rik is correct that the problems he mentioned are more important (and more likely to get in the way of your results and your fun both), but in terms of defense I think Kelsey (Killing Defense) had it exactly right, it all starts with counting. You can often get away with not looking at anything else if you can count out the hand for yourself.

+1 trillion, every hand/play is about counting. Counting the shape, counting the points, counting the winners, counting the losers

[y66]

For me (intermediate), spending too much time working on low frequency system stuff and not enough time on high frequency play and defense skills.

[nigel_k]

Counting is huge but it is really more that you need to build up a mental picture of the unseen hands, based not just on counting but also on the calls and plays made (and not made) so far. There is no way to play decent bridge without that and it takes time to learn so should be started as early as possible, right after learning how to follow suit.

Failure to build this picture correct, or often not even trying, is the worst mistake.

[ggwhiz]

Stamina / mental energy and using it efficiently.

It might have been Scheinwold who said "Don't waste energy on the spectacular plays, there aren't enough of them. Try to avoid mucking up the easy ones."

[Fluffy]

I tried to count how many hands I ended up knowing declarer's shape on defence, and I was surprised how low it was. On many I just ended up with a comfortable strategy of keeping the suit I was defending and enough apropiate exit cards in our suit to avoid endplays.

What is the percentage for you?

[Free]

For beginners, not counting is obviously a mistake, but another one of the worst mistakes is to think that adding 20000 conventions will improve their results.

[TheoKole]

The absolute worst mistake any player can do in bridge is to pass a command bid by his partner. The reason that partner is making a command bid is because he is in command and needs specific information. Passing a 2 ♣ bid with long ♣ and nothing else is a prime example of this, another is passing a game try bid (which by the way, may be a slam try). It not only gets you a bottom 99% of the time but it also degrades partnership trust for future hands in bidding and defense

Good luck,

Theo

[Free]

 TheoKole, on 2011-November-22, 14:11, said:

The absolute worst mistake any player can do in bridge is to pass a command bid by his partner. The reason that partner is making a command bid is because he is in command and needs specific information. Passing a 2 ♣ bid with long ♣ and nothing else is a prime example of this, another is passing a game try bid (which by the way, may be a slam try). It not only gets you a bottom 99% of the time but it also degrades partnership trust for future hands in bidding and defense

Good luck,

Theo

In general, I agree, however there are some exceptional situations. For example, if you psyched 1M in 3rd seat with a long ♣ suit and partner bids Drury, then usually it's best to just pass (you planned this all along btw).

[wank]

 Free, on 2011-November-22, 15:23, said:

In general, I agree, however there are some exceptional situations. For example, if you psyched 1M in 3rd seat with a long ♣ suit and partner bids Drury, then usually it's best to just pass (you planned this all along btw).

that type of psyche is ridiculous and pointless. the opps know you've psyched now, but you've also let them know about partner's hand. and if you had a 'long club suit' you could just pre-
empt to the 3 level directly instead of taking a circuitous route to a pre-empt at the 2 level.

if you're going to do this kind of thing, you have to follow it through and rebid 2M to limit your hand and shut partner up and prepare to go minus a large multiple of 50.

pretty much the only time you should drop a forcing bid after psyching imo is when you do it opposite a non-passed hand which then game forces.