How does your card-reading process work?

[cnszsun]

I'm asking a basic question.

 

When you are playing a tough hand, you may need to get opponents' exact shape and then make final decision. So, at the first several tricks, you need to follow every player's played cards and visualize their hands at critical points.

Up to now, i'm always lost during the process. My memorizing method is also very low efficient imo. For example, during cashing out, both opponents will pitch a lot, i often missed to remember the remaining cards after 3 or 4 rounds.

 

I start to learn bridge late, so i can't rely on my intuition.

 

How do yo do this and what's your suggestion to improve it?

[jikl]

Do this with another person.

 

Practice with a deck of cards (this will not be as effective in online play since the tricks can click by very quickly). Deal 13 cards, look for 5 seconds, answer any questions posed by the other person about the cards you saw. Deal next 13 cards, do the same. Deal next 13 cards, do the same. With the last 13 cards, you get asked the questions without seeing the cards at all. After doing this for a while you will never think about hand shapes again and your card memory will improve.

 

Sean

[Quantumcat]

I'm not sure I understand the exercise. How do you answer the question having no knowledge of the cards?

 

I have another exercise that someone gave me as advice. If you have trouble getting to sleep, as you lie in bed do this until you fall asleep:

 

Think of a number between 1 and 13. As quickly as you can rattle off every single way the other cards can be distributed around the table. Then repeat with another number. The goal is to be able to know them immediately without having to stop and think. Also good for falling asleep.

 

Here's an example.

• 4: 3 3 3. 4 3 2. 5 2 0. 5 1 1. 6 3 0. 6 2 1. 7 2 0. 7 1 1. 8 1 0.
  
• 3: 4 4 2. 4 3 3. 5 5 0. 5 4 1. 5 3 2. 6 4 0. 6 3 2. 7 3 0. 7 2 1. 8 2 0. 8 1 1.
  

[ArcLight]

This isnt quite what you are looking for, but still useful

 

http://www.eastontario.com/conventions/count.htm

 

http://www.eastontario.com/conventions/count2.htm

[TimG]

I'm not sure I understand the exercise. How do you answer the question having no knowledge of the cards?

Having seen the other 39 cards (in three hands of 13), you should have a bit of knowledge regarding the final 13.

 

When I was taught to count trumps, I was told to count every trump played, that is, when I drew the first round of trumps and everyone followed, I counted four; on the next round if everyone followed, I was up to eight. Subtract the total played from 13, then subtract the number you have left in your hand and dummy and you will know how many the opponents still hold. Then I read "Bid Better Play Better: How to Think at the Bridge Table" by Dorothy Truscott. In it she explained that if your side started with eight trumps, you only need count the five trumps that the opponents started with. No need to count to 13, only to 5! Sounds obvious now, but at the time it was a revelation.

 

Someone once told me about a study done with chess experts. They were presented with a board position for a few seconds and then asked to recreate the position. When the pieces were arranged randomly, the experts were not very good at recreating the position. But, when the positions were the result of real game play, they could recreate the position at close to 100% accuracy.

 

When my wife was starting to play and we would be discussing hands on the way home from a tournament, she would be amazed at my recall. But, the only reason I could recall hands was because of the bridge context, not because I have any special ability to recall spots. After a while, her recall was just as good. That just signaled a change in the way she was thinking about things -- she was now remembering the bridge context and using that to recreate the hands. Bridge players can often tell you about hands they played years ago for this same reason.

 

Anyway, this is a long way of saying that it is bridge context that improves the memory. It is important to know which cards are important (the opponents' five trumps, not all thirteen of them; or the Queen of Club when your threat in that suit is the Jack) and to think about things in a bridge context (an opponent can be 5431, but not 6422). When an opponent signals by playing the five followed by the three, it is seldom important to know the exact spots, but rather it is sufficient to know that they petered and to know what that means -- it will help you complete the picture of their hand.

 

It is also important to remember that the bidding often provides a partial picture of an opponent's hand. It's easy to forget something like an opponent being a passed hand. But, you should start the play of each hand by reviewing the bidding and noting any information that might give about your opponents' hands.

[BillHiggin]

Practice is invaluable. When young (a very long time ago) and learning this game, I resolved to try to count out the hands every time that I was dummy. That resulted in the counting process becoming an easy habit rather quickly. Now, I do lose track some of the time - blame both the years and the beers.

[barmar]

I also use my time as dummy to "play along". One difference, though, is that you're less stressed and have fewer things on your mind when you're dummy, so things tend to be easier. For instance, there have been many times when I've recognized that a spot card has become high, or that a key card was played by an opponent early, but partner didn't notice it while declaring.

 

But it's still excellent practice -- certainly better than staring out the window. On the other hand, it becomes frustrating when partner is struggling because he didn't notice something, and you can't remind him. B)