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Why do you suck at bridge?


Guest Jlall

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Guest Jlall

What causes you to suck at bridge and keeps you from being the best?

 

For me I think it is lack of focus (at bridge tournaments there are a lot of distractions, social and otherwise), and too much ego.

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I'm not nice enough to my partners. I can't count in defense and my timing when I declare is about 0.7 trick worse than decent declarers. Lazy at reading books, quick to accept the first line I think is half decent.
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Random laziness and sometimes short term memory goes away due to lack of concentration, like partner signals with the 5 and I semi-notice that card but then focus on what card I'm going to play next in anticipation of what declarer's going to play and then go crap, what did partner signal just then.
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Let's start with why most serious bridge players suck at bridge, I think it is from a lack of learning from their experience (learn from their own mistakes), and not studying the game (reading, serious kibitzing) enough.

 

Those are not flaws I share, I read and study bridge a lot. But there are a lot of reasons why I still suck at bridge. The first answer is clear. I spend way too much of my time trying to figure out esoteric bidding ideas. I would be a much better player if I stuck to a simple bidding system, and tried to devellop my bidding judgement better, and then used my "study" time to improve my card play technique rather than find the latest and best new gadget.

 

Another reason I suck at bridge is the lack of the ability to let the last hand go. I will mull over issues of a hand just played (or even two or three hands ago) when I should be focusing entirely on the hand being played at the moment. I do this F2F alll time, but on BBO it is exaggerated as I can go and study the movie in great detail. This distraction has to be at least as bad as justin's socilal distraction, and sadly, it happens even in the vaccum of online bridge.

 

Two other areas, I almost never exercise any "table feel", even when I think I read a vibe I will tend to ingore it. I think my bridge would be better if I back my insticts more in situations like that. Finally, I don't spend enough time trying to view the problems the defenders might face and time my plays in order to make it most difficult for them. Interestingly, when I review my hands later, I frequently discover where I could have made it harder on them if I had just thought a tiny bit longer.

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The Principle of Restricted Talent.

 

Lost my great partner who improved me a great deal from being totally suck. Well, not really lost, he just got eaten up by Cambridge.

 

Lack of focus. (lost me 20 imps in 2 boards) And yes, the "what did partner just signal?" happens to me every other board or so.

 

Laziness when declaring, taking inferior lines of play that pop up in my mind.

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Because I'm not Justin Lall.

 

Kidding. (somewhat kidding. I'm not Justin Lall, but that's not the reason I suck)

 

because I'm inconsistent and don't count everything I should. Bidding judgement could also use help at times.

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What causes you to suck at bridge and keeps you from being the best?

 

For me I think it is lack of focus (at bridge tournaments there are a lot of distractions, social and otherwise), and too much ego.

Making the same mistakes and judgment errors over and over. Seems like I can't make the connection between past bad scores from that mistake to the current similar situation where I ALREADY should know better. As if, by miracle, that decision *THIS TIME* would yield a good score.

 

At least I have identified this stupidity. Now, if only I could get rid of it LOL

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For me I think it's lack of patience. I tend to go with my gut rather than try to work all the possibilities out. I think I have a decent intuition for the game, but when it requires working out a difficult problem I'm not as good. I totally fail on most of the card combination quizzes in bridge books and magazines.
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I think JL has 2 problems:

 

1) lack of a 2 am curfew

2) leaving laptop unattended (please check hand history to find all-ins on 72s)

 

For myself, I play most bridge events on tilt

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I'm pretty sure the root cause of most errors at the events that really matter are a result of just being tired. Whether that manifests itself in a lack or focus, laziness, not counting or tilting (bad doubles and overbidding) doesn't matter.

 

The next factor is playing too fast. We play a complicated game and you just can't play at your best by rapid-firing cards. I can usually bid in tempo without a problem, but card play can be difficult and needs to be carefully considered.

 

Playing too slow can cause sominexes or tilting too.

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