Why do you suck at bridge?

[OrShoham]

This one's easy: Over-elaboration. Same problem I have in chess (which has, on one occasion, resulted in getting checkmated in two moves. Yes, it's possible). I look twelve cards ahead, figure out some horribly elaborate ending position, fail to notice something obvious ("What, you mean I have to lose the ace of trumps?"), and go down in a cold game.

 

Even worse, in bidding, I sometimes spend so much time figuring out what hands partner and opps *might* have that I forget to consider some obvious layout and go for -1400 in a phantom save.

 

Ah, well. :)

[irdoz]

The 'visualize' thing is interesting...

 

In chess I can play without a board - and can picture what the board will look like a number of moves ahead. I used to catch the train to school and play chess against a friend with no pieces or board - much to the amusement of others on the train.

 

In bridge I can't visualise a thing - the missing cards somehow make it impossible - you not only have to picture different possible hands but then diffierent possible plays. And Im really bad at using inferences to help make a picture of the missing cards. In chess everything is known - in bridge there are a lot of unkmowns.

 

I also think the difference between my chess skill is I started playing at 6 - but didnt play bridge till I was much older. In chess I had access to top players and listening to them was the best way to learn - the stuff you don't get from books. I dont have the same access in bridge - and often there would be not a lot of point me going over the hands because when I can see all 4 hands I can (sometimes) see the errors but the conditions dont replicate the problem i was facing.

[vuroth]

Right now, I don't play enough.

 

I believe in my ability, and I believe that I'll develop the right skills if I work on them. What I really need now is grindstone time.

[Hanoi5]

But everybody knows "The 5 level belongs the oposition".

p always sits opposite me...

Excellent answer. Siggable.

 

I have many of the problems mentioned so far, especially lazyness and lack of concentration. Discipline is the way to overcome them but... It's hard.

[MickyB]

It's odd, I go through phases where I make few mistakes, and phases where I make many.

This happens a lot to me, but if you are really improving, your errors will keep getting smaller as your game oscillates between great sessions and slumps.

 

If you feel you are getting worse - time to hit the books again.

Maybe my recent poor form is due to starting to play a fair bit of online poker (I'm seeing if I can make a living at it). This has meant -

 

I've played less bridge

 

I've been staying up later, as the site I've been playing on doesn't really start to get busy until late afternoon, and there are Yanks to keep playing against until the next morning, if I choose

 

I've been thinking about poker when I may otherwise have been thinking about bridge

 

 

Hmm, looking at that it seems fairly clear there's a connection. I might well move to a different (busier) poker site soon, that would hopefully reduce the temptation to stay up late. Someone said to me that, when you've been unemployed for a while, starting to work full time messes up your bridge for about three months. I guess this is the same thing.

[Finch]

Someone said to me that, when you've been unemployed for a while, starting to work full time messes up your bridge for about three months. I guess this is the same thing.

three months?

working full time messes your bridge up permanently.

 

(That's possibly true even if it includes working full time playing bridge.)

[jonottawa]

LOTRO

[bhall]

Justin's question has another side: If you are serious about improving your game, where do you start?

 

I would say, categorize the types of errors that you make and then try to identify which situations trigger them at the table. Hopefully, you can go on from there to recognize these situations and exercise more caution when they arise or eliminate the conditions that cause them.

[Simpleboi]

I suck due to

Not consistent enough

Unable to concentrate or focus fully when needed to

Unable to analyse deeply into the hand while playing.. usually at the end or post mortem will realise mistake

Bad habits like following too fast sometimes without giving further thought

 

and many more i guess :)

[helene_t]

I think if you suck at bridge, you know you suck.  To me the definition is based on honest self-evaluation. When I look at a session i've played and can point to a laundry list of elementary mistakes i have made. I can safely wallow in my suckitude.  :huh:

Funny, to me it's the opposite. I think there is a positive correlation between the number of mistakes I make and my results. Presumably because the more alert I am, the more of my mistakes I notice.

 

If I after a session think "gee, I can't think of a single wrong decision I made" then I know I sucked more than usually.

[Jlall]

I no longer suck.

 

/thread

[Fluffy]

at bridge you mean, at replying to beginner's posts you can improve :huh:

[PeterGill]

I suck at bridge because I have never formed a strong long term bridge partnership that functions efficiently. I am working on this problem.

 

Another very good Aussie player sucks because he cannot avoid getting upset at the table. He tries not to.

 

We are all different; we all have different weaknesses.

 

I think the chapter in Zia's book Bridge My Way on why everyone, including Zia sucks at bridge is illuminating. Zia points out that everyone, no matter how good they are at bridge, has bad patches where they cannot do anything right. He says you simply cannot play bridge in Zone 1 all the time. I quote Zia from memory, not having the book handy.

 

Justin , you most certainly do not suck at writing about bridge. I was talking to a guy who sometimes plays in Australia's National Open team the other day about bridge writers, and he rated Terence Reese and Justin Lall as the two best bridge writers ever, because both use words well and clearly, both choose fascinating material to write about, and both have great expertise which they happily share.

 

I think bridge writing is a less variable skill than bridge-playing - it doesn't come and go in patches like bridge-playing success does.

 

Justin, I ran into Stephen Hughes the other day - remember, the guy you played bridge with in France in 1998. He says to say hi.

 

Peter Gill, Australia

[Flameous]

My main area to suck at is defending, which is mainly due being lazy. I can always think about ways of signaling my partner perfectly of my hand, yet I never read my partner's signals well enough or think them through. I also can't visualize hands or think of the end situations right in the beginning of the deal.

 

I actually think I don't suck (atleast much) at bidding, but my bidding style is quite out of mainstream, and it's hard for me to adapt to others' style. I rather make people bid my way. That's why I often totally suck with anybody who I haven't played a lot with.

[Phil]

I no longer suck.

 

/thread

Heh, I still suck and so does pclayton.

 

We continue to work on our game on a daily basis.

[gwnn]

thanks Helene for the necro. great thread. I'm a little sad because I see no inaccuracies in my post written 1.5 years ago

[quiddity]

Just in case this thread gets revived again next year.. currently I think I suck due to excessive optimism in bidding, excessive pessimism in play, a tendency to be over-active in all aspects, a tendency to be lazy about visualizing the unseen hands, and slow/inaccurate counting. But I also think I can see signs of improvement over the past year.

[mtvesuvius]

I no longer suck.

 

/thread

Heh, I still suck and so does pclayton.

 

We continue to work on our game on a daily basis.

You two should play bridge together sometime with each other... You'd make a good partnership :)

[dlbalt]

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

I find the terminology offensive. To Suck should not mean To Perform Badly.

 

Sucking can be quite a positive experience. It all depends on what you're sucking, and who it belongs to.

[Phil]

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

I find the terminology offensive. To Suck should not mean To Perform Badly.

 

Sucking can be quite a positive experience. It all depends on what you're sucking, and who it belongs to.

No one laughed the last time this was posted.

[crazy4hoop]

1.) I don't play enough.

 

2.) I don't have the time to work on a regular partnership, i.e. one that has a chance to play together at least once a week (some would argue more than that is needed, fine, no argument from me).

 

3.) Lack of concentration, which often stems from the vast majority of my playing coming as a playing director filling in to avoid a sitout so my mind is not always at the table at which I'm currently playing.

 

4.) An extreme inability to let a bad result go, especially one where the hand should have been "easy." I do have an easier time letting a bad result go when either the hand was tough or my opponents deserve the credit for playing/defending properly but I get really angry at myself when the errors/bad results are self-inflicted, especially on a hand where my dog would have found the right play.

 

There are probably way many more reasons than this but these are the only ones I can think of right now.

[MattieShoe]

Mainly because I play for fun, not money. I'm never going to be a pro and that's totally okay with me. I still want to improve, though :rolleyes:

 

I think my biggest weakness is paying attention to other players carding signals during play and incorporating that into plans.

[pooltuna]

Mainly because I play for fun, not money. I'm never going to be a pro and that's totally okay with me. I still want to improve, though :rolleyes:

 

I think my biggest weakness is paying attention to other players carding signals during play and incorporating that into plans.

This is a valid skill just has to be with care

[billw55]

Failure to appreciate the opponents plan during the play.

[Phil]

I just stole..er, borrowed Kelsey's Advanced Play at Bridge from one of our clubs.

 

I haven't read it in at least 20 years, and not only do I remember nearly all the hands, I remember a lot of Kelsey's comments when he gives the answers.