Card play analysis

[Jlall]

Hi all,

 

It recently occurred to me that there are certain areas of card play, especially declarer play, that are never addressed. These are the nitty gritty, nothing special hands which make up 95 % of hands. People make huge errors on these hands without even thinking anything of it because they can spot an entry shifting squeeze a mile away.

 

The truth is if you read lots of books, or hands on the forums, or whatever, you do not get a realistic sample, and you get good at squeezes and such, but still learn nothing about stuff like which honor to win at trick 1, how to make the opponents mess up, or even stuff like proper PSEUDO squeeze technique. Basically there are a ton of situations where people don't realize what they're doing wrong, and they don't want to ask.

 

I want to try and show people what they're missing. I am offering to analyze 10 hands, trick by trick, from your point of view and what you should be thinking about / what you should do differently. The first 10 people to apply can get in. You can apply and then create this set of 10 hands later, that's fine, no great rush. All that I ask is that you play 10 hands of your most serious possible bridge, no distractions, and ideally with your regular partner, but not really necessary. People playing online are so used to being able to say "well, I was distracted, it's impossible to play my best online" etc. That kind of thinking just facilitates you to continue to play losing bridge, or not be able to introspect properly. I don't want any excuses, in fact there will probably be almost no dialogue between us, I will just send you a (long) analysis of the 10 hands. Try not to be dummy a lot :P

 

I will not say ANYTHING about the bidding, no matter what it was. Contrary to popular belief, bridge is much more about not making cardplay errors than people would like to admit. Yes it's really that simple, don't drop tricks and you will win every time. The fact is most bidding judgement scenarios are much like a coinflip, there is not very much to consistently getting those right, plus you will inevitably get some wrong. We are probably talking about 1-2 % here and there, not a big deal.

 

However cardplay errors are not subjective, it is just wrong, and people routinely give up a HUGE edge there (like taking a 20 % line instead of a 100 % line, whatever, even giving them a tougher time defending so that they misdefend ~5% more often because you did that). Who cares if you open this 11 count, or invite or jump to game with this hand, if you are routinely dropping tricks left and right (which everyone is?)

 

Once you are a part of the top 4 teams in the bermuda bowl, you can start addressing your bidding again and saying stuff like "good judgement on partials is what seperates the best from the rest." Maybe it seperates Italy from USA or vice versa, but what seperates YOU from winning is simply that you make too many mistakes ROUTINELY in cardplay.

 

So apply here, email me the 10 hands in some reasonable amount of time (but not pressured, like 1 month to get em in, I don't want to incentivise people to give me a bad sample of hands under time pressure, that is not what this is about). No excuses, no discussion of the bidding unless it's something I need to know (use the alerts pls), bidding will only be used to draw inferences in the play/defense.

 

This is open to anyone of any level, everyone makes routine bad card plays, even strong experts. If you are a complete beginner, that's ok, though my analysis might be much less specific and more broad since that's what's needed at first.

 

Also, as a good faith gesture I want everyone to apply to say "I will not do ANYTHING out of the ordinary in the bidding for the next 100 boards, because that's all Justin wanted." If you are about to make a fancy bid, remember that you can't, you primsed me! Just doing that in the bidding and making your cardplay much more solid will make you win 4x as much, no joke. I think once you do this you will realize how important routine cardplay situations are, and how unimportant fancy bids are. It will be hard to admit to yourself that you are really making this many mistakes every deal, but just be honest with yourself if you want to get better. Stop reading these fine judgement whatever hands on the forums, spend more time going over your own hands or posting hands you're not sure about. This should be a good start, obviously I'm biased but I think this could be a great learning opportunity to anyone of any level.

 

Finally, when you send me the 10 hands just make sure to tell me what kind of defensive signals you use. Signalling will not be the main importance of this unless you are already a strong expert, but obviously I will need to know. If you know your opponents signals, sending that to me is necessary also.

[Jlall]

Also, please remember that these will be very in depth, and 100 hands is going to be a LOT, and I travel to tournaments every month, and play every day in general at the club or at a tournament. Basically, I'm kind of busy, but I will make these a priority. Just cut me some slack if you think it's taking me a long time, I won't forget about you I promise :P

[gwnn]

I would like to apply, if it's not too late:) I'm afraid you described lots of my flaws in your OP :P

 

I promise not to make fancy bids for the next 100 boards (could we make that 1000?)

[Little Kid]

I'm in if there's room! :P

[TimG]

I'm in if there's room.

 

Tim

[Jlall]

There is room until 10 people have applied in this thread. This is a forumer only offer.

[Vampyr]

I'd like to apply too.

[Jlall]

Also, keep in mind I'm going to be after you for every trick, so even if a hand is just for an overtrick still try your hardest (or play matchpoints so the tricks always matter, but that's a whole different way of thinking about things). This is not practical in the real world, but since you have 10 hands to be judged you can give it your all even for overtricks :P

 

In fact, I imagine a lot of time the hand will be about an overtrick. That is fine, the point is for you to realize where you are making errors, whatever kinds they might be, and regardless of the actual results.

[Jlall]

***

 

gwnn

Little_kid

TimG

Vampyr

 

***

 

6 left.

[gdawg01]

Justin,

 

Would love to be in on this too!

 

Girish

[jkljkl]

Hello Justin,

 

I am interested too,

 

kind regards,

stefan

[cherdanno]

This is scary, but I will apply...

[Jlall]

gwnn

Little_kid

TimG

Vampyr

gdawg

jkljkl

cherdano

 

3 more spots available.

[y66]

Would love to participate if you have room. for one more.

[h2osmom]

Hi Justin,

 

I just want to say I think this is SUCH a nice offer! I would love to apply if you aren't full yet. Thank you!

[mtvesuvius]

Count me in =)

[suokko]

Big plus for Justin!

 

I plead guilty for doing many mistakes in ordinary deals. They are fairly easy to spot in later analyze. But I seem never learn to prevent them at the table.

 

I hope this will be great experience for Justin too :) It is not easy to be good teacher/coach.

[Jlall]

gwnn

Little_kid

TimG

Vampyr

gdawg

jkljkl

cherdano

y66

h2osmom

vesuvius

 

That's ten, thanks all. If you are on this list, don't feel rushed to do your 10 hands. Also, do NOT cherry pick hands. I'm trying to show how much there is to mundane hands! I don't want all book hands lol. People know they mess those up, but it doesn't really matter since its a couple of percent and its so infrequent. There are many many situations on normal hands where you can gain a big edge frequently with just sound play, and people don't. The idea is to shed some light on these hands, hopefully. But really, I just want an accurate, representative sample. I promise there will be lots to talk about either way :)

[aguahombre]

Although the generous offer is to be between you and them, it would be helpful if at the end of your ordeal you would do a string --perhaps in B/I -- which summarizes the common types of declarer play errors you encountered, and perhaps a general thought process for approaching routine declarer play.

 

Surely, these topics have been written up before, but your take --based on the hundred hands -- would probably be useful for all, in addition to the ten.

[pooltuna]

Hi all,

 

It recently occurred to me that there are certain areas of card play, especially declarer play, that are never addressed. These are the nitty gritty, nothing special hands which make up 95 % of hands. People make huge errors on these hands without even thinking anything of it because they can spot an entry shifting squeeze a mile away.

 

The truth is if you read lots of books, or hands on the forums, or whatever, you do not get a realistic sample, and you get good at squeezes and such, but still learn nothing about stuff like which honor to win at trick 1, how to make the opponents mess up, or even stuff like proper PSEUDO squeeze technique. Basically there are a ton of situations where people don't realize what they're doing wrong, and they don't want to ask.

 

I want to try and show people what they're missing. I am offering to analyze 10 hands, trick by trick, from your point of view and what you should be thinking about / what you should do differently. The first 10 people to apply can get in. You can apply and then create this set of 10 hands later, that's fine, no great rush. All that I ask is that you play 10 hands of your most serious possible bridge, no distractions, and ideally with your regular partner, but not really necessary. People playing online are so used to being able to say "well, I was distracted, it's impossible to play my best online" etc. That kind of thinking just facilitates you to continue to play losing bridge, or not be able to introspect properly. I don't want any excuses, in fact there will probably be almost no dialogue between us, I will just send you a (long) analysis of the 10 hands. Try not to be dummy a lot :)

 

I will not say ANYTHING about the bidding, no matter what it was. Contrary to popular belief, bridge is much more about not making cardplay errors than people would like to admit. Yes it's really that simple, don't drop tricks and you will win every time. The fact is most bidding judgement scenarios are much like a coinflip, there is not very much to consistently getting those right, plus you will inevitably get some wrong. We are probably talking about 1-2 % here and there, not a big deal.

 

However cardplay errors are not subjective, it is just wrong, and people routinely give up a HUGE edge there (like taking a 20 % line instead of a 100 % line, whatever, even giving them a tougher time defending so that they misdefend ~5% more often because you did that). Who cares if you open this 11 count, or invite or jump to game with this hand, if you are routinely dropping tricks left and right (which everyone is?)

 

Once you are a part of the top 4 teams in the bermuda bowl, you can start addressing your bidding again and saying stuff like "good judgement on partials is what seperates the best from the rest." Maybe it seperates Italy from USA or vice versa, but what seperates YOU from winning is simply that you make too many mistakes ROUTINELY in cardplay.

 

So apply here, email me the 10 hands in some reasonable amount of time (but not pressured, like 1 month to get em in, I don't want to incentivise people to give me a bad sample of hands under time pressure, that is not what this is about). No excuses, no discussion of the bidding unless it's something I need to know (use the alerts pls), bidding will only be used to draw inferences in the play/defense.

 

This is open to anyone of any level, everyone makes routine bad card plays, even strong experts. If you are a complete beginner, that's ok, though my analysis might be much less specific and more broad since that's what's needed at first.

 

Also, as a good faith gesture I want everyone to apply to say "I will not do ANYTHING out of the ordinary in the bidding for the next 100 boards, because that's all Justin wanted." If you are about to make a fancy bid, remember that you can't, you primsed me! Just doing that in the bidding and making your cardplay much more solid will make you win 4x as much, no joke. I think once you do this you will realize how important routine cardplay situations are, and how unimportant fancy bids are. It will be hard to admit to yourself that you are really making this many mistakes every deal, but just be honest with yourself if you want to get better. Stop reading these fine judgement whatever hands on the forums, spend more time going over your own hands or posting hands you're not sure about. This should be a good start, obviously I'm biased but I think this could be a great learning opportunity to anyone of any level.

 

Finally, when you send me the 10 hands just make sure to tell me what kind of defensive signals you use. Signalling will not be the main importance of this unless you are already a strong expert, but obviously I will need to know. If you know your opponents signals, sending that to me is necessary also.

Are you going to post your analysis here? I presume it will need to be in a manner that leaves all participants anonymous if you do. It will also threaten to be among the longest thread in the fora.?!?

[kenberg]

I see that there are ten. Put me on the waiting list :). This is a very kind offer.

[kfay]

Yes I think a lot of people would appreciate it if you could post a thread or a google doc with the analyses.

 

Maybe you'll even get a book offer :-)

[Hanoi5]

I'd buy the book, but if you post it it'll be cheaper.

[MFA]

Nice project!

[gnasher]

This seems an extraordinarily generous offer.

 

Still, I'm glad that I didn't read this thread until it was too late to participate - I'm not sure that I could face 100 boards of trying to bid in a way that Justin considers normal.

 

PS: Will the rest of us be allowed to nitpick your analysis?