Novice Skills

[Ken16]

Well, there was a generally disagreement about my posting of SKILLS.

That is fine; everyone is entitled to their opinion in this free (mostly) world.

 

But now it is my turn. For those who are interested joining into this

labyrinth I want you to review BBO`s SKILL LEVELS on Novice and Beginner.

 

If a friend who has recently taken up Bridge comes to you and asks the following how would YOU answer him/her.

 

1."What knowledge about conventions do I need to know to get on to BBO and play as a Novice." No wishy-washy answers--be specific--and no telling him/her that all that is needed is to read Fred`s excellent book on "Learning Bridge".

 

Since she/he thinks that you are the ultimate guru on Bridge your comments will be duly written down as the ultimate way to go.

 

2. Three months later he/shel then ask you. "After playing enough to be comfortable with the convention recommendations you have given to me, what (if any) additional knowledge about conventions should I know to raise my SKILL LEVEL to BEGINNER," Again be specific.

 

Knowledge about an endeavor is not synonymous with skill. To be successful you must have the skill to use your knowledge in such a way as to be successful

 

I wonder if SKILL LEVEL should be changed to PLAYER LEVEL.

 

Again notice the lack of the word RATING in the above; so please do not use it in your answers to these two simple questions.

[Flame]

Ken you insist to make a connection between conventions and skill , im soory but the only connection i can think of is that only somone with low skills will think that there is such a connection.

If someone asks me this quesition i would explain that its not about conventions, this is the only way i could answer this friend , any other answer would just be a lie.

You know atlethics have athletics uniforms, but the uniform isnt the thing that make them athletic, anyone can ware those uniforms, your question is like asking me if this uniform your wareing make your skill novice or beginer, i cant answer till i'll see you run.

[inquiry]

Hi...

 

Tell your friend, if they are totally new to bridge, to just come on line. mark themselves as a novice (someone new to the game), and join the Beginner/Intermediate lounge (send BILManager a chat message). What convention you need to know? None, you are a novice. First one to learn? Stayman probably. As your friend learns, he/she should learn a few of the conventions the people willing and happy to play and teach him/her like to use.

 

After your friend knows what game contracts are, how to manage the basic of a plan, and has been playing a while (and watching, especially the many FREE and EXCELLENT lessons in the Beginner/intermedaite lounge), your friend can change skill level to beginner. A beginner is (accordning to Fred's description of this choice) someone who has played bridge for a while, but generally less than a year.

 

I would guess most beginners are at least familiar with stayman, blackwood, and probably jacoby transfer. But what conventions you play really is not the issue on these levels.

 

Ben

[TimG]

I don't think it's about conventions at all.

 

There are, however, three conventions that everyone should be familiar with or they will run into troubles playing in even the most basic game: takeout doubles, Stayman and Blackwood. I think this is the list of conventions that your novice would want to know.

 

A player could advance in skill level quite far without playing any other conventions. But, the next two a beginner will probably want to learn are: negative doubles and transfers after a 1NT opening bid. Not necessary for bridge skill, but useful in finding a wider variety of partners.

 

Tim

[HeartA]

Agree with Flame. Conventions even don't help one to find the reasonable contracts (most of the time).

[badderzboy]

As a recent learner,

 

At first as a beginnner you think it is all about conventions determines your skill level and then after playing for a while wonder when was the last time I used convention X!

 

I did focus on learning conventions and then found I never use them and it usually causes chaos when you do!

 

A player needs to start as a Novice and play and play and play a bit more in the BIL ask for advice from fellow BILlies ( although remember we are just BILlies lol) - a great friendly place where people will happily provide advice and guidance cos' we've all just gone through the same learning curve!

 

I think going through LTPB by Fred avaliable on the ACBL.org website gives a good foundation in SAYC and BB Basic and I'd upgrade to Beginner and play in BIL to cement the bidding and once comfortable then use LTPB2 to "improve" to Intermediate and likewise attend the excellent classes in the BIL.

 

In terms of Conventions, the only ones to learn at first is Stayman / Simple Blackwood and leave it at that until you're comfortable with normal bidding to add in extra's with Transfer's first and neg dbls not far behind !

 

Steve

[Free]

Imo, the skill level of novice and beginner have everything to do with conventions, where as the skill level of advanced+ is more about real skill, declarer play, defense, bidding,...

You can't learn a novice everything about squeezes if he can't count till 13 yet. :)

 

So, to get through an evening, I'd also advice to learn stayman and blackwood, and perhaps transfers (since almost everybody plays that automaticly).

To get to beginner, that's a bit tougher, but as Ben said, get him/her in the BIL lounge, let him/her play a lot, follow lessons,... and you should see the improvement. If they have questions, they can always ask their fellow Billies or an honourary member if one pops by.

[hotShot]

I used to think that bidding (system/conventions) was very importent to get good results. But after playing at BBO for quite a while now, mostly with pickup partners who often don't speak a language that i speak as well, i tell you that declarer play, defence and leads is much more importent.

[sceptic]

just play basic and concentrate on playing and defending, conventions are fun, but it is no good getting to the right contract if you keep going down, nor is there giving overtricks away

[Gerben47]

If you have detailed agreement with your partner that will improve your results, no question about that.

But you don't need conventions to play bridge.

 

It seems that hotshot's comments left something immensely important out and that is bidding skills. Knowing when to pass or when to bid in competitive auctions is hard and makes a huge difference.

 

Conventions do you no good, instead they will actually harm you, if you do not have the bidding judgement to know when to use them.

 

If you want to teach a beginner I would start with a ZERO CONVENTION SYSTEM:

1-level: natural 5-card majors better minor

2-level and up: weak and long suit (also 2 clubs)

NT bids: natural balanced hands: 1NT 15 - 17, 2NT 21 - 23, above that count tricks not points.

 

Never mind about the strong hands, you need a convention for those and we don't want that. Just open 3NT or something.

[epeeist]

[excerpt only quoted]

....

1."What knowledge about conventions do I need to know to get on to BBO and play as a Novice." No wishy-washy answers--be specific--and no telling him/her that all that is needed is to read Fred`s excellent book on "Learning Bridge".

 

....

2. Three months later he/shel then ask you. "After playing enough to be comfortable with the convention recommendations you have given to me, what (if any) additional knowledge about conventions should I know to raise my SKILL LEVEL to BEGINNER," Again be specific.

....

My (intermediate level) answers:

 

1. Nothing. Novice is just that. Someone could join as a novice and not even understand the basic rules of bridge properly. They might want to watch vugraph to have a better understanding, use LTPB online instead of downloading it, kibitz others, etc. So novice requires ZERO knowledge. If I'm playing with a novice, I expect nothing, and the software will prevent revokes. And I'd much rather play with an honest novice than certain so-called "experts".... B)

 

2. Bridgewise, they should understand all the rules of the game and scoring (to know what game is, etc.), what vulnerable or non-vulnerable means, etc. They should know in whatever system is "normal" for their country (e.g. SAYC for U.S./Canada) what the most common bids are, so that if they, or partner, or opponents, make a 1-level bid, they will know what it means. They should know basic replies to openings, raises, new suits, 1NT. They should also know about weak bids and strong bids, but more knowing how to respond, they won't necessarily make those bids themselves. Stayman is the only convention they "need" to know, transfers not such a priority since one probably wants the stronger player playing the hand. Blackwood might be a 2nd convention, but it's overused and given the number of slams which are makeable by a beginner (assuming they'd be declarer half the time?) it's not a priority. I've seen much better players get confused between normal and RKCB and end up in an unmakeable slam, so I hardly think it "necessary" for a beginner to know Blackwood.