How improve play of hand?

[bmonger]

Hi All,

 

I hope this question isn't too general, my apologies if so. I'm a relative newbie, and I like to play the robot duplicate(MP & IMP) games. Gives me a priceless opportunity to compare my play against better players on the same hands!

 

What I note is that my bidding isn't too bad, I get roughly the same bids as the better players roughly 75% of the time. I'm working on improving this aspect and making progress.

 

At the same time, the results show that I'm getting clobbered on the play of the hands. Every time I'm pleased that I've made a 3NT contract, the better players will make +2 or 3.

 

I've worked through the Seagram/Bird book and learned a lot from it. Other than more reading and practice, can anyone offer any suggestions of how I might improve in this area? I DO make a plan up front for every hand, but when I look at the results, most of the time I don't have a clue as to how the better players have squeezed out the extra tricks. I do know that I'm not yet great at analyzing the bidding and identifying the 'danger hand', but so often there isn't any information if the bidding.

 

I apologize if I'm wasting anyone's time, but any suggestions would be appreciated!

[manudude03]

Well, overall it is better if you post specific hands since each hand really needs to be treated on its own merits. Whenever you can, try and get a count on the opponents hands as doing so will help you place the cards better. Don't forget to use the auction for any clues. The lack of action is just as important as action taken. Knowing some basic probability as well as vacant spaces theory can go a long way too.

 

Also, on the BBO website, there is a section called My Hands. You can load up your recent hands and check the travellers and find out how your fellow competitors played the hand.

[1eyedjack]

It depends to some extent on how much time you have on your hands. There are probably several methods to improve card play, which vary in their effectiveness from player to player. Some drink books, others might note their contents with passing interest but seem unable to apply them when it matters. But nothing is totally wasted and no method need be adopted to the exclusion of others. The effluxion of time is your friend and I expect that the margins will narrow naturally and for no obvious discernable reason. The desire to accelerate that process is half the battle won.

 

You have one resource available that, as I say given the time and will, could serve you. You have already noted hands where "inexplicably" other players are making more tricks. You could take the trouble to convert "inexplicably" to "explicably" by reviewing how those others played the hands, seeing where they depart from your play, and see if you can work out why their deviation is superior. It is not always an easy task. Some hands will be easier than others to analyse. On some hands the bidding may affect the choices of defenders in declarer's favour, and you may have to check whether the bidding was identical to yours. Ignore hands where just a few players beat you, in favour of those where the entire room beat you in overtricks. If you come across hands where you still cannot see why the other tables acted that way, enlist the help of a friend who is an experienced player.

 

This kind of in depth review way, depending on your temperament, be more memorable than the occasional book illustration and thereby lend itself to practical application in future.

 

MyHands is your friend.

 

[EDIT] sorry, seems I largely repeated what manu said more briefly

[nekthen]

I play the tournament at bridgez.net every day. The first hand is always an annotated puzzle, which certainly helps me improve.

Different methods resonate with different people.

 

It is also about being greedy! Maybe you mentally turn off once the contract is guaranteed, while others look for overtricks

[nekthen]

I play the tournament at bridgez.net every day. The first hand is always an annotated puzzle, which certainly helps me improve.

Different methods resonate with different people.

 

It is also about being greedy! Maybe you mentally turn off once the contract is guaranteed, while others look for overtricks

[Vampyr]

Your local bridge club might have supervised play, or a lesson series on card play. This might initially be more helpful than attempting to analyse the hands onyour own.

 

Also, if you do play at a club offer one of the better players a drink after the session, and use the opportunity to ask for advice on a few of the hands.

[fourdad]

Plan your play before you play a card.

 

COUNT!! Are you in the correct contract?

 

At NT count sure winners first.

 

At suit count sure losers first.

 

Then figure out how to maximize the results.

 

If a card MUST be in a specific opponents hand in order to make...play like it is there!

[zenbiddist]

Work through the free Bridgemaster hands on bridge base online (find through the Practice section). These are beautifully designed hands that teach you the skills you'll need to be a decent card player, and are excellent if you are a visual learner.

 

"Card Play Technique" is an absolute classic and fun to read, I recommend that to everyone who wants to learn practical play and defence. Both of these resources will get you thinking along the right lines. Enjoy!

 

And thirdly, as others have suggested, if your result is markedly worse than others' on a particular hand on BBO, you can quickly click through the play and see what they did differently.

[GrahamJson]

It's probably a little advanced for you at the moment but Play These Hands With Me by Terence Reece is possibly the best bridge book ever (it is also sold as part one of Practical Bidding and Practical Play). It follows the thinking of an expert player as he plays through various hands. It does assume a good basic knowledge of standard techniques, but you should still learn a lot from reading it.

 

Of course there are plenty of basic books around. Anything by Bird, Mollo, Reece and several others is worth reading. Check out the Chess and Bridge website.

 

http://shop.chess.co.uk/bridge-ebooks-s/1965.htm

[Phil]

1. Read a lot although unfortunately a lot of hands on here rise above a basic level. Reading will get you to understand 'themes'. Go to the library and check anything with play in the title and written by Kelsey, Reese, Pottage, Kantar and Root.

 

2. Count. Everything. Its a pain in the ass at first, but you will get better with practice.

[eagles123]

Agree with what the others have said, but in terms of recommended reading to improve your card play, imo look no further than:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwiGjOG83_HQAhWJL8AKHX2kBEEQFgi6ATAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FHow-Read-Your-Opponents-Cards%2Fdp%2F0910791481&usg=AFQjCNF5evhmgkLxGJfEaEygOVKVLU6Mow&sig2=90HdWQCeQkOSUI2B_Tbe9g

 

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwjqkIbD3_HQAhXHCMAKHZdjAVIQFgjBATAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FCombinations-Devyn-Press-Bridge-Library%2Fdp%2F0910791635&usg=AFQjCNH7cH8zEX4uUF4k4k_-g7sYCbXFBA&sig2=YKGfSN5oSrxn6TDFfaTidQ

[WesleyC]

The reason that other player get better scores is that they've spent thousands of hours playing and *occasionally* learning bridge!

 

Obviously more reading and analysis will help, but if you really want to improve fast your best bet is to find the toughest IRL tournament in your area and play in it!

[Phil]

The reason that other player get better scores is that they've spent thousands of hours playing and *occasionally* learning bridge!

 

Obviously more reading and analysis will help, but if you really want to improve fast your best bet is to find the toughest IRL tournament in your area and play in it!

 

Disagree with this sentiment pretty strongly - Id guess youre kidding AAMOF.

 

I hadnt played one live session until I had scoured about three bridge books over a two year period and my card play and bidding was better than about 80-90% of the players on my first day of play.

 

I liken this to a 20 handicap golfer who plays every day and never improves unless they take lessons or initiates an intelligent practice routine.

[Stephen Tu]

IMO the first books a beginner should tackle are

Bill Root How to Declare a Bridge Hand and

Mollo/Gardner Card Play Technique

 

after that there are dozens of worthwhile material from authors like Terence Reese, Hugh Kelsey, Mike Lawrence, Eddie Kantar among others.

 

Agree with Phil if you really master the content in just these you'll get into top 20%, better than players who have played decades without reading.

 

When you look into the tourney records and see how other players took more tricks, try to figure out what they were thinking. WHY did they take a particular line. Is their line clearly superior to yours, or did they just get lucky on the actual deal? Which suits they try to set up first. Draw trumps right away or not? The care to cash honors in the right order to maintain transportation, and cater to different layouts. Drop or finesse and why? How did their line combine multiple chances, what were they catering to?

[GrahamJson]

I tend to agree with Phil. BBO is full of players who in some cases play up to 100 boards a day yet are still at the level of a beginner, even if they do seem to think that they are experts. Of course to be good you do have to play quite a lot and to be expert you need to play every day, but to progress from being a novice to a reasonably strong player you need to learn the basics and the best way to do that is by a bit of study.

 

At the end of the day it is not a case of either/or. To become a strong player you need to both read and play. Also, as another I think mentioned, a great way to learn is to obtain copies of the hands that you have just played. You can then look at them carefully and check if you could have played or defended better. Don't just look at the boards in which you scored badly, also check those in which you did well. Maybe poor defence allowed you to get away with errors, or maybe you were just plain lucky.

 

Finally, join and play at a decent club. You should find the average standard far higher than on BBO.

[eagles123]

by the way OP, you said:

 

I apologize if I'm wasting anyone's time

 

Absolutely 100% NO - this is a bridge forum, it's designed for people of all standards, and I'm sure as much as the other suggestions made on here will improve your card play, so will participating in this forum, either posting hands you've found difficult/interesting or by reading the more expert topics.

[PhilG007]

Hi All,

 

I hope this question isn't too general, my apologies if so. I'm a relative newbie, and I like to play the robot duplicate(MP & IMP) games. Gives me a priceless opportunity to compare my play against better players on the same hands!

 

What I note is that my bidding isn't too bad, I get roughly the same bids as the better players roughly 75% of the time. I'm working on improving this aspect and making progress.

 

At the same time, the results show that I'm getting clobbered on the play of the hands. Every time I'm pleased that I've made a 3NT contract, the better players will make +2 or 3.

 

I've worked through the Seagram/Bird book and learned a lot from it. Other than more reading and practice, can anyone offer any suggestions of how I might improve in this area? I DO make a plan up front for every hand, but when I look at the results, most of the time I don't have a clue as to how the better players have squeezed out the extra tricks. I do know that I'm not yet great at analyzing the bidding and identifying the 'danger hand', but so often there isn't any information if the bidding.

 

I apologize if I'm wasting anyone's time, but any suggestions would be appreciated

 

Why don't you join the BIL club? You get supervised play with experts ready to offer advice on request. Very often the deals are analysed after the

tournament is over so you get free coaching. But be warned..like any other game,bridge demands time and study from its devotees so don't expect too

much too soon (!) ;)

[1eyedjack]

One of the best card play books that I have come across for those of modest experience is "Victor Mollo's Winning Double" by, well, Victor Mollo, of course. It has been out of print for as long as I can remember, but if you find it on the second hand market, snap it up.

 

The book is simply a compilation of puzzles of varying difficulty, from beginner to mildly advanced, randomly distributed throughout the book, in typical book-puzzle format; The problem is presented on one page with the solution on the reverse after turning the page. But the interesting point that holds the reader's attention is a guarantee that Mollo offers at the outset: The book is divided into two halves: set A and set B. Each set contains examples of the same genres of problems (with some themes that repeat, scattered through the book). You are invited to tackle sets A and B in the order of your choice, but you are assured that whichever set you tackle first, you will do considerably better on the second. That is a great confidence booster, I think.

[ggwhiz]

Why don't you join the BIL club? You get supervised play with experts ready to offer advice on request. Very often the deals are analysed after the

tournament is over so you get free coaching. But be warned..like any other game,bridge demands time and study from its devotees so don't expect too

much too soon (!) ;)

 

I STRONGLY endorse the BIL club. They get contributions and mentorship on all aspects of the game from really good people and have a full range of options to access the materials including a library so you can go at your own speed.

[ncohen]

Read books. As of 10 or 20 years ago, some of the good non-beginner books on declarer play were Kantar's book on card play

//www.amazon.com/Bridge-Dummies-Eddie-Kantar/dp/111820574X, Root, How to Play a Bridge Hand; Card Play Techique by Mollo and Gardener; and Winning Declarer play by Dorothy Hayden Truscott. If you're including defense, then there's Root's How to Defend a Bridge Hand and any of a zillion books by Kantar.

[msjennifer]

Hi All,

 

I hope this question isn't too general, my apologies if so. I'm a relative newbie, and I like to play the robot duplicate(MP & IMP) games. Gives me a priceless opportunity to compare my play against better players on the same hands!

 

What I note is that my bidding isn't too bad, I get roughly the same bids as the better players roughly 75% of the time. I'm working on improving this aspect and making progress.

 

At the same time, the results show that I'm getting clobbered on the play of the hands. Every time I'm pleased that I've made a 3NT contract, the better players will make +2 or 3.

 

I've worked through the Seagram/Bird book and learned a lot from it. Other than more reading and practice, can anyone offer any suggestions of how I might improve in this area? I DO make a plan up front for every hand, but when I look at the results, most of the time I don't have a clue as to how the better players have squeezed out the extra tricks. I do know that I'm not yet great at analyzing the bidding and identifying the 'danger hand', but so often there isn't any information if the bidding.

 

I apologize if I'm wasting anyone's time, but any suggestions would be appreciated!

I can recommend books which have helped me a lot. 1)Bridge play from A to Z by George Coffin.2) Endplays in bridge by G S Coffin 3)SureTricks byG S Coffin4) Winning Defence by Brown.This last named book on Defence is a true Classic and explains in full detail the logics of defense.

[bmonger]

Thanks to everyone for all the great replies! The encouraging thing is that it doesn't looked like I've missed anything simple, I am more or less on the suggested path already, but I have gotten quite a few great ideas here that I'm going to look into further. Thanks much!

[jogs]

https://www.amazon.com/Watsons-Classic-Book-Play-Bridge/dp/0064632091

 

Watson's Play of the Hand in Bridge is the most complete book on declarer play I've ever seen.

 

Also take 30 to 45 seconds after the dummy is tabled before playing to the first trick.

Plan the play of the entire hand then play a card from the dummy.

[mycroft]

1) there's very little simple about this game - except that it doesn't matter how good your personal game is, if you are nasty to your partner, your score will go down.

 

2) I have little to say that others have not said, but I was wondering if someone would bring up Watson. Now, don't get me wrong, it is a great book; I have 4 copies because I will lend them out and people will ask if they can keep it afterward. But it reads like a textbook, not a bridge book; and it will be too much for you. My strong recommendation is to start from the beginning and go slowly. When it stops making sense - and it will - put it down and play for 6 months or so. Then *start again, from page 1, even if the first couple of chapters are "obvious" now* - you'll pick up something, even in the "a Queen is higher than a Jack" chapters - and go until it stops making sense again. You'll get farther. Repeat until you can get all the way through it without tripping. Do not be surprised if that never happens.

 

3) Remember that you declare on average 25% of the hands. Another 25% you're dummy; but 50% of the time you're on defence. Make sure you work on that, too.

 

4) Welcome! This is a game you can enjoy - and learn - for the rest of your life.

[Zelandakh]

There are basically just a series of techniques to learn. They range from basic (finesse, ruffing losers, establishing a suit, discarding losers) through intermediate (intra-finesse, ruffing finesse, cross-ruff, loser on loser) to advanced techniques (trump coup, suicide squeeze, Vienna coup, most endplays and squeezes). Above that there are a multitude of special cases. These techniques not only need to be learned but also recognised in a complex hand that does not directly match the normal book set-up. It takes years of practice to achieve that and the majority of players only scratch the surface.

 

As others have said, the first part is to read books appropriate to your level. Once you are fully versed in the techniques, use them in your declarer play as they come up to master them. Once you have mastered the basics, move on to the intermediate techniques. Then the first few in the advanced set, particularly the trump coup and simple squeeze, and then bring in the rest. Once you have mastered all of the basic and intermediate techniques you will be in the upper half of the field; after the first couple of advanced techniques pushing for the top places in most fields.

 

It really is that simple - a combination of knowledge and experience combined with the talent to be able to count and visualise a hand. As with so many simple things though, it can be strangely difficult to achieve in practice, and therein lies the challenge and the reward. Good luck!