[Apollo81]

If you were asked to name the 5 biggest mistakes that beginner level players make, what would you say?

By beginner level I mean "would get killed if playing against an intermediate level player"

By mistakes I mean something fairly specific, like "bidding 2NT when you meant to make a forcing bid" or "underevaluating when a 9+ card major fit is present" or "not giving/listening to attitude signals" rather than general stuff like "not counting" or "bad defense" or "not understanding what bids are forcing"

[goobers]

Bidding 2NT on no values whenever no fit is available to "rescue" partner.

Feeling obligated to play the hand whenever you have opened. (ex opening 1N opposite a silent partner and then bidding and bidding)

Failing to signal/pick up on attitude.

Forgetting to evaluate/devalue shortness.

Not paying attention to the auction when defending a hand.

[badderzboy]

Most common mistakes that I see by Beginners and some intermediates...

1NT outside of their agreed range either as a rebid or opening...

Not realising they can overcall with less than opening points.

Reversing by accident 1D-1S-2H (with a a weak 5D4H) (lots of intermediates do this too).

Pulling all the trumps without looking at the hand as a whole especially when the only trump left is boss.

Not setting up the long suit first b4 cashing outside winners in NTs.

In truth its all down to experience and repetition and beginners just haven't played enough hands.

The real answer is when you keep reading the good habits and you actually follow them

And it wasn't that long ago that I was a beginner and I well remember them lol

Goobers If anyone is doing any of yours then they ain't beginners most Intermediate players struggle to signal / listen to bidding etc lol (and so Int+ forget too well signal ahem - that would be me )

Steve

[han]

Here are 4 common mistakes I see:

They tend too bid their own suits too often and raise partner too rarely.

They play the hands intuitively and lack intuition.

They forget earlier rounds of bidding during the auction, and forget the whole auction during the play.

In general they think more about what they should bid to show their hands instead of thinking about what partner has shown and what contract they should be in.


These mistakes are not exclusive to beginners though, I can't think of any typical mistakes that are made by beginners but not by intermediate players (of course the distinction isn't always easy to make).

[vuroth]

Maybe this is too beginnerish, but...

1. Panic passes - I have no idea what's going on, so I'll pass.

2. Not counting tricks/points.

3. Not thinking about bidding while playing declarer/defense

4. Always finessing (see 2)

5. Not considering transportationg/blocking

[pclayton]

1. Relying on blackwood for all slam auctions.

2. Being overactive on defense.

3. Drawing trump too early as declarer and not focusing on ruffing losers or setting up side suits.

4. Not balancing enough in fit auctions.

5. Playing 2nd hand high too often.

[helene_t]

Leading aces without having the king. More generally, grabbing tricks too fast.

"Rescuing" partner from possibly suboptimal partscores. 2NT has been mentioned as an example of this.

Telling the same story again and again. Opening multi and then competing to 3M without being encouraged by partner, for example.

"Wait and see". For example, instead of making a slightly flawed preempt, making a much more flawed overcall in 2nd or even 3rd round.

Blackwood abuse.

Making competive decisions based on general values instead of O/D ratio.

[jillybean]

Running to 3nt when we have no game but I won't pass

[SoTired]

Running to NT on a misfit

Bidding 3N based on stoppers when combined strength is lacking

Reversing to show strength with equal length suits

Bypassing 4-card majors at 1-level to respond 1N "to show strength"

Rebidding a 5-card suit instead of bidding a 2nd 4-card suit

High-low with small doubleton (encourage) in NT when should play small (discourage)

Leading honor from Hxx of partner's suit because "Always lead highest card of partner's suit"

Not bidding NT unless all 5 suits stopped

"Overusing BW"... That's not what I see. I would welcome that. They NEVER BID SLAM.

When confused, they pass

"But I wanted you to bid NT"

When playing a contract, they rarely look ahead even 1 trick. You see this when they play a card.... think think think.... play another card... think think think, etc.

Counting suits to 13

[jillybean]

I've got to say, I wish I made these mistakes as a raw beginner. I'm only just starting to make some of these mistakes now

[jocdelevat]

Im b/i however I can say what i consider most 5 comon mistakes of my partners(most of them b/i like me).

1. not playing long suit first on nt contracts because of one or 2 looser in that suit or the suit is poor in honors.
2. taking trump out when is 4/4 with other suits not cover or very very weak.
plus as oposite to this not taking trump out first when they have a running suit or good cover of other suits.
3. do not know the range to overcall or support.(this one I think I fail too on support pard suit on competitive auction. Murphy law =when I bid I should not and when I do not bid I should have bid).
4.jump to 4nt after pard open if they have an open hand with support for pard.
5.when defending after few tricks never lead the logical suit remaining.

[hotShot]

1. Playing all the top tricks first, wondering why opps get the remaining tricks.
2. Overbidding strong hands.
3. Underbidding weak hands.
4. Failure to realize the combined potential/strategy of both hands.
5. Passing with intermediate hands first and than feeling they have to force endlessly later.

[mikeh]

1. Going to slam every time they hold 16 points or more and partner opens

2. Making a takeout double with length in the doubled suit, shortness in an unbid major and 11-14 hcp.

3. Jumping to game opposite a major opening with a balanced 14 count and good support

4. Making a takeout double and then bidding a new suit after a non-jump response when holding the same 13 points they already showed, but see (5)

5. Responding to a takeout double at the one level no matter how many points they have.... [1♣] x [P] 1♠ is 0-16 hcp.. with more, they blackwood or bid 3N.

I play in a club with a range of skill levels, from 6 former Canadian Open Team members to players in their 80's who have never advanced beyond beginner status. In the above list, I focussed on mistakes that are almost limited to the beginner class... they really, really have problems with takeout doubles. The other mistakes (not listening to the auction, failing to THINK on defence, failing to time the play, running from misfits into notrump, etc), seem to me to be almost as prevalent amongst intermediates and continue on into the advanced stage as well

[jtfanclub]

SoTired, on Jun 28 2007, 01:57 PM, said:

"Overusing BW"... That's not what I see. I would welcome that. They NEVER BID SLAM.

Huh. I encourage beginners to not even think about slam...yet.

I'd say...

1. Rebidding a suit in a competitive auction, especially when having no idea what to do next.

example:
1♠ (2♥) 2♠ (3♥)
3♠* (4♥) P P *Lightning quick, showing 13 cards.
** **Two hours later, still trying to decide.

2. Not pulling trump with a weak suit.

example:
In 4 hearts, with T964 across 87532, losing 4 trump tricks (the only 4 tricks lost) in spite of the suit splitting 2-2 because of a refusal to touch the suit. It's not like those winners are going to hide under the table!

3. Leading 4th from longest and strongest in a NT contract no matter what.

Couple o' weeks ago, opps had the auction of:
1♦ 1♠
3♦ 3♥ (natural)
3NT

Partner lead a low diamond from QTxx. I had 6 clubs AJTxxx. Partner had Qx. Any other lead sets the contract- it doesn't have to be a club. Anything but they suit they bid and rebid.

4. Passing forcing sequences.

On my half of the team game, opponents bid 6♠, get a nasty split, and go down 1. So, we compare scores, and it was a push. My teammates had bid:

1♦-1♠-2♥-P. Took 7 tricks in a 3-2 fit.

5. Hmmm...I'd say, not fixing mechanical errors. If you drop a card, you don't have to play it. If you mean to bid 1♠ and you accidentally pick up 1NT, you can correct it as long as you catch it immediately. If you accidentally revoke, and catch it before your side plays to the next trick, it's just a penalty card. It may seem strange, but these are part of the rules to the game you should know.

Those are the only 5 errors I can think of I don't still do regularly.

[kenrexford]

As I am currently playing with a beginner, I am seeing a lot of early mistakes that I had forgotten about. Some that I see recurring:

Top Five Bidding Mistakes:

1. Not assessing shape properly
2. Not supporting with support
3. Forgetting system
4. Knee-jerk reactions (tendency to overbid or underbid consistently when pressured)
5. Not doubling

Top Five Defense Mistakes:

1. Not signalling when it does not matter to you
2. Not leading partner's suit often enough
3. Panic -- not waiting for tricks and for honors to do their work
4. Panic -- expecting the worst
5. Losing track, getting bored too easily

Top Five Declaring Mistakes:

1. Not using shortness for what it is worth
2. Setting up their suit before ours
3. Transportation, Transportation, Transportation
4. Weird fundamentals problems with finesse layouts
5. Trying to make things happen rather than setting things up to happen

[vuroth]

helene_t, on Jun 28 2007, 01:27 PM, said:

Telling the same story again and again.

That's the winner, for my money.

[ochinko]

Bidding:
1. Not considering the position at the table, the vulnerabilities, the type of scoring (IMP, MP).
2. Not considering the correction to the points that the shape requires.
3. Jumping to game/slam too fast not knowing which bids are forcing, and fearing partner would pass them.
4. Passing partner's forcing bids fearing that the level is already too high, and they'll get the blame for any misunderstanding.
5. Bidding their hand more than once.

Declaring:
1. Not counting their tricks and making a plan immediately after the lead.
2. Not thinking about unblocking, preserving or creating an entry until it's too late.
2. Always drawing trumps first no matter whether it's necessary or not.
3. Making unnecessary finesses, or finessing without taking into account who is the dangerous opponent.
5. Considering finesses and 3:3 suit breaks as the only ways of developing tricks.

Defending:
1. Not counting declarer's points, tricks.
2. Not thinking about declarer's shape.
3. Underleading an ace in suit contracts.
4. When getting a trick always returning the suit that partner has attacked instead of considering switching to another one that partner couldn't profitably attack.
5. Always leading in their shortest suit in suit contracts and their longest in NT without regards for partner's values that were unannounced yet were implied from the bidding.

[BebopKid]

Rebidding their suit without extra length.

Raising their partner without enough support.

Not raising their partner when they have support.

Passing hands that have 13 points, but not 13 HCP.

Passing in an overcall situation.

[awm]

Defense: Being too quick to take winners. This manifests itself in a lot of ways, including failure to make "obvious" holdup plays when declarer is trying to establish a suit in dummy with no side entries, and rising with an honor in second position when declarer leads towards dummy and and defender can beat dummy's highest card. A more intermediate-level error is "ruffing air" -- a ruff that eliminates one of partner's eventual winners rather than declarer's.

Opening Lead: Making leads based only on their own hand and the final contract, rather than the auction itself. This includes "always leading 4th best vs notrump" and automatically leading from honor sequences against suits (even two-card honor sequences!).

Declarer Play: Ruffing in the hand with long trumps and not the one with short trumps. Yes, sometimes this can be a successful dummy reversal, but beginners often think that scoring small trumps with ruffs in the long hand is helping somehow, when in fact declarer is tapping himself down which will eventually help the defense.

Constructive Bidding: Evaluating a hand once, then sticking to that evaluation even if the auction indicates it is no longer accurate. Specifically, beginners tend to get excited when they have good hands and continue bidding higher and higher even when they have already shown the good hand and partner has already tried to sign off, for example opening 2♣ and then bidding on over partner's signoff with 22 balanced. A similar (but less common) issue is failing to realize that what was initially a "bad hand" can become very good in context with a decent fit (say I hold xxxx x xxxx Qxxx, partner opens 1♣, RHO bids 2♥, LHO 3♥, partner 4♣ -- in context my hand is quite good despite only 2 hcp and I should raise to 5♣, but many beginners will not) .

Competitive Bidding: Doubling based only on general values and not any specific shape or cards. There are two major ways this comes up -- one is that many beginners feel they absolutely have to bid with an opening hand in competition, even if opponents have opened their longest suit. They tend to double with these hands, often leading to grief when there is a misfit and they'd be better off passing throughout and defending. The other main situation is doubling for penalty "just because I have a bunch of points" even though these points have often been shown earlier in the bidding and they have no clear idea of how to actually set the contract. A common example is opening a strong notrump, seeing the opponents bid to four of a major, and then doubling just "because I have a strong notrump so they shouldn't be in game."