[gurgistan]

I started off my bridge "career" playing ACOL being UK based. I then learnt Standard American to play online. I am now playing 2/1.

It is clear to me that is beneficial to know more than one system. It enlarges the pool of potential partners and it helps in defence. Eg, recently someone butted in our 2/1 auction at the two level. We doubled and he went down for many IMPs. He clearly did not know what our bids meant and he thought he could safely compete at the two-level.

However, I cannot go and learn every system. I think there is only one more system that I need to learn: Precision.

Any thoughts?

[gwnn]

you don't "need" to learn anything. find a partner and agree to a simple system.

[aguahombre]

Of course it is helpful to know more than one system. But in the early stages of personal development, I would recommend firming up your knowlege of the two standard systems most frequently played (Std & 2/1), and the different ways people play those.

Knowing the basics of a forcing club system is fine. But I wouldn't try to use it playing with pickup partners. There are too many variations, even with people who claim they play simple Precision.

Otherwise you are spreading yourself too thin --- it is better to know a lot about a small set of things, than a little bit about everything, at least when it comes to bidding systems.

By the way, Standard American is a much more varied style than SAYC, which is published and rigid ---allowing only one or two changes on the card. SAYC was created for an event where everyone is supposed to be playing the same system, and should only be used as a guide when playing in regular games or open events.

[peachy]

Bidding is the easy part of bridge in the beginning, most of the time. Play a simple system that is common where you play so you can find lots of partners. Nothing wrong in learning many systems, I just happen to think it is unnecessary waste of brain cells in the first, say, five years of playing bridge. There are other areas of the game where the possibilities for improvement are much greater!

[kenrexford]

Learning new systems is both beneficial and detrimental, but for non-obvious reasons.

Over the years, I have played any number of various systems, including Precision, K-S, standard, 2/1, a few variants of canape, light initial action oddities, etc. IMO, this experience taught me a lot about bridge theory.

However, there is a non-obvious downside. To learn all of this, you end up playing with odd people as partners. This deprives you (for a while) of "expert standard" thinking and marginalizes you as to the deep nuances of "expert standard" bridge. It also, however, marginalizes you as an odd bird yourself. If you play with lesser players AND play an odd system, people who could teach you the real game see you as odd, and that delays any decision to mainstream yourself.

On the flip side, however, you might also find a strange benefit, non-obvious as well. There are likely a few players out there who are better at the game and who would be good mentors for you. These folks (I can attest to this) sometimes want to try out new systems and therefore may be willing to "play down" just to get experience with alternative systems. Learning new systems might therefore gain you access to some better players as partners earlier than you otherwise would find possible.

The best course is probably mastering 2/1 GF, but, as that is not the early road I chose, I cannot say.