[msjennifer]

bmonger, on 2016-December-12, 19:19, said:

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.c...e/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!

[ggwhiz]

jogs, on 2016-December-15, 08:58, said:

https://www.amazon.c...e/dp/0064632091

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

Also a STRONG recommendation here but it's very advanced and imp oriented instead of matchpoints.

An early mentor of mine played a lot of matchpoints during the year and re-read Watson EVERY year before our team trials.

[Stephen Tu]

Watson isn't for everybody. To me the writing style is very dry, hard to get through. I think other authors cover the same ground, 98+% at least and all the real essential stuff, and are much easier to read, so I don't recommend Watson to beginners. If they want to read it sometime down the line, it won't hurt, getting concepts reinforced never does, but I don't really think there is stuff that is only found there that is essential. The techniques are all pretty much covered in like Root's book, and then to me it is merely a matter of practice, learning to plan and card read, and practice can be had in the many quiz books by Kantar/Kelsey and the like, or Bridgemaster software, also Reese is good for "over-the-shoulder" type book where you see how a good player thinks about the hand card by card as the play develops.

[SteveMoe]

Lot's of very good suggestions on this thread already!
Would add:
Kantar's Take All Your Chances
Bridge Master 2000 software

Then practice counting winners, losers (fast & slow), entries, and trumps.
Count stoppers in their suits (affects how many times you can safely lose the lead).
Focus on making your contract - overtricks can wait for now...
Find the least risky choice to develop the tricks you need.
Combine Chances (see Kantar and "Stayin' Alive").Identify when you need more information and play accordingly.
Make a plan A.
Make a Plan B.
Keep track of all information from the bidding (bids and their absence).
Keep track of cards (each trick). Use "show outs" to guide your estimate of opponent's shape.
Then remember to go with the odds. Even a tiny chance is better than no chance at all.

With repetition this will all become second nature.

[Lovera]

GrahamJson, on 2016-December-13, 11:41, said:

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...ooks-s/1965.htm

The book of T. Reese could be available for free to read as "anteprime" in Google other. I want to say that the " French school " is a well suggest for you : "Total bridge" by Bertrand Romanet explain about planning and, subsquently when improved, you can read from this author another good book wrote about squeeze "Le squeeze au bridge".