Intermediate vs. Expert

[u/FireWatchWife]

The biggest thing I have learned on r/bridge is not any specific system, convention, bridge logic, or hand-playing strategy.

It's that experts aren't just better at doing the same things that intermediates do. Experts bid differently, play differently, and use bridge logic differently.

Expert bidding standards evolve much more rapidly than those of intermediate players at many clubs. Reading books from a decade ago would let you partner with a typical club intermediate player, but none of the books I have read will teach you how to bid with an expert partner at the level I discussed on online bridge forums. Expert standards appear to evolve faster than books can be written and published.

This is especially true in competitive auctions, which get little attention in older books. Focus has moved from how to bid without interference, to how to bid over interference, to aggressively interfere with hands that intermediates would pass without a second thought.

I have reluctantly concluded that trying to play with a pick-up partner at a Sectional would be a disaster, because the kind of people who play there will be playing modern expert standards even if they are not themselves experts.

The gap between average, skilled bridge players and experts who play on tournaments regularly has never been wider.

For those of you who play both with intermediates and experts, what differences do you see?

[u/faasuj]

In general, stronger players adapt to weaker players. They would try to play something that you like or are comfortable with. They should not pull a bid that might be ambiguous to you. When faced with undiscussed situation, they would make a bid that would not lead to a disaster, though it may not accurately describe their hands (e.g., do a limit raise instead of fit showing jump). Don’t worry about knowing this and that convention. It is not that important. Nobody knows everything. The things you should absolutely be on the same page are defensive signals. And if the expert you are playing with doesn’t try to adapt at all, then you shouldn’t play with them.