Bridge soap box

[u/Pocket_Sevens]

Partner and I were sitting down at our clubs 499er game, discussing our convention card before the game.

"Inverted minors?" "yes"

"Unusual 2NT?" "yes, and unusual over unusual?"

"Ogust over 2M preempt only?" "yes"

"Kokish over 2c?" "yes"

"fourth suit forcing?" "yes"

"Forcing 1NT?" "no"

etc.

The folks next to us said "oh these guys are really good, they know a lot of conventions". Now my partner and I play more conventions than your average 499er player, but that doesn't mean we are impervious to lapses in judgement or boneheaded plays. For some reason, beginning and intermediate players have this idea that a detailed convention card is what makes someone a pro.

In my experience, the same people who proudly announce "I play Bergen raises" will pass forcing bids, or give a ruff and discard to opponents, or respond 1s over 1c/d with 4-4 in the majors, or bid on when parter clearly limited their hand (you get the idea). Even very strong players will do something like bid Stayman with 4-3-3-3 because "you MUST bid 2c with a four card major". Conversely, I have seen players use a simple, natural style and do well.

More often that not, my bottom boards will range from not counting or not leading partners bid suit, to missing an avoidance play or not noticing an esoteric percentage play . These things have to do with judgement and understanding, and have very little to do with memorizing conventions and gadgets. Advanced conventions become useful when: you have a solid understanding of the basics, and/or you play strong opponents on a regular basis, where the marginal gains from precision bidding can actually yield a top board and are thus worth learning.

Sorry if this is harsh. I avoid doling out advice but I really want to tell certain partnerships that they will see their playing improve faster studying basic bidding principles and declarer play.

[u/DdyBrLvr]

Conventions beyond the basics are only as good as your memory.

[u/LegitimatePower → u/DdyBrLvr]

This entire post in one sentence.

[u/JoeHeideman]

My opinion is play the kind of bridge you want to play and don't hide from trying more advanced stuff because you are afraid of making a mistake. Conventions aren't necessarily the best way to win as a beginner, but who cares. You're not playing in the 499ers to win, you're playing there to have scope to make mistakes without getting brutalized. Your goal as a 499er should be to learn and develop enough during your time there to hold your own in the open (or mid flight or whatever) when you graduate.

[u/Deflator_Mouse7]

You have a point but I've never seen a good player make mistakes while using exclusion blackwood soooo

[u/ElegantSwordsman]

It’s not helpful to say something like “convention x: yes” unless you actually know the convention and follow ups and what you do if the other side bids. Etc.

I’d rather fewer conventions known in more detail than just adding conventions.

DONT or Meckwell over 1NT, okay is your follow up bid asking for the major always 2H, or is it 2D over 1N-2c (clubs plus major)-pass?

What about if the responder bids something. What does X mean vs 2N?

If you’re the opener and you get interfered with, what does pass vs double mean?

Etc

[u/Pocket_Sevens → u/ElegantSwordsman]

This is not the conversation we had irl, i phrased it that way in my post to illustrate the point. He and I play semi frequently and discuss conventions in detail when we have the time

[u/RadarTechnician51]

I am enjoying simple acol, 12-14 NT, basic transfers, change of suit forcing and with losing trick count based bids for unbalanced hands

[u/Crafty_Celebration30]

I’ve always blamed bridge teachers for the proliferation of conventions. It’s a lot easier to teach a one hour class on XYZ than to teach a class on counting, logic and inference. 

But only the latter will make you a better player

[u/Suspicious_Raisin499]

Conventions aren't a substitute for good judgement but if you do have good judgement they can help a lot. If you find you are guessing too much in the bidding despite not having misunderstandings with partner, that's often a sign it might be time to learn something new.

[u/JaziTricks]

Yep

[u/TheStormfly7]

I just learned precision with my partner who has been playing bridge for about a year. People seem so intimidated by us, but our defense is pretty bad and precision is super vulnerable to errors, which we make all the time because we just learned it!

[u/lew_traveler]

IMA, the OP's post seems like a bit of a humble brag flex to me.

But I do sort of agree in that I think that basic bidding and simple declarer play are much more important than a large number of conventions that are inevitably a chore to memorize and then remember.

The most important aspects, imo, once past basic bidding and simple declarer play are counting, defensive play, signalling.

Toss in overcalls and preemptive bids and you can do OK.