I’ve seen thousands of articles and comments that offer kind bridge advice to new players. But here’s the thing… Not all bridge advice you’ll receive in your career is going to be accurate, good, or useful for playing.

What’s the worst piece of bridge-related advice you’ve ever seen – or received from someone else yourself?

While I’m sure the players who recommended these things all meant well at the time, bad advice is best ignored with a kind smile.

Here are 5 bits of really bad bridge advice that are best ignored early.

 #1: That bridge maxims will always work.

Bridge maxims are useful for learning, but eventually a strategic stumbling block in real playing situations. It’s like teaching a snake handler that puff adders are always relaxed: While it’s true some of the time, don’t expect it to be true every time.

Learn by the maxim, but play by the situation you see in front of you.

#2: That bridge is a different game in person than online.

I’ve heard this one far, far too many times – and I would call it very bad advice.

The rules of bridge are the exact same. Expect a different environment online and in person, but not a different game (in any way).

If I played 10, 000 games of online chess, would I be better at physical chess for it? Probably, yes.

If I played 10, 000 games of online bridge, would I be better at physical bridge, too? Same answer! Probably, yes.

#3: That bridge is going to be difficult.

One of the very first things I heard about bridge is that the game is immensely difficult to learn. (And in retrospect, no, it wasn’t.)

Bridge is easy to learn the basics of, and experience will hopefully teach you the rest of what you should know.

If you approach any subject with the idea of difficulty ahead, you’re only making it harder for yourself.

Do you remember being scared of a particular subject at school thanks to the expectations of it being harder than literally everything else?

Exactly, and that only made it more difficult.

#4: That you should only play against people.

People make for excellent bridge opponents, but I’m a firm believer that they should not be your only ones. Playing against bots is an important learning experience for anyone who wants to be better at their chosen game.

Why am I a strong proponent of bot-driven play?

I grew up a child who loved board games, but lacked live opponents. (I wasn’t orphaned, I just didn’t have many friends as younger kid.)

If I didn’t compete with bots or AI opponents, I might have ended up with a different perspective on board games today.

#5: That you’re fine without a bridge teacher.

Sure, it might be true that you don’t technically need a bridge teacher to learn the game: But I would not encourage players to go an entire life in the game without stopping by a teacher once.

Teachers teach… Guess how this could be useful for improving your bridge game.

Take at least a handful of lessons from an experienced, top bridge teacher. You’ll be glad you did, no matter what anyone else says.

Have you ever received bad bridge advice from anyone before?