Misinterpreted Hanabi conventions

[pikiou]

I use the following conventions/tricks because they feel logic and unambiguous, but they are almost always ignored or misinterpreted. They usually cost more score points than they help to gain...
Could you help me understand why?

"Cautious discard": If the player before me discards a card that could have been played later, I try not to discard a card right away if there is any chance it might be its twin card. Should I be less paranoiac?

"Optimal clue": I receive a clue on my leftmost card (which happens to be playable) and on another card. But my leftmost card could have been finessed or bluffed! Is it right to assume my other card is important?

"Delayed finesse": I have a yellow 3 marked, ready to be played, but instead I finesse a yellow 4 with a 5 clue on a yellow 5 which is far from being discarded. This is always ignore; is it too complex?

"Discard finesse": One of my cards has a 2 clue from earlier when I was told to play another 2 (which I did). If another player has the last playable 2 (or its twin) in a position to be finessed, am I right to discard my 2 to force the other player's 2 to be played? Worst case my 2 was useless and nothing happens. Best case is my 2 was playable and the other 2 gets played, but I always get blamed and the other 2 gets clued.

"Ignore finesse": I get a 2 clue on a card I don't know yet but is actually playable. The player after me has a playable 1 leftmost. Instead of playing my 2, I clue some other player so the player after me thinks I interpreted my clue as a reverse finesse, so he may play his 1. It never works; is there another way to interpret my behavior?

Thank you for your help!

[derscheid]

I use the following conventions/tricks because they feel logic and unambiguous, but they are almost always ignored or misinterpreted. They usually cost more score points than they help to gain...
Could you help me understand why?

How many games of Hanabi have you played? How many games of Hanabi have they played? Much like Tichu, there's a huge variety of skill levels, and the fact is, there are a raft of nuances that newer players Just Ain't Gonna Get.

I'm not a very good Hanabi player, and I'm also not a very good Tichu player. I'm also not a very good driver IRL. I once talked to someone (who has a different driving style) and they explained how they are working out basically what every car on the road is doing, and how fast they expect the cars to go, etc. They're constantly frustrated when they drive, because OTHER DRIVERS AREN'T DOING WHAT THEY EXPECTED. (Duh.) They once pointed at a car and said, "They could have done X, I see it from here." Whoops, the other driver couldn't see what my friend saw, and also had way more important things to think about, like their bad brakes.

So, take what I write here with a grain of salt... like, a single giant salt crystal the size of a horse.

In general, when players present a giant "oh this must be X and this must be Y, and therefore Z" argument, I'm gonna go, welp, I missed X, sorry. So any conjectures on Y were pointless, and therefore I knew nothing useful about Z.

"Cautious discard": If the player before me discards a card that could have been played later, I try not to discard a card right away if there is any chance it might be its twin card. Should I be less paranoiac?

Did they know what it was? Strongly depends on how many clues table has remaining, and the upcoming players' ability to play with confidence. Most of the time, I presume that newer players have NO IDEA what's in their hands, unless told explicitly. Like, if John has been told he has some 2's, and he can see a blue 2 in my hand, I can't deduce that from him discarding a 2. He has no idea what's in his hand, and doesn't have a plan for it. I also don't have any idea, looking around the table, what priority people are placing on any cards being shown.

"Optimal clue": I receive a clue on my leftmost card (which happens to be playable) and on another card. But my leftmost card could have been finessed or bluffed! Is it right to assume my other card is important?

No, it is not. That presumes I trust you to know how to finesse or bluff, or believe I can signal you correctly; You are putting way too much faith in my abilities. I also may simply think it's more important for you to play the leftmost card, to give someone downstream a play that they don't have if you don't drop it immediately.

"Delayed finesse": I have a yellow 3 marked, ready to be played, but instead I finesse a yellow 4 with a 5 clue on a yellow 5 which is far from being discarded. This is always ignore; is it too complex?

Yes. 2 reasons: 1. if it doesn't work, it's too complex. 2. See above. That player doesn't have an individual picture of what each "car on the road" (each car) is doing. That's a huge amount of conjecture that takes a massive set of inferences to support. Their mental model's just not big enough for it.

"Discard finesse": One of my cards has a 2 clue from earlier when I was told to play another 2 (which I did). If another player has the last playable 2 (or its twin) in a position to be finessed, am I right to discard my 2 to force the other player's 2 to be played? Worst case my 2 was useless and nothing happens. Best case is my 2 was playable and the other 2 gets played, but I always get blamed and the other 2 gets clued.

Nope, you're not right. 1. "force" that doesn't work on another player means either they didn't understand what you were trying to do, or they thought something else was more important. 2. if other people are giving clues to clean up your clues, they think you weren't signalling well.
In general, I hate dropping "force" decisions on other players, and hate having them dropped on me. (Note also, if you teach me to play when I think you're forcing me, I'll gleefully presume you're forcing me any time you're not 100% sending clues my direction, and play cards wildly. I don't know what I don't know.)

"Ignore finesse": I get a 2 clue on a card I don't know yet but is actually playable. The player after me has a playable 1 leftmost. Instead of playing my 2, I clue some other player so the player after me thinks I interpreted my clue as a reverse finesse, so he may play his 1. It never works; is there another way to interpret my behavior?

So, they discard it? They give a clue? "they didn't do what I thought they were gonna do"
Again, see above. If it never works, stop doing it.

Thank you for your help!

Again, I'm not saying I'm a good Hanabi player. I'm a very bad Hanabi player. But I also can tell you WHAT I DIDN'T KNOW.

[pikiou]

I appreciate your answer, thanks!

If there is one thing to learn from Hanabi, it's that when someone does something unusual, looking for the best interpretation and acting accordingly is totally worth it. Rather than thinking "unknown behavior - error - burn the heretic".
So I was wondering if there was a better interpretation for the moves I listed. I know they won't work on beginners, distracted players or in special cases, but the rest of the time should it logically work? Well, I'll formulate the question without giving my own personal best interpretation and we'll see ^^
Drivers are diverse because they are human, but we are talking about logic, and that should be universal!

Sometimes you encounter a player who asks not to use bluff or even finesse because they miss them and it results in errors. But it's a fun and very effective trick!
Most players end up mastering these tricks and have lots of fun using them. Why not push the game further with more new successful tricks and more fun?