The Eight Actions of Good Players

 I don't think that PB is an incredibly complex sport that requires years of base knowledge to play well.  Its charm is that it's fairly simple.  But there are things that you must do as you play in better games.  Allow me to regal you with eight simple tasks -- know them and improve!

One: When you or your partner are serving, you stay behind the baseline and look for clues as to the quality/depth of the second shot.  You will not automatically advance into the court, unless your opponents are weak armed beginners, or there is a very strong wind at your back.

Two: when your partner is receiving the serve, you will be on station, fairly close to the center line, but faced a bit towards the active service court, to call out shots for your partner.  See item six, too.

Three: when returning a serve, you will proceed to the kitchenline every time -- maybe you'll not be able to get there, but you will advance as far as you should.  You want to be stopped and split stepped before the opponents return the third shot.  So if you are slow, then stop earlier; if you can sprint, then do that.  It's more important to be ready than all the way up.  It is, however, very bad not to advance into the court.  (My pet peeve.)

Four: Always get your serves in.  Aim for the middle of the service court.

Five: If you hit a short or drop shot or any shot that will bounce, always advance into the court.  You've hit a good shot, and you must advance to take advantage of that.  If you stay back the opponents will have the advantage.

Six: The closer you get to the kitchenline, the higher you must hold your paddle.  Having it near your feet is good when you are near the baseline.  At the kitchen, it must be held above the net height.

Seven: When your partner returns the serve, always move to cover the middle of the court.  This is a main responsibility of the player who starts at the kitchenline.  Note that there is only one player who starts there, though in a good game everyone will end up there.

Eight: Hitting a shot in the court softly is much more effective than hitting one into the back fence.  Though in a high level game, trying to body bag your opponent is often necessary.

I would add a couple more to this list, but in my opinion, I would expect a good partner to do all of the above, every point.  This is not 5.0 stuff, it's 3.8 stuff and at that level expected by all the players.

Note that none of the above is hard to do, it's almost all about moving to field the next shot.  Or, as in item one, it's about not moving to the wrong spot.

Once you do all of the above automatically, then we can talk about watching the opponents' paddles and swings for clues as to the next shot.  With that information, some of the above rules can be refined.