Is the French Defense good for black?

I've been playing for 11 years (4 - 15) and my first opening was e4 followed by d3. I eventually changed my tactics from offense to defense, therefore I prefer to play as black. Is the French Defense (d4 then e3) good as a defensive opening or are there better ones i have not seen? Also, I use this opening with white as well to attack but not with as much power as some other openings

The French usually comes about from 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, though it is reachable by transposition from other lines. It's certainly playable by black. The usual white response is: 3. e5; 3. exd5; 3. Nc3 (or Nd2). There are others, but it's helpful to be prepared for these.

The reputation it has is that positions are often closed, a bit cramped for black, and it may involve difficulty getting the queen's bishop into play. At your level, however, familiarity with it tends to frustrate the bejeebers out of white opponents who fancy themselves swashbucklers on the chessboard. Particularly frustrating to them are games which begin:

They find themselves defending the d pawn and often feeling like they have lost control of the direction of the game.

If you can play it solidly, you should score well with it. Higher rated players, of course, will have seen much of this and have their own ideas of which variations to enter and what strategies to employ. As you move up, you'll either have to deepen your understanding or find a new pet defense, but by then, you will have improved your chess.

The french is a very solid black opening you can keep with you for a long time. Though I am experimenting with other openings at the moment, I am happy I always have it to fall back on should I need it.

I found (apart from a few variations), that once you learn the key concepts of the opening, and the different ways you can break open the position that you are often in familiar teritory, with a good game plan.

At your level French can be devastating weapon for you. It can create very open games with many chances for both sides. From my experience I know that if white does not respond precise, it leads to destroying whites queen side and center very fast. If you know what you are doing, white will have many chances to lose.

French leads to closed games doesn't it? Until of course the...c5 break.

The thing is that I use the French Defense to begin with but I don't continue with c5. My usual opening (if given the time) is:

After I finish my typical opening, I advance my pawns to try and attack his king

The French is great. Very solid, and if you play it correctly, you can destroy white's center a good percentage of the time.

It is an opening that is good for lower levels (It punishes overly aggressive play, which you see a lot at lower levels) and can grow with you as you grow as a chess player.

Daelvis, what you played is not much of French. And btw, 7...Bd6 loses a piece after 8.e5

Yeah I know but I was just doing random moves for white I think I phrased it wrong in the note. But yeah I just wanted to show my complete opening

The main drawback of the French is that if white knows it better than black black can get crushed in a miniature.  It can be quite unforgiving.

I suppose, but I think this would apply to many black openings and even more so the sicilian. Since things are closed there aren't a ton of quick white attacks, in fact the only one that comes up a lot is the bxh7+ sacrifice, but that has to be castled into and usually it isn't good.

You could say that for any opening in the book.

Daelvis, you're playing the French totally wrong. That early c5 move is standard in the French for a reason. Don't ignore it.

Famous chess coach and writer Dan Heisman wrote an article called "Getting the Edge" (which can be found in the chesscafe.com archives), and one of his pieces of advice for improving players is "Don't have a better idea." In this case, when people give you advice on how to improve the way you play the French, you should listen and learn, rather than just saying "But I want to play it this way". First, learn why the masters play it the way they do. Then try it out. Only when you've reached a much higher level as a chess player will you know enough to invent your own exceptions that don't completely suck. Trust me, we've all been there.

In the past I would follow 1.e4 with 1...e5. I'm now enjoying a greater percentage of wins with 1...e6. I still see early queen/bishop attacks from White, hitting the weak f7 square, but not as many. In both of these examples a very important pawn move in the French Defense, c7-c5, is not played. It's just not possible when your opponent attempts to checkmate you in a few moves. 

If your opponent knows the first few moves in the French Defense, then by all means, play c7-c5 before Nc6. Why do we want pawns in the center? To take away center squares from our opponents.

actually c5 isn't standard it's one of the many deviations Black can play. This deviation is called the Franco-Benoni. And I haven't ignored the move I have done that many times and I lost more than I won. With my opening I win more than I lose, I guess that's the best opening that fits my style. Also, I'm not ignoring anybody the reason why I posted this thread is because I want to LEARN about the French Defense. And everyone has their own openings, whether they've been played by Chessmasters or not.

I count 6 really odd things in this single post... I mean, it's only 4 sentences long so that's something of an accomplishment   My advice would be to listen to what these other guys have to say, chess skill goes on forever, no one knows it all.

Before sweating specific openings, I'd recommend learning the basic opening principals... except your rating isn't that low so it's kind of confusing... anyway 1.e4 2.d3 isn't an opening -- it may be a few different things depending on what black does and it could be a few different systems... but 1.e4 2.d3 isn't an opening...

If an opening move isn't played by masters, then there's probably a good reason for that, and those of us below master level should be asking "Why don't they play this?" rather than continuing to play it. They're masters for a reason - they know what they're doing.

 No not really.  It's a lot harder to get squashed in the Caro-Kann than in the French.  Almost every line Classical, Tarrasch, Winawer can end quickly.  With openings like the Sicillian and Pirc it's possible to get squashed but mainly only by sidelines.  In the French you forget a6 and bam!

lol is 4 sentences weird? wait so you're telling me that e4 then on white's next turn d3 isn't a real opening? I thought it was like the King's Gambit or something....

A gambit is an opening that sacrifices material to gain some other advantage. 1.e4 2.d3 doesn't sacrifice anything and is actually a reversed philidor defense for white. 1.e4 e5 2.f4 is the king's gambit - the french is 1.e4 e6 although I suppose your strange 1.d4 d5 2.e4 e6 also transposes, but rarely will anyone in their right mind play 2.e4 in that situation