Bridge books reviewed 12

Bridge books reviewed - 12

"Standard Bridge Bidding for the 21st century" by Max Hardy, one of the most versatile professionals in the world of bridge. He was a tournament director for 40 years and also found time to win more than 10,000 master points. In constant demand as a lecturer he also ran an intensive forty hour bridge course.
The author of a dozen books on bidding, Max is best known for promoting a five card major, forcing NoTrump, two-over-one forcing to game bidding system. This book shows why even social players can expect consistently winning auctions from such an approach.

"Advanced Bridge Bidding for the 21st Century" is Max Hardy's comprehensive 2nd volume and includes contributions by expert players Grant Blaze, Marty bergen, Fred Hamilton, Jeff Meckstroth, Mike Passell and Eddie Wold.
In this 2nd volume, Max takes players to the next level, bringing them up to date with the systen of choice of the world's top players. He presents the concepts with clarity and style worthy of the acclaimed author and teacher that he was.

These two Max Hardy books really are the classic bridge bidding books for the 21st century. They are 'the bible' of two-over-one bidding and belong in the library of every serious bridge player.

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"Cue Bidding At Bridge: A Modern Approach" by Ken Rexford is mainly for people playing 2/1 (i.e. a two-level change of suit response by an unpassed hand creates a game force). The first 80 pages (almost half the main text) and sections of many of the subsequent chapters involve 2/1 auctions. "Cue Bidding to Slams" by Ron Klinger is a whole book devoted to control-showing bids - very often a more powerful slam exploration technique than Blackwood, but one rarely or never used by many inexperienced bridge players.

"The Pocket Guide to two-over-one" provides a handy summary of the popular 2/1 bidding system. In a concise but readable manner it goes over the basic ideas of the system aimed at players whoi want to make the switch. The contents are based on Paul Thurston's "25 Steps to Learning 2/1". Paul Thurston's "25 Steps to Learning 2/1" was the American Bridge Teachers Association Book of the year in 2003. It covers the basics of two-over one and the forcing No Trump. Conventions such as Bergen raises are covered but the book limits itself to one level suit openings and continuations.

"Two Over One Game Force" by Max Hardy. This is the complete and detailed reference on the Two Over One system of bidding that is rapidly gaining popularity in the USA. All the basic bids and responses are covered in a systematic way, including the forcing 1NT response and rebids. Competitive bidding and slam bidding are also covered in detail. Intermediate to advanced. "Competitive Bidding with Two Suited Hands" by Max Hardy. The only book devoted wholely and solely to two suited hands. Covers top and bottom cue bids, unusual NT and responses, a swag of two-suited defenses including Brozel, DONT, Meckwell, Helms 2 ; Defences against forcing club openings - Mathe, Suction Exclusion etc. ; Defences to weak two openings - Schleifer and more. Many modern devices and some not well known ones. For intermediates and especially tournament players.

"Two-Over-One Game Force" by Max Hardy and Steve Bruno provides an introduction to America's favourite bidding system. It is highly suited even to those below intermediate level who want to give this system a try. There is an adequate amount of detail to get you started, without becoming bogged down. A few gadgets are included in the final chapter. Quizzes are included to test each stage of learning.

"Two-Over-One Game Force Bidding Problems No.1: Responses When Responder Has a Fit With Opener's One Heart or One Spade Bid" by J. N. Larone covers many advanced topics used by 2/1 players, including: 3 clubs as a limit raise, Mathe Asking Bids, Under Jump Shift, Over Jump Shift, Jacoby 2NT, Swiss and Two Way Drury.

Flannery fits in well in a two-over-one bidding structure. In "The Flannery Two Diamond Opening" Bill Flannery, the inventor of Flannery, explains the convention, which hands it is best suited for, and covers the possible responses and rebids in detail. HELLO is an effective convention for competing over the opponents' 1NT opening. "Helms to Hello" was originally self-published in 1996; the first edition sold out quickly, so that this much sought-after treatise has been unavailable for several years. The book describes how the convention works, and how to use it against various ranges of 1NT opening bids, as well as over strong 1♣ openings.

Since mid-nineteenth century when Charles Goren popularized the point -count system of hand evaluation and bridge bidding, a system that became known widely as 'Standard American', there have been significant advances in the art of bidding, advances that have been time-tested and proven effective. Unfortunately 'Standard American' did not keep pace.
Early point-count standards undervalue many hands. Furthermore, many traditional bidding rules became obsolete and fell by the wayside as new ideas were created, time-tested and adopted by the most innovative players. Prominent among the new methods are five-card majors, limit raises, preemptive two-level openers, the Stayman convention, and a reconstruction of the entire notrump bidding scheme.
"Standard American 21" by John Thomas presents an integrated, modern contract bridge bidding system. The entire system can be adopted quite readily by players of intermediate skills and beyond. Here for the first time bridge players have the tools to achieve real precision bidding from part-score through game and slam.

Note, do NOT confuse this with 2/1 - it a book about improvements to basic Standard American and not two-over-one.

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