Bridge books reviewed - 18

             
 

"Teach Yourself Better Bridge" by David Bird is the sequel to Teach Yourself Bridge (buy from Amazon.co.uk). It is a guide to more advanced tactics at bridge, suitable for the improving player.

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test Your Bridge Play
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Test Your
Bridge Play
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Edwin Kantar
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"Test Your Bridge Play" by Eddie Kantar offers 100 example deals to improve the card playing techniques for bridge players who are 'sick and tired of going down in cold contracts'.

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  "Test Your Bridge Play, Vol 2" by Eddie Kantar is obviously the sequel to the above book. In exactly the same vein the book poses 115 declarer-play problems to improve card playing technique for bridge players who still going down in too many contracts. This is the hand from the front cover:
2 vital principles AKJ9
K763 AQ9854
AQJ 76
65432 A
  East plays in 7 and South leads the J and North follows with the 2. Which finesse should East take - plan the play. Answer at the bottom of this page.

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Defensive play is regarded by top players as the most difficult aspect of the game in that, unlike declarer play, cooperation is needed between the two defenders to acheive success. In addition, the combined assets of the defensive partnership are often an unknown quantity and assumptions need to be made from both the bidding and play.
"Secrets of Expert Defence" by David Bird and Tony Forrester deals systematically with modern defensive ideas such as suit preference signals, count signals, defending against squeezes, killing entries, preserving communications and the need for calculation at all times. The authors' experience in national and international play provide valuable instruction and most of the hands are taken from major events. A really excellent book for the intermediate + player.

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In "Modern Constructive Bidding" Marshall Miles gives his expert opinion on which modern conventions are useful and which aren't. All the popular conventions and system choices are covered: 2/1 Game forcing or not? 1NT forcing or semi-forcing? Fourth suit forcing one round or to game? You may not agree with all of Miles's opinions but he will provide you with ideas to help you make your own system decisions.
In "Competitive Bidding in the 21st Century" Marshall Miles looks at the modern trends in competitive bidding. Covering both the situations where the opponents have intervened and when your side intervenes.

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In "My System: The Unbalanced Diamond" Marshall Miles describes his own preferred bidding system, featuring an artificial 1 opening covering 15-20 point hands, a 1 opening that promises a minimum opening and an unbalanced hand without a 5-card major, opening bids of 1/ promising a 5+ card suit and limited to 15 HCP, a weak 1NT, and a traditional strong 2 opening. Halfway between Standard and a strong club system, it's like nothing else you've played against; but it's all legal and playable in ACBL tournaments.

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Why do bridge players so often fail to make the right decisions? The answer to successful card play lies in correct thinking and in asking the right questions. In "Dormer on Deduction" Albert Dormer, internationally respected both as a player and as a writer of great distinction shows how, through the use of deduction, bridge players can greatly enhance their card play and enormously increase their bridge pleasure. This is a brilliant book, lucidly written and packed with practical advice.

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Terence Reese's aim behind his book "The Game of Bridge" was to provide a complete and objective account of how to become acquainted with the fascinating game of bridge. The author was not concerned to simply give rules of thumb, as were so many authors both before and after him. He was concerned with providing a basic handbook of bridge that tells the reader the reasons for certain lines of bidding and play. The principles of strategy, starting with the fundamentals and working up to some quite advanced points, are explained. No rules are laid down without the reasons for them being explained. Here you will find not only what you should do but, most importantly, why you should do it.

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"50 More Winning Bridge Tips" by Ron Klinger is published, like the first book, in the Master bridge Series. It is divided into five sections with ten top tips in each; dealing with constructive bidding, competitive bidding, opening leads, declarer play, and defensive play.
There are several unique and controversial ideas in the constructive bidding section. For example splintering with Kx and psyching when you have a good fit for partner. Not my cup of tea, but perhaps something for the rubber bridge player. There are many more nuggets of advice, but don't expect to agree or even understand all of the content - some of it is very high powered.

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Mark Horton and Brian Senior are both experienced British international players, and also two of the world's top bridge journalists. In one or the other capacity they have attended every World Championship and major international tournament over the last twenty years, and in the book "For Love or Money" they share their unique knowledge and experience as well as the stories only they can tell. The reader will share the excitement of the key hands and plays that made the difference between winning and losing - the successes and the disasters - of bridge at the very top level. In addition, the authors afford us a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a bridge journalist, as we see them following the top players around the world in search of stories and adventure. Do they do it for love or money - or is it something else? Read the book and find out! The illustrations draw on the authors' personal collection of candid photographs.

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Standard American Bidding
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Bidding Dictionary
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Alan Truscott
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"The Bidding Dictionary" by Alan Truscott, first published in 1996, is a reference book explaining bidding sequences. This book is something new in bridge literature - it really is a dictionary of bridge. Think of a bidding sequence of up to as many as four bids. What manings have been conveyed? To find out, just check it out. You'll find just about every possible sequence, together with all relevant explanations in this book. The chapters are arranged to make for easy checking. If you want to find out about a constructive sequence starting with 1 heart it will be in Chapter 3 - One Heart Constructive. If you are not sure how the meanings of bids change after an opening pass, you'll find it in Chapter 8 - Passsed Hand Bidding. Every serious player should have this book in his library alongside the Encyclopedia of Bridge.

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Exactly why men outperform women at the highest levels of bridge has always been a great mystery. An attempt to probe the anonymity was made by Joyce Nicholson of Australia. She circulated a questionnaire to members of the International Bridge Press Association and analyzed the results without finding any clear-cut answers. Are women less logical, or less intelligent? Are they hurt by their education, domestic situation, or other environmental factors? Are their brains different? The results of her research are available in her book, "Why Women Lose at Bridge " (or buy from Amazon.co.uk).
"Why Women Win at Bridge" (right) by Daniel Roth is a provocative response to Joyce Nicholson's controversial book. Roth attempts to give the other point of view, questioning the difference between male and female brain and what effects, if any, these differences have on their respective performances at the bridge table.

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Defending at pairs scoring is one of the toughest challenges a bridge player can face. Every trick matters, irrespective of the contract, and every decision is potentially critical. In "Matchpoint Defense", Jim Priebe introduces the idea of visualization, picturing likely hands for declarer and basing the defensive strategy on those.

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North America's oldest and most prestigious bridge magazine, The Bridge World features a monthly column entitled 'Test your Play', which presents difficult problems in declarer play for readers to solve. The book "The Bridge World's: Test Your Play" by Jeff Rubens is a collection of some of the best of these from the last twenty years; if you can solve even half of them, you may be one of the best declarers in the world!

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"The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge", edited by Henry Francis, is a huge 900+ page volume packed with information on bridge celebrities and experts, conventions, card combinations, bridge terms and abbreviations, bridge history and just about anything else you might ever want to know about bridge. The 6th edition was updated in late 2001. Latest edition on the right.

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This encyclopedia is an indispensible collection of information and instruction on the card game bridge. There are entries on history, organizations, tournaments, rules, terminology, bidding systems, conventions, card play, suit combinations, squeezes, math, biographies, and more. This 2011 edition has a new format, 25% larger type and a new index make this edition user friendly. For the first time, it has hundreds of photos. Written under the auspices of the ACBL. Belongs in every bridge player's library.

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Matchpoint Bridge
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Match Point Bridge
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Hugh Kelsey
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Match-Point Bridge by Hugh Walter Kelsey is an excellent introduction to the thought processes and strategies that affect success or failure in matchpoint events. The book also includes expert-level analysis that will benefit players of all skill levels

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Matchpoints
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Matchpoints
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Kit Woolsey
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"Matchpoints" by Kit Woolsey is one of the best books ever written on expert-level matchpoint strategy and tactics. The author tells you up front that you probably won't agree with all his ideas, but they will definitely make you think - and improve your matchpoint decisions.

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Bridge For Money
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Match Point Bridge
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David Bird
Martin Hoffman
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"Bridge for Money" by David Bird and Martin Hoffman is the story of bridge professional Jerry Blum, told via hands he plays with his clients. The hands are analysed technically, but the human factor must be taken into account by the professional. A highly entertaining and instructive book.

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  Visit Bridge Books website for a list of bridge books categorised by content and level.
 
     
  Answer to "Test Your Bridge Play - vol 2 ". Neither. East should set up the 5th in dummy for a discard. For the complete deal and play sequence, see the book.