What books in what order?

[blackshoe]

This isn't really a "review" thread, so maybe it belongs in a different forum, but… I was just looking at Ben's thread about Lawrence's How to Read Your Opponents' Cards, and it got me wondering what books a player should read, in what order, at what level. Bidding and play. Bidding, of course, will depend on system preferences, among other things, so it's a bit harder if the question is unlimited, but I don't want to eliminate a good book because it's not about a system played locally (I'm in upstate New York, USA). Perhaps the question should be "what are the top ten books on bidding, and top ten books on play, for beginners, intermediate players, advanced players, and experts?" Perhaps there should be more categories, but this would be 8 lists already (not necessarily 80 books though - perhaps there aren't ten books in some category, or there's duplication. Any ideas?

[hrothgar]

On play, I'd actually start with Learn to Play Bridge, followed by Bridgemaster.

I think that the computerized learning environment is better than reading.

 

Follow these up with

 

The Rodwell Files

Defensive Card Play Complete by Kantar and

Bridge Squeeze Complete by Love

 

and I think your in pretty good shape

 

On the bidding front

 

1. How to Build a Bidding System by Roy Hughes

2. The Useful Space Principal by Jeff Rubens

3. Precision in the 90s by Barry Rigal (ignore the section on symmetric relay)

4. Washington Standard by Steve Robinson

5. Polish Club by Matula

[blackshoe]

Heh. I've read all those except the Kantar. And I did ignore the symmetric relay stuff.

[blackshoe]

Heh. I've read all those except the Kantar. And I did ignore the symmetric relay stuff.

Hm. Can't find the Kantar under that title. There is Defensive Bridge Play Complete, published in 1974. Is that the one you meant? I do have his two volume Modern Bridge Defense and Advanced Bridge Defense, which seem to me to be pretty good.

[kenrexford]

IMO, no list can be complete without Adventures in Card Play and Partnership Bidding by Robson Segal.

[hrothgar]

Hm. Can't find the Kantar under that title. There is Defensive Bridge Play Complete, published in 1974. Is that the one you meant? I do have his two volume Modern Bridge Defense and Advanced Bridge Defense, which seem to me to be pretty good.

 

Sorry, it was defensive bridge play (honking big red book)

[blackshoe]

Sorry, it was defensive bridge play (honking big red book)

Yeah, from the picture on Amazon that'll be the one. I'll see if I can pick up a copy.

[Siegmund]

The new 2-volume Kantar book is mostly a reorganization of what was in Big Red. Big Red was ugly appearance-wise -- typewriter font text -- but an amazing book to which not much can be added for intermediate defense.

 

A few commonly overlooked declarer play titles:

 

For beginners, Audrey Grant/Eric Rodwell's "Bridge Maxims" - more detail than the Diamond Series books, very readable, something I come back to when I need practice hands for a beginner class

For intermediates, Fred Karpin's "The Drawing of Trumps and Its Postponement" - a look at each of the reasons why we pull or don't pull trumps, so in effect, a look at each of the ways we might plan the hand as declarer.

For people moving on toward advanced, Kelsey's "Countdown to Better Bridge." All about counting out suits and points and whatnot. Much better than the later Tim Bourke book that re-used the title. (All three of the above are out of print. And I loaned my copy of the Kelsey out and never got it back. Drat.)

 

If you want a complete sequences of progressively harder declarer play books, I would include those in spots 1, 3, and 4, with Watson, Bird's Endplays for Everyone (not because I love it, I don't, but because there arent many other choices), Love, and Rubens's Expert Bridge Simplified in spots 2, 5, 6, and 7.

 

For advanced defense books (for people who already know how to count but are lazy about it), Jim Priebe's "Thinking on Defense" and Davis Weiss's "Defense at Trick One". I don't really have a complete sequence to suggest for defense - Kantar is a good start but then there is a gap - basically learning how to visualize and count the unseen hands - before people are ready for the advanced books.

 

For bidding, the sequence I used to recommend to beginners was Commonsense Bidding, Modern Bridge Conventions, Modern Losing Trick Count, To Bid or Not to Bid, and then specific items as needed, depending what conventions people were learning or what aspects of the game most interested them. None of those 4 is perfect, either, but nothing that I liked spectacularly well has come along since.

Best one-convention book: Andersen's Lebensohl book.

Best one-aspect-of-the-game book: Preempts from A to Z.

Best overall-advice books for int+ folks: Rubens's Secrets of Winning Bridge, Woolsey's Matchpoints.

 

If you have a complete novice, Danny Roth's "The Expert Beginner" and "The Expert Improver" are a decidedly nonstandard but intriging way to start.

[straube]

Glad someone mentioned David Bird's book on endplays. I always liked his book on squeeze play and his two on opening leads.

[Cthulhu D]

Partnership Bidding by Robson Segal.

 

Given this is A) Really good and B) Free, this is imho the best bidding book you can get.

[blackshoe]

I wish they would write the book on bidding in uncontested auctions they talked about writing in Partnership Bidding. I'd even pay money for it (as I did for their first book).

[PrecisionL]

An oldie but goodie: The Complete Book on HAND EVALUATION by Mike Lawrence, 1983.

 

One of my favorties is The Modern Losing Trick Count by Ron Klinger, 1987.

[relknes]

I tend to have people I teach the game to start with "Bid better, play better," followed by Watson's "Play of the hand".

If they feel they have mastered those, I have them read Lawrence's "Overcalls."

[mycroft]

I'm not all that sure that I've mastered Watson...At least I learn something (sometimes again) every time I read it.