Book Reviews

[paulg]

The books in my library can be seen on my site. I also highlight the eight that I would take to the desert island (c.f., Desert Island Discs).

 

Paul

[mike777]

Leading Questions in Bridge. Sally Brock. 2007. $17.95. 176pp.

Level=Intermediate

Grade=A+

 

The first great book of 2007. It will be tough to beat this one for book of the year.

A great, short, and fast read on opening leads. Chapters on leading your longest and strongest, partner's suit, unbid suit, what cards in a suit you should lead, trump leads, leading stiffs and leading Aces among others. When should the opening leader be active or passive?

 

So much information that is presented in a very readable and enjoyable form. I intend on rereading this book in a couple of months. Buy this book!

[ArcLight]

Kantar for the Defense, vol 2 by Eddie Kantar

 

Excellent. Must read for all advanced players. Worth reading for Intermediates as well. The hands are quite a bit harder than the first volume. Lots of subtleties, and pitfalls. Nice summary of points and lessons after each hand.

 

Lots of questions on carding agreements, figuring out shapes, tricks, honor location, blocking suits.

[helene_t]

Did anybody mention [Andrew Robson/]Oliver Segal's "Partnership bidding at bridge" ? [......] An electronic book can be found at

http://www.geocities.com/daniel_neill_2000...ingAtBridge.ZIP

Probably the best book on bidding theory I ever read.

 

In-depth coverage of contested auctions after we opened with a natural bid in a suit or made a simple overcall in a suit. The book is concise: theory and illustrative examples, but very little pep talk. Suitable for advanced players. It doesn't really matter what system you play (Precision, Acol, SA .....) since the principles are general. Whenever some of their proposed methods get influenced by the system, they discuss that in details.

 

The author's main point is that you need to describe your hand as accurately as possible so that partner can make an informed decision if opps compete further. This is especially true when you have a primary fit for partner's suit, in which case opps are likely to have a fit as well. The authors emphasize the significance of a double fit for the combined O/D ratio of the two hands and recommend using many bids in a new suit as fit-showing. In general, according to the authors, O/D ratio is more important than overall strength.

 

The authors also propose some interesting system modifications. One is the use of 2♥ as a support transfer by opener after partner showed spades and opps overcalled 2m in the sandwich position.

 

Some minor complaints:

- I'd prefer to buy the printed book instead of downloading it

- A reference sheet with all their proposed methods would be nice

- Many typos, some of which make the text difficult to understand

- The humor is a little too dry for my taste.

[skjaeran]

I read Roy Hughes new book "The Canadian Bridge Warriors" - a Sami Kehela - Eric Murray biography last week. Just received it from Masterpoint Press.

 

The book is very well written and is entertaining. Lots of good stories and humorous anecdotes. You really gets under the skin of two of the biggest personalities of the bridge world. Well done Roy!

[skjaeran]

David Bird: Off-Road Declarer Play - Unusual Ways to Play a Bridge Hand. Another new book from Masterpoint Press.

 

In 14 chapters, each covering a separate topic, Bird presents double dummy deals to teach the different technics. The hands are composed extremely well. Each chapter is rounded off with a quiz - 2-4 single dummy problems covered in the chapter.

 

The book is in Bird's well-known style.

 

I've read 3/4 of the book this far. I've spotted two minor mis-analyses (side points, the main problem is correctly solved) in the quizzes and only one typo! For such a book that's impressive.

 

I strongly recommend the book for those who need to improve their declarer play on their way to becoming true experts.

[Flame]

The finner arts of bridge by victor mollo

Great book lots of fun to read.

Deals with non technical espects of the game.

Recommanded to any adv+ player, weaker players will enjoy but the book assume a certain level of play and defence and take it a step further.

[blackshoe]

Probably the best book on bidding theory I ever read.

 

[snip]

 

Some minor complaints:

- I'd prefer to buy the printed book instead of downloading it

- A reference sheet with all their proposed methods would be nice

- Many typos, some of which make the text difficult to understand

- The humor is a little too dry for my taste.

I agree with Helene's assessment.

 

On the complaints:

 

I have 2 copies of the printed book.

A reference would be nice, yeah. If I had time... we'll see. Don't hold your breath. B)

I've noticed a marked drop in editing quality in many books in recent years, particularly in "electronic books". Not very professional, IMO. :(

They're English. :D

[cherdano]

Jeff Rubens, The secrets of winning bridge

 

Rubens covers a lot of topics - adjusting hand valuation during the bidding depending on location of honors, difference tactics at many different kind of scorings (including some you may have never heard of), both for bidding and play, etc. When to make a safety play in a slam at matchpoints.

 

A friend of mine highly recommended this book, but I didn't like it very much. It is full of general rules, and when Rubens gives examples, they are always so extreme that I find them hardly valuable. For example he explains that at IMPs, you should look for the safer contract, and then gives an example auction where responder holds ♠A62 ♥K8 ♦AQJ7 ♣KJ95 opposite a strong 1NT opening (15-17). Well, unless you are afraid of misunderstandings, I think it is obvious to look for a minor suit slam here instead of just blasting 6N. I think one can learn more if an expert shows me a hand where he explains "this may be a borderline case, 6N could be right opposite ..., but..."

In other parts (about safety plays vs playing for overtricks at matchpoints), he is using a lot of math, which always tires me (despite being a mathematician): but then he doesn't even go through with it consistently and correctly.

 

Maybe I am slightly unfair to the book, as according to Rubens' claims in the introduction, all the topics he is covering had hardly been treated in the literature before that, and as he is intentionally just showing the principles instead of guiding the reader concretely. So as a book to learn from, it's just not my taste; if you just treat it as a collection of essays on some general strategies at bridge, maybe you can get something out of it. And if you are a reader of the bridge world, you may already know whether you like Rubens' writings.

[mike777]

Canada's Bridge Warriors: Eric Murray and Sami Kehela. Roy Hughes. 2007. 336pp. $23.95

Level=General Interest

Grade=A

 

Murray and Kehela were the most successful bridge pair Canada has ever produced. Entertaining book full of many bridge hands from over 30 years of play.

 

Two points I found very interesting. Despite the fact they lived within walking distance of each other they never socialized together since they felt this may harm their game by making it stale. The second point is that they quit playing top level bridge at a very young age. They lost some of the enjoyment of the game. Kehela lost some enjoyment in the game from the proliferation of systems and conventions, particularly artificial weak bids with potentially many meanings that made the game less fun to play at the world level.

 

"In an Olympiad, you are playing three matches a day. You don't know whom you are going to be playing. Who has the time or inclination to prepare defenses to dozens of conventions that you may never have to face? You need a full time coach to prepare methods for you. Kokish does that for his clients."

[mike777]

My System The Unbalanced Diamond. Marshall Miles. 2007. 152pp. $18.95

Grade=B

Level=Advanced

 

Marshall recently won the gold medal in the World Senior Teams playing The Unbalanced Diamond system. It is a forcing club system with several types of strong opening bids. 1D openings are 11-16 hcp short in any suit, no 5+ major, 14 hcp max with a 4 card major.

 

Marshall's ideas are always interesting and people who enjoy reading system books should enjoy this one.

[ArcLight]

A New Approach to Play and Defense - vol 2 by Eddie Kantar

 

Excellent Intermediate Plus/Advanced book. 100 declarer and defense problems, arranced into pairs. You declare a hand and then somewhere else in the book you defend against a similar (but not identicle) hand.

 

As always counting is very important. You must read pards signals. But thats just the beginning. You need to place the unscene cards, and picure what card pard needs to set the contract. You need to anticipate endplays. There are a few sqeezes too, though Kantars problems tend to focus on non-squeeze problems (unlike some of Pottages and Jannerstens books).

 

As the card play progresses you are asked guiding questions (skip them if you are really good!) like "What is the heart layout (after a round of hearts)"

 

At the end of the problem are a few pointers.

 

An enjoyable book, well done, and challenging.

 

Its been a couple of years since reading the first volume, but I seem to remember it not being as hard as this. Same for Kantar for the Defense. Volume 2 was much harder than Volume 1.

[mike777]

Off-Road Declarer Play. David Bird. 2007. $18.95. 219pp.

Level=Intermediate/Advanced

Grade=A

 

Excellent Declarer play book. I found the problems very tough but many of them solvable for nonexperts. If you find these solutions at the table you are winning alot. Most nonexperts will find the first half of the book more useful.

 

Some of the methods discussed are creating entries, surviving bad trump breaks and elopements. For higher advanced players, some squeezes and steeping stone techniques are discussed at the end. An excellent book I intend on rereading soon.

[ArcLight]

Positive Declarer Play - Reese / Pottage

Positive Defense - Reese / Pottage

 

Both are from advanced intermediate to advanced. The emphasis is on technique and visualization. Some (too many) problems involve non-simple squeezes. Also, a few far fetched problems. While the books are worth reading I didn't find them as good as some others on similar topics. I'd rate them B-

 

 

 

Defend These Hands With Me - Julian Pottage

 

I liked this more than the above two books, though some of the card play was a bit hard to follow. (It was easy to miss that a player had shown out, or a card discarded, the author uses MUD leads, and the author doesn't tell you what pard or declarer played - if he felt it was unimportant). The bidding is also confusing, though thankfully you get to see teh bidding summary after the verbal description.

Asside from that I liked the book. There is a nice recap after each problem where the author discusses a theme. Its more on the advanced side than intermediate. Some of the hands were not that good, but overall its a good book. I give it a B or B+.

[ArcLight]

Masterpieces of Declarer Play by Julian Pottage

 

72 single dummy problems, broken into 3 groups: NT, suit, and bonus

The problems are on the advanced side (its got some advanced squeezes like triple and compound). Some of the inferences I don't agree with and therefore the hands are not really solvable by the clues given. For example - many would make a weak 2♥ jump overcall with 6 hearts headed by the AJxxxx non-vulnerable against vulnerable opponents opening a minor. And many would not open a hand containing 10 HCP consisting of 1 Ace and 2 Kings and not great shape like 5-5-3-0. Even so, I found the problems mosly interesting, with subtle uses of spot cards and end plays, and playing for certain shapes. For advanced players I give it a B-.

 

 

Here is problem 31

 

 

[hv=d=n&v=e&n=sakjhq964dak73ca5&s=sq63hj8753dqt62c7]133|200|(opponents silent)

pard opens 2NT - 3♦, 3♠ super accept- 4 ♥[/hv]

 

West leads the ♣4 to your ace, east plays the 2, showing an odd # of clubs. How do you play to make 4♥?

 

solution hidden below

 

 

You can afford 3 losers, and can even afford 3 trump losers, provided you lose no diamonds. Since you don't have any clues as to who holds 4 trumps, because the clubs appear to be roughly divided, look at diamonds. You can pick them up provided they are not Jxxx(x) with West. Therefore assume they are 4-1 or 5-0 with West. With 4+ Diamonds, and 4-5 Clubs, its unlikley West has also 4 hearts. Therefor play East for the 4 hearts. (If you are wrong, you wont lose any diamonds, or else the hand is unmakeable).

 

Lead Dummys trump Queen. Then reenter in spades to take repeated trump finesses through East, losing only to the trump AK and the Diamond Jack.

 

[ArcLight]

Test your Percentages by Hugh Kelsey

 

36 problems revolving around how to combine chances, such as playing for the drop with AKJx opposite xxxx, before taking a finesse with AQx opposite xx.

In a way its a companion book to his excellent Bridge Odds for Practical Players The problems go beyond just percentages (though thats teh main emphasis) and also focus on entry management and timing.

 

These problems are maybe a little easier than some of those in his other books, provided you can do the math. You need to be able to figure out that one line of play is 36% + 8% + 6% + 3% and therefor better than the finesse by 3%.

 

A solid A for intermediates and above.

Note - *Very hard to find!* Carl Ritner has one for sale for $10.

[mike777]

2006 World Bridge Championships, Verona.320pp.

Level=General Interest/All

Grade=A+

 

Another superb effort by editor Brian Senior. Covers the Rosenblum Cup, McConnell Cup, World Open and IMP pairs and Senior Events. Wonderful book that will provide weeks of reading enjoyment.

 

AQ65....QJT93...KT53...VOID

KJ........AK7......AQ764..A85

 

2C=2D

2NT=3C

3D=5C!

5H=6D

 

Fred and Brad had an exclusion blackwood mixup on this one. Brad meant 5clubs as exclusion and Fred took 5c as a splinter. They still won 12 imps as the other table also had a mixup and played in 4NT.

[Flame]

Here is problem 31

I like this problem and its solution, didnt solve it myself, if this is the kind of problems in this book then its a good book.

[ArcLight]

Here is problem 31

I like this problem and its solution, didnt solve it myself, if this is the kind of problems in this book then its a good book.

This problem was one of the best, thats why I selected it.

Many are not as good.

Overall I rate it a B-.

[Chamaco]

Masterpieces of Declarer Play by Julian Pottage

 

Some of the inferences I don't agree with and therefore the hands are not really solvable by the clues given.  For example - many would make a weak 2♥ jump overcall with 6 hearts headed by the AJxxxx non-vulnerable against vulnerable opponents opening a minor.  And many would not open a hand containing 10 HCP  consisting of 1 Ace and 2 Kings and not great shape like 5-5-3-0.

Hi Arc,

when reading books by foreign authors (e.g. British, Australian, French, Polish, Italian), one needs to take into acount that what is "common" in ACBL-land might not be common abroad.

 

A book by a Norwegian could base the inferences of weak to on almost any Hxxxx 5 card suit.

Other authors might draw different inferences o the use (or lack of use) of the jump overcall because they usually jumpovercall 2M with a intermediate or goodish hand. Similarly, many-a-players shall routinely open a 10 count at level 1, but many players would routinely open at the 2 level

 

And so forth: for instance, many inferences from the bidding that are claimed in Terence Reese's books are not matching with common practice in the US (or Italy for that matter)

 

Hence, when evaluating the issues related to the bidding that are raised by an author, it would be crucial to *try* to understand the different background, I think.

 

If we stick to the simplistic reasoning "In my country we play that way and I am not interested in what the rest of the world plays" we are not making ourselves a favour, in terms of bridge culture, of understanding, and open-mindedness

[ArcLight]

>Hence, when evaluating the issues related to the bidding that are raised by an author, it would be crucial to *try* to understand the different background, I think.

 

Of course I "try" to understand the different backgrounds. Not all books I read use 5 card majors, 15-17 NT. I never slam a book because the system is a bit different, like the author uses 4 card majors or 12-14 NT (instead of 15-17). I found a number of hands from Kelseys classic "Killing Defense" hard to solve (I got them wrong) because I wasn't expecting the inferences from the bidding the author derived (like opening 1 Club with 5 spades and 5 Clubs). I still think kelseys book is very good.

 

You seem very fast to criticize my review when you have not read the book. The author could have done a better job on some of the sleected hands, since the inferences were poor. The same goes for his other book "Clues from the Bidding".

 

To imply I didn't "try" is just insulting. Of course I try to be aware of the bididng system and convention.

 

You should "try" to not put words in other people mouths.

[Chamaco]

Arclight

 

you decided on your own that you have the bridge proficiency to be able to judge the work of great bridge authors, sometimes beating on them quite harshly.

 

My personal view is that I like the informative content of some of your posts, but:

 

1- a lot of the time you give judgments quite biased - which is something that a world class player can afford to, but in my opinion not an intermediate like me and you

 

2- in quite a few of these reviews, these judgements distort even what should be the pure objective description about the books

 

Of course the above is only my opinion - no better nor worse than yours or some else's, and I do not expect that everyone agrees with me.

In any case don't ask me more about this (such as which posts I am referring to and why) because I won't follow up a flame war.

 

The only real message from this post of mine is:

"If you want to be able to review, judge and beat harshly other writers' books, the least you can do is accept that someone else does the same with your posts (especially in a forum, where basically every post is under the gun) .

Even if you disagree with his contents or tones"

 

Sorry if you found yourself insulted, that was not my intention

[ArcLight]

What an amusing post, it sounds like teh 13 year old I was sitting next to on the plane. ;)

 

 

I think I have enough experience, and have read enough bridge books that I can recognize the good ones.

Its funny that you troll for a fight when I rate a book B-. My god, what if I had rated it a C? Maybe you would kill me? :lol:

 

 

>1- a lot of the time you give judgments quite biased - which is something that a world class player can afford to, but in my opinion not an intermediate like me and you

 

 

How am I biased? I don't rate all books A+? Sorry, but there are quite a few mediocre bridge books. Just because it takes a lot of work to write a book, doesn't mean its worth buying or reading. The problem with those who only give favorable reviews of mediocre works is the readers get burned , wasting time and money.

 

>In any case don't ask me more about this (such as which posts I am referring to and why) because I won't follow up a flame war.

 

No, you just try and start one. :blink:

 

Try reading the books before you criticize my reviews.

 

No one will agree 100% with everyone. I review the books as I see them. Feel free to disagree, Just don't tell me I don't "try and understand them". I wouldn't read a book cover to cover if I wasn't "trying". I an not an expert, but I have read many bridge books. I enjoy reading them. So I think I am able to appreciate a good one, and recognize a poor one.

[SoTired]

So in order to review a Steve Spielberg flick, the reviewer must be a world class director?

 

Or a sports writer can't criticize a ball player's bad play because the sports writer can't play pro ball?

 

Or a sportswriter can't criticize a pro coach because the writer has never even been a coach?

 

Of course not! You don't have to be an expert bridge player to effectively review a bridge book. As a matter of fact, an intermediate player may be a better judge of the writing because if the intermediate player can't understand the bridge, then the book is not well written.

 

The only concern about the review by an intermediate player is if the reviewer states bridge opinions about the usefulness of a convention or system. And even then, the old "buyer beware" rule applies.

[kenrexford]

No one should feel like they should refrain from reviewing a book because of their level or credentials.

 

I can understand intimately the frustration with reviews, however, having experienced mixed reviews myself of a work I generated. It has been interesting that reviews by people who are very well known and by organizations (ABF, ACBL, Bridge Today, etc.) have been good but that a few poor reviews have been given, in informal media (like forums or on Amazon), by people I have never heard of.

 

That being said, "buyer beware" should apply, as mentioned. A review by anyone, assuming they read the book, is free speech and should be welcomed. If you know the reviewer, like so many movie critics, you either value their opinion or not. If you do not know them, why place much faith in their assessment?

 

I'll agree that public posting of opinion as to a "book review" should have some degree of self-audit, like actually reading the book and acknowledging regional differences and the like, but most people try to do that, whether they are successful at it or not.