Book Reviews

[MickyB]

Yes, an excellent book Fifee, along with his computer programme Counting at Bridge which is similar but IMO even better.

[ArcLight]

Complete book on Takeout Doubles by Mike Lawrence

 

Great book, comprehensive, I rate it an A.

 

What I liked:

 

1) Has lots of sub topics covering all aspects of takeout doubles in depth and breadth

 

2) many example bidding sequences and hands.

 

3) the author will ask you what a sequence means. Is this double for penalty or takeout? How many points do you think pard has? How long is his suit?

 

4) gives lots of bidding tricks and suggests some conventions, such as responsive doubles.

 

I sugegst going through the book with a notebook, taking notes on all the different guidelines.

[luke warm]

"How to Read Your Opponent's Cards," one of Mike Lawrence's first books, is one of my alltime favorites. Mike does a great job of explaining how to "think" at the table, which is an easy thing to teach but sometimes hard to learn.

hi.. i haven't read this one, do you know how it compares to rubens' 'secrets of winning bridge'? are they complimentary, do they cover the same things, etc? thanks

[Guest Jlall]

How to read your opponents high cards is a classic, one of the most useful books ever imo. Whenever people ask me which books they should read i tell them Killing Defense by Kelsey and How To Read Your Opponents High Cards

[mike777]

"How to Read Your Opponent's Cards," one of Mike Lawrence's first books, is one of my alltime favorites.  Mike does a great job of explaining how to "think" at the table, which is an easy thing to teach but sometimes hard to learn.

hi.. i haven't read this one, do you know how it compares to rubens' 'secrets of winning bridge'? are they complimentary, do they cover the same things, etc? thanks

How to read the OPP cards may be the best bridge book ever..

 

It is all about counting the opp hands. If you read only one bridge book in your life read this one. Then reread it every year.

[Winstonm]

Killing Defense and More Killing Defense by Hugh Kelsey

 

Whatever you do, do not read these books unless you want to: A) end with a raging headache from the concentration B) improve you bridge thinking skills immeasurably C) become a much-improved defender, at which point I will not longer want to face you at the table. ;)

 

WinstonM

[luke warm]

How to read your opponents high cards is a classic, one of the most useful books ever imo. Whenever people ask me which books they should read i tell them Killing Defense by Kelsey and How To Read Your Opponents High Cards

 

How to read the OPP cards may be the best bridge book ever..

 

It is all about counting the opp hands. If you read only one bridge book in your life read this one. Then reread it every year.

 

thx guys, i'll buy it now

[jillybean]

Inside the Bermuda Bowl by John Swanson

 

Is out of print :( Atleast, I can't find it on amazon or chapters.

Can someone lend me a copy!

 

jillybean2

[Walddk]

Inside the Bermuda Bowl by John Swanson

 

Is out of print :( Atleast, I can't find it on amazon or chapters.

Can someone lend me a copy!

 

jillybean2

If Copenhagen is not too far away from you, you can get it at "Bridgebutikken" (The Bridge Shop).

 

http://www.bridgebutikken.dk/Cart/items.ph...4.105.153&bog=S

 

180 Danish Kroner (US$30). They can also send it to you. Then they will add p&p of course.

 

Roland

[helene_t]

They appear to have it at postfree . Maybe the postal costs will be lower from Sidney than from Copenhagen.

[ArcLight]

Focus on Declarer Play by Danny Roth.

 

Danny Roth is an English writer and may Americans may not be familiar with his books. His Step by Step Discarding is excellent, a very good intermediate level book on defense.

 

Focus on declarer play is intermediate level, and covers many common situations where declarers so wrong.

Such as:

1) Safety plays

2) trump management

3) Timing

4) Loser on Loser, Cutting opps communications, avoiding ruffs

 

It doesn't cover squeezes or anything exotic, just meat and potatoes hands that are frequently missed. Its a focused, concise, clear book, and I highly recommend it to players of intermediate level and below.

 

Given the quality of the 2 books by Danny Roth I've read, I'll certainly read more of his books. (focus on bidding, focus on defense)

 

 

P.S. A while back I wrote that I didn't care for the way Terrence Reese came across in some of his books. He seemed a bit arrogant and nasty. I recently read "Play Bridge with Reese" and found it excellent. (he does come across to me a not a nice person, but he can certainly write) I got several more of his books, and will read through them over the next year. His "The Mistakes you make at Bridge" is decent, his "Bidding a Bridge Hand" may be a bit out dated in some ways, but it still has good ideas on hand evaluation, fit for pard, tactical bidding, and judgment. An added plus is his books then to be available for very low prices (used in great shape for around $5 each with shipping included)

 

 

PPS As for Killing Defense and More Killing Defense, when I tried reading them after playing bridge for all of 5 months, they were above my head, as was Mike Lawrence's Dynamic defense. Now taht I've been playing for almost a year and a half, I'll definitely read them in the next year or so.

[Winstonm]

No doubt Reece is somewhat arrogant, and some of his views on bidding are simply arcane; however, Master Play is a classic and should be eventually read by all aspiring bridge players IMO - but like Killing Defense , it is not a read for the beginning-to-intermediate player.

 

WinstonM

[ArcLight]

Right Through the Pack: A Bridge Fantasy by Robert Darvas & Norman D. Hart. Published shortly after World War 2.

 

Well written, entertaining book, where each of the cards tells a story in which it played a key part. What I don't like is most of the hands are double dummy, so there is little to learn. But the hands are generally interesting, and each story quite entertaining. There are quite a few interesting squeeze hands, some unusual safety plays, and other assorted clever plays. The card telling the story and narrating the play of the deal also gives background about the characters.

 

I'd rate it an A- for Bridge entertainment. Don't expect to learn much as these hands are generally uncommon, with lots of iffy slams, and unreasonable bidding.

 

 

Available (with shipping for $5 - $9 used)

http://www.campusi.com/bookFind/asp/bookFi...odId=0910791694

[JSilver]

I'd recommend anything by Mike Lawrence. His Complete Book of Balancing, mentioned by ArcLight, is a thorough treatment of a topic that is highly practical, yet poorly covered in the literature. Lawrence has a talent for identifying and exploring these subjects. The Complete Book of Card Combinations is another example.

 

There may be reasons for not admiring Terrence Reese as a person, but one can certainly learn a lot from him about declarer play. My favorite is Play These Hands With Me. Reading it is like having a perch inside the mind of a master.

 

I've enjoyed many of Hugh Kelsey's books, but have not read Killing Defense. A good book on this topic is Frank Stewart's Winning Defense for the Advancing Bridge Player. It systematically explores and exemplifies the major themes of defense.

 

Kit Woolsey's Matchpoints is a great examination of the decisions peculiar to that form of the game. Among other topics, it covers the law of total tricks.

[JSilver]

:) Meant to add this to the book reviews topic.

 

Fixed... even though it means subtracting one from our new thread count. -- inquiry

Edited June 17, 2005 by inquiry

[luke warm]

oh hell, i never get to see the edited posts

[inquiry]

oh hell, i never get to see the edited posts

You did.. all i did was add J Silver's two post to the Book Review thread....

[JSilver]

oh hell, i never get to see the edited posts

You did.. all i did was add J Silver's two post to the Book Review thread....

I appreciate that. I was at risk of looking like an ass by appearing to presume that my book recommendations were worthy of a new topic.

[luke warm]

I appreciate that. I was at risk of looking like an ass by appearing to presume that my book recommendations were worthy of a new topic.

HAHAHAHAHAHA...

 

You did.. all i did was add J Silver's two post to the Book Review thread

 

ohhhhhhhhhh... thought i'd missed another flame war :)

[Al_U_Card]

I have all of Mr. Lawrence's books, read them all at least twice (starting 20 years ago when I took up duplicate) and recommend them all to anyone who really wants to improve their game. The only fault is the same as for all bridge books, namely, there is no subject index to allow you to easily find the reference when you need support for your position about why you bid (or played) like you did.....;-)

 

Another useful book is Amalya Kearse's "Bridge Conventions Complete" which helps you get to know what the heck your opps are playing, if only the rudiments.

[flytoox]

The recent discussion of standard bidding in this forum shows the need to recommend Mike Lawrence's book:

 

"Complete guide to contested auction".

 

This book, along with his complete book on overcall and many others, is a great book on contested auction.

 

More than half of bidding in modern bridge involves competitive auction. One case is they open and we interfere, another case is we open they interfere. The complete book on overcall deal with the first case, and the complete guide to contested auction deals with the case where we open and opponents interfere.

 

Most of intermeidate and advanced players can bid pretty well without interference. However, they often dont know what to do if opponents come in. Questions such as is this forcing arises again and again.

 

This is a cruel world, you need to fight for your food. Lawrence teaches you how to equip yourself in this book with necessary arms to pretect yourself at the bridge table.

 

This book includes 13 chapters. Ch1 is a general discussion of contested auction and how it might cause troulbe for you and the need of modifying 2/1 sequence.

 

ch2 deals with overcall at the one level. It discuss in length some general principle in contested auction. ch3 deals with overcall at the two level. After reading Ch2&3 you will know how to handle with overcall.

 

ch4 explains what you should do after opp's takeout double. This is a very important chapter. It tells you why sometimes it is wrong to redbl even if you hold 10+hcp when RHO doubles pd's opening bid. It also discussed Jordan Raise after pd's suit opening.

 

ch5 tells you how to handle when opp overcall with strong NT. ch6 discusses what to do when opp make weak jump overcall. Ch7 is about handling two suiter interference, e.g., unusual NT. ch8 is about spt dbl and rdbl. ch9 is aboout they bid after pd's resonse.

 

Ch10 is about the case where everybody bids. This is also a veyr important chapter. It is more about judgement, rather than convention. Nowadays everybody likes to bid. It tells you how to judge and evaluate your hand and the development of auction.

 

What should opener do if opps comes in but pd passes? This is the topic discussed in ch11-12.

 

chapter 13 discusses some unusual doubles. This helps to clarify some ambiguous auction.

 

Alfred Sheinwold once said about the complete book on overcalls,"if you read one bridge book per year, this should be it." I am sure he, if still alive, would make similar comments on this book.

 

If you havenot read it. Grab it and read it now. If you have already read it, read it again:)(I read it a few times. Smart guys on this board need read it once only)

[SandyMacG]

Question.

 

I used to play duplicate, many years ago, and have just returned to it. Back then we all played the Goren system. Now no one does. Why not?

Most people seem to play SAYC = Standard American Yellow Card.

First what does "Yellow Card" mean.

Second, is there a good book on this system for an intermediate player?

 

I'm also new to this forum. If I'm adding this question to the wrong place, please let me know.

[luke warm]

welcome, sandy.. here's a link to sayc.. hope it helps

 

http://www.annam.co.uk/sayc.htm

[Double !]

Most people seem to play SAYC = Standard American Yellow Card.

First what does "Yellow Card" mean.

Second, is there a good book on this system for an intermediate player?

 

I'm also new to this forum. If I'm adding this question to the wrong place, please let me know.

There is rarely an incorrect place to post on this forum, so welcome and post away.

 

SAYC actually originated around 1970-71 when the acbl came out with simplified convention cards for games where relatively few conventions were used. It was physically smaller than a regular convention card then (and now), and IT WAS YELLOW. I think I still have one somewhere around (I keep stupid things like that) - need to locate it.

 

:P

[ochinko]

Question.

 

I used to play duplicate, many years ago, and have just returned to it. Back then we all played the Goren system. Now no one does. Why not?

Most people seem to play SAYC = Standard American Yellow Card.

First what does "Yellow Card" mean.

Second, is there a good book on this system for an intermediate player?

 

I'm also new to this forum. If I'm adding this question to the wrong place, please let me know.

Hi, Sandy, and welcome.

 

Most bridge players on the internet are from North America, I guess, almost all servers that allow online play too, so it only makes sense to have a common system that reflects what is nowadays commonly played in the USA and Canada. It is less of a problem if you play only with a regular partner, but it's still worth to know the opponents' system.

 

I live in Bulgaria, but have adopted SAYC not only because of online playing, but also because there is enormous amount of information about it that can be found, questions that can be asked in a forums as this one, etc.

 

You should see what blank stares I get at the local club most of the time when I say that I play SAYC. I stared in the same way when a senior pair explained that they play Kaplan as if it would mean anything to me :blink:

 

Petko