The correct play of suit contracts is a skill which the top players acquire only after many patient hours of study and play. When the opposition are lurking with their small trump cards ready to pounce and ruff your winners, you must exert great vigilience. There are countless factors to take into consideration when planning the play and difficult decisions arise on almost every trick: should you clear the trump suit early? can you establish a side suit? is it safe to cross-ruff? In this ground-breaking book, renowned bridge author Brian Senior helps you to answer these questions and to comprehend the reasoning as to why certain decisions are taken. Each independent principle is thoroughly examined and the reader is then invited to test their own understanding of the concept by answering a number of puzzles, typical of those that arise in practical play. Written by a leading bridge author and journalistUser-friendly layout enables the reader to quickly absorb the key ideasAn ideal bridge book for players looking to improve their card handlin
A collection of bridge problems which provide a fun way to practice an important play technique. This is part of a twelve book series that will add an extra dimension to the Bridge Technique series (Bird & Smith), which won the American Bridge Teachers' Association Book of the Year award in 2002.
Winning Notrump Leads was a ground-breaking and very well-received book that used the power of computers to determine which opening leads work best against a variety of auctions at notrump. Using enhanced software, the authors now turn their attention to suit contracts. They generate millions of random deals, retaining those that match the chosen auction, for example 1S-2S-4S. By playing these deals automatically against each of the 13 possible opening leads from a given hand, they are able to discover which lead is most likely to beat the contract (also the best lead at matchpoint pairs). The authors provide insightful commentary to each result, answering timeless questions such as: When should I lead a trump? When is a doubleton a good opening lead? Should I lead differently against a partscore? Should I make an aggressive or a passive lead? Should I lead an ace against a small slam? Which leads work best against a grand slam? By using the number-crunching computer power available nowadays, there is no longer any need to rely on general opening-lead guidelines passed down by our ancestors. We think you will be surprised by many of the discoveries made during this investigation! DAVID BIRD (top) and TAF ANTHIAS were contemporaries at Cambridge University, both reading mathematics. They carried out research and development on software systems for over 30 years at IBM's UK Laboratories. In the 1970s they formed a successful bridge partnership, winning a number of national events. David is now one of the world's top bridge writers with 116 books to his name. Taf moved on to the USA, where he became a vice president of Cisco Systems. They have joined forces on this ground-breaking book.
Each book in this series is a collection of bridge problems which provide a fun way to practice and develop your skill in an important cardplay technique at bridge. These books are designed to add an extra dimension to the detailed instruction contained in Bridge Technique series (Bird and Smith).
The book Standard Methods of Contract Bridge Complete comprises of a methodical study and critical analysis of bidding, play, defence and other strategic instruments of contract bridge. In order to make a clear conception of all the norms, options and techniques, more than 200 deals have been illustrated thoroughly. The book compiles a systematic consolidation and logical explanation of all sorts of theories, conventions, norms and techniques of modern systems of Contract Bridge. Such unique and comprehensive compilation may provide immense assistance to the new generation of bridge players to develop and improve skill and strategic maturity for much better performances even upto the national level. Even the experienced players may prefer this book for consultation from time to time. The chapters on bidding explain most of the popular systems, artificial conventional bids and logical illustration of the correct norms of bidding under various situations. The bidding, in general, has been explained according to Standard Americal System. Whether it is bidding, play or defence, the most vital art is to take the correct decision at the correct time for the correct method, strategy, option or technique to be adopted for a profitable result. This book has the speciality that can empower a bridge player with thorough explanation on each of techniques separately for taking the crucial and appropriate decision.
Learning bridge isn't like learning poker or blackjack, where the basic rules can be explained in a few minutes. Entire books have been written on the bidding aspects alone, and learning the language of bridge can be intimidating to new players. But 60 million bridge players worldwide is evidence enough that people don't seem to be discouraged by the game's challenging rules and concepts. And why should they be when there's The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Bridge, Third Edition, to teach them the game in a fun and easy-to-understand format? This new edition includes modern bidding techniques and examples to make learning the game even easier, a pull-out reference card for beginning players to have at the table with them as they learn the game, and bonus chapters online that cover some of the more advanced aspects of the game.
This book teaches the basics of duplicate bridge. The bidding system used is American Standard. Examples are used throughout the book to explain how you should bid and play the game. Every chapter ends with a summary of what you should remember. This will make it easier for you to memorize what needs to be memorized. Also there are additional examples for each chapter that you may use as practice deals. The contents of the book is divided in such a way that you may first just read parts of it to get a very basic understanding of the game, and then you may go back and read more detailed sections when you are mor comfortable with the game. In this way it is believed that the book will accompany you on your way to becoming an intermediate player. References to further reading are given. The book has been used to teach beginners, and several of them have been able to play successfully against experienced players after only one or two games.
My goal for “The Modified Optimal 2/1-Club System” is to show how to use the Optimal Point Count (OPC) method of hand evaluation developed by Patrick. Darricades in his book “Optimal Hand Evaluation” (2019) to improve the dialogue between two players to achieve an optimal bridge contract. The primary objective is to demonstrate how to apply the new system approach to contract bridge by illustrating a more accurate method of hand evaluation whether you play 2/1, Standard American (SA), Acol or Precision, among others. The Two over One (2/1) Game Force bidding system was an improvement over the SA System that has been in effect and played by bridge players for many years. Many claim that the advantage of the 2/1 system allows the partnership to know that game is possible with only a single bid provided one has 13+ points. As we shall see for suit contracts it is only true if the opening 2/1 bidder has 15 points, not 12/13 points since 25/26 points do not result in game whenever a singleton in one hand finds “wasted honor points” in partner’s hand. Yet, most 2/1 conventions call for 13+ High Card Points (HCP). Another flaw of the 2/1 approach is the fact that opening 1-level suit bids have a wide bidding range (12-21). To eliminate this flaw, the principles of Pinpoint Precision with 1*= 18+ points and new responses associated with a new and improved hand evaluation method. A major flaw of most Strong Club opening bids is that they are based solely on HCPs with opening bids of 1*=16/17+ HCP. To correct these flaws among others, the search for a better hand evaluation method and a better bidding system has been unrelenting. Hand evaluation methods have been popularized by Milton Work, Charles Goren, Marty Bergen, and Petkoy Zar, and others. All falling short when applied to the commonly used “dialogue” bidding systems. The Optimal Point Count (OPC) method of hand evaluation corrects the many flaws of prior hand evaluation methods when applied to any bidding system. In this book many “traditional/standard” bidding practices that do not help to show suit fi t and distribution are to be avoided or re-defined. Splinters and mini splinters which show the location of voids and singletons to help locate wasted honors, the XYZ bidding convention, cue bidding, and new bids for the investigation of game and slam are among the cornerstone conventions reviewed in this book. Newly defined 2 and 3-level bids to show hands with 6/7+card suits are defined to prevent the opponents from finding their optimal contract and to improve upon difficult bidding sequences using traditional bidding strategies. The evaluation of one’s Offense to Defense Ratio (ODR), why many well-known bidding sequences must be avoided, and an analysis of several old “standard” bridge laws/rules are reviewed to show why they need not be used to improve one’s judgement if one employs the OPC method.
A bridge guide like no other—essential strategies, tricks, trump tactics, and much more, all in a stylish portable package! Our Pocket Posh® series has over 3 million copies in print! In Pocket Posh Tips for Bridge Players ten-time national champion and WBF World Master Marty Bergen offers his essential tips for bridge players, as well as insights on the Law of Total Tricks, the Rule of 20, Bromad, and much more.
