Ron Klinger and Andrew Kambites have written a series of four books titled Card Play Made Easy, each of which covers a particular area of play as declarer. These are no nonsense bridge instruction book, if you can't improve your bridge using the books in this series it's time to take up beginners classes. The format of the books is consistent with each chapter containing a discussion of a basic theme based around example hands, followed by quiz to test your new knowledge and to increase your confidence.
There is little overlap between the books and they do not have to be read in particular order. Thus the reader can decide which topic of their declarer play most needs improving and read the appropriate book.
"Card Play Made Easy Vol 1: Safety Plays and Endplays"
Aimed at the intermediate-improving player, the problems involved with saftey plays and endplays, and their solutions. are neatly laid out in language that is easily understood. Example hands are clear and you do not have to go half way through the book to find the quiz answers. Unlike many books, a few pertient hands are dealt with then the author moves on to the next subject.
"Card Play Made Easy Vol 2: Know Your Suit Combinations"
This volume shows how to handle common card combinations, covering the correct plays to either maximise the number of tricks or to secure a contract. This theoretical knowledge is often fundamental for success. However, clues from the bidding, the opening lead, and the approach taken by the defence must be taken into account when considering how to play a hand. The theoretically correct way to play a single suit in isolation might not be the best practical shot when considering the complete hand. Thus Kambites and Klinger also develop your judgement in when to deviate from the technically correct play.
"Card Play Made Easy Vol 3: Trump Management"
This volume
gives you an understanding of when to draw trumps, when to delay doing so, and when not to. The topics include the creation of winners and the elimination of losers, setting up long suits, the cross-ruff and the detection and subsequent of thrawting of defenders' plans and how to choose the best line when you have a number of options.
"Card Play Made Easy Vol 4: Timing and Communications"
Timing - when to play particular cards - and communication between hand and dummy are two vitally important elements of declarer card play. In this final book in their excellent series for improvers, Klinger and Kambites show you how to fine-tune your declarer play and play your cards in the correct order.
If you are a reasonably good bridge player, then "Logical Bridge Play" by Hugh Kelsey will help you to become a master. A brilliant card player acheives his results through a combination of logic and a little flair. This book teaches you just how to apply logic to your card play in making the correct inferences and deductions and in assessing the timing. The opportumity to become a master player is yours with the help of this book.
Backing outsiders has ruined many a punter at the bridge table as well as the race track. Few players have any idea of how to harness the odds to solve problems that constantly recur. Which is the best line of play? Is it better to finesse or play for the drop? Will the clubs break? Can the chances be combined? What are the exact odds? "Bridge Odds For Practical Players" by Hugh Kelsey is the authoritative guide to these situations.
"Bridge Baron Companion" by Donald Farewell and Jason Rosenfild has 160 large format pages. Bridge Baron is one of the oldest and most popular computer bridge games and it is also one of the easiest to use. However, ease of use can be a dual edged sword and often prevents users from seeing all of the features that Bridge Baron has to offer. This book lifts that veil and demonstrates how Bridge Baron can be used by both beginners and advanced players; not only to learn to play bridge but also to study the game, practice with partners, compete in tournaments, and more. Every feature and option in Bridge Baron is covered explicitly. If you are new to Bridge Baron, this book will help you to get up and running quickly; if you are already familiar with the progam, this book will point you to parts that you may not have previously explored and will help you to use Bridge Baron to improve all aspects of your game. The book also includes notes on Bridge Baron's various bidding systems and a detailed explanation of every convention that Bridge Baron plays and how Bridge Baron plays it.
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"A Computer's Twist: Play Problems for you with Bridge Baron Analysis" by Jason Rosenfeld & Prahalad Rajkumar provides challenging and entertaining bridge problems for you to enjoy and also includes a never before look inside the world of computer bridge.
On each deal, see how Bridge Baron fared on the deal and an explanation of why. Each deal contains a hint, to aid you in your solving of the hand, a detailed trick-by-trick analysis and solution, a post-mortem discussion, and an analysis of Bridge Baron's play of the hand.
The book also includes a Deal Scorecard to mark your progress and grade yourself against Bridge Baron. Concepts discussed are greatly varied and include: endplay technique, squeezes (progressive squeeze, strip squeeze, trump squeeze, & one-suit squeeze), the Vienna Coup, the Scissors Coup, safety plays, restricted choice plays, dummy reversals, falsecards and much more.
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"Computer Bridge" by Thomas A Throop highlights the strengths and weaknesses of bridge playing programs... a must for anyone interested in bridge programs. The Author is the founder of Bridge Baron and has over 40 years experience in developing computer Bridge software.
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Double Trouble
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Sally Horton
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"Double Trouble: All About Doubles" by Sally Horton (Sally Brock) is a discussion of this crucial area of bidding in the contested auction which offers much needed ammunition to beginners and experts alike. Starting with the take-out double it simplifies a topic which many club players find difficult.
Nothing exemplifies the keen competitive spirit of tournament bridge better than the penalty double. Anytime a final contract is doubled, the stakes are raised - not just the score but the implied mano a mano challenge. When you acquire a feel for opportunistic penalty doubles, you have added a potent weapon to your arsenal. Your courage to double freely and wisely will make you a respected and feared opponent. And if the opponents occasionally make a doubled contract against you, be consoled by what a bridge expert one said: if they never make a doubled contract, you aren’t doubling often enough. This book, "Wielding the Axe", like Augie Boehm's other books 'Demon Defense & Demon Doubling' and 'Three NoTrumps in Depth', is intended for the intermediate and advanced intermediate club and tournament player.
In some auctions it may be safe to balance with a 4-card suit and a weak hand; in others you need a 6-carder or a strong hand! "The Complete Book on Balancing in Contract Bridge" by Mike Lawrence helps you to evaluate how agressive to be in various balancing situations.
There are separate chapters for reopening the bidding when an opening bid is passed around to you in 4th seat, when the opponents find a fit but stop low, when they bid NoTrumps, and when they are in a misfit auction.
"Partnership Understandings" by Mike Lawrence is not a book to sit down and read by yourself, it's a blueprint for discussions with your regular partner. It contains a detailed series of questions covering almost every aspect of your partnership bidding system, defensive methods and style. Almost like filling out a 64-page-long convention card! You'll save yourselves a lot of poor scores by finding what questions you and your partner don't answer the same way before that particular situation arises at the bridge table.
In "Partnership Bidding", Mary Paul (one of Canada's leading woman players) reveals the partnership techniques used by the world's best players to prepare for competition. By working through the questionnaires in this book with your partner, you will be able to refine your bidding system, select the conventions that suit your style, define your defensive carding agreements, and give your game that winning edge. All players from intermediate to advanced who are serious about improving their game will learn from this unique workbook.
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The Complete Book of Takeout Doubles
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Mike Lawrence
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"The Complete Book on Takeout Doubles" by Mike Lawrence is a book in which even the most experienced players will find valuable ideas. Mike covers all the tools and evaluation skills you need to improve your takeout-double auctions, with many expert tips and examples. It was the 1995 Bridge Book of the Year.
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The Complete Guide to Contested Auctions
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Mike Lawrence
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"The Complete Guide to Contested Auctions" by Mike Lawrence is an interesting, easy-to-follow explanation of the judgment and weapons you need to win in competitive auctions. I note, however, that Mike is not a great advocate of the Law of Total Tricks.
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The Complete Guide to Passed Hand Bidding
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Mike Lawrence
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"The Complete Guide to: Passed Hand Bidding" by Mike Lawrence shows you how to evaluate your hand, make competitive decisions and use conventions to improve your passed-hand auctions. Among the questions asked are: When to open aggressively in third seat? What does a preempt in fourth seat look like? What does a passed hand jump shift look like?
"The Complete Guide to: Passed Hand Bidding" by Mike Lawrence - November 2011 re-issue. Originally published in 1989, this book quickly became recognized as a 'must-read' for any would-be bridge expert, and has never been out of print. Now, more than 20 years later, the author has revised, updated and expanded it to take into account modern developments in the theory and practice of competitive bidding.
"Goren Settles the Bridge Arguments" by Charles Goren gives authoritative answers to knotty problems that are the cause of frequent misunderstandings at the bridge table. This 1974 classic is an excellent book for the established partnership.
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Partnership Defense in Bridge
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Kit Woolsey
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"Partnership Defense in Bridge" Kit Woolsey provides a good overview of basic signaling strategies, but adds an expert spin with excellent discussions of more sophisticated methods. They include masking the defenders' communication, deceptive signaling and new ideas for suit-preference signals.
"Better Bridge for the Advancing Player" by Frank Stewart offers excellent advice on constructive thinking and card reading, with clear explanations of how to draw inferences, count out the hand, develop your 'table presence' and use other card-reading techniques.
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Winning Defense for the Advancing Bridge Player
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Frank Stewart
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"Winning Defense for the Advancing Bridge Player: More Constructive Thinking at the Bridge Table" by Frank Stewart concentrates on card reading, planning the defense, and communicating with partner.
The contents of "Frank Stewart's Contract Bridge Quiz Book" are rather more restricted than the title suggests, focusing on the problems of declarer dummy play. In each of 27 areas the reader is given some general guidance and at least eight single-dummy situations to address. The explanations are lucid and the analysis sound, although in a few cases the solution is not clear-cut.
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Bridge Bidding: The Golden Rules
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Liz Brinig
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In "Bridge Bidding: The Golden Rules", Liz Brinig provides social bridge players with some 'Golden Rules' of how to bid sensibly and successfully, thus leading to a happier and more successful bridge partnership.
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"Dynamic Defense" by Mike Lawrence takes a look at how experts think when defending a hand. Counting the hand, card reading and signalling are covered and advice is given that that even beginners can use successfully.
"How to Play Card Combinations" by Mike Lawrence
teaches you how to play the odds, spot problems and take more tricks as declarer or defender.
"Suit Combinations in Bridge" by Sally Brock analyzes the correct percentage play of common suit combinations, classified according to the cards which are missing. The basics of calculating probability in card ditribution is explained and a number of complete hands are used to illustrate the principles.
The author also looks at suit combinations in the context of the whole hand and also considers reasonable alternative plays.
"The New York Times Bridge Book - An Anecdotal History of the Development, Personalities and Strategies of the World's Most Popular Card Game" by
Alan & Dorothy Truscott is a unique collection of stories, trivia, gossip and famous hands that show how the game of bridge has developed over the past 75+ years.
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Play Bridge with Mike Lawrence
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Mike Lawrence
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"Play Bridge with Mike Lawrence" is a hand-by-hand account of a tournament session that shows you how an expert thinks and how to develop that elusive quality called 'table presence'.
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Play Swiss Teams with Mike Lawrence
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Mike Lawrence
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"Play Swiss Teams with Mike Lawrence" gives good tips and insights into the thinking processes, strategies and techniques that Mike uses in a team-of-four event.
"Bridge My Way" is the autobiography of Zia Mahmood, the flamboyant Pakistani-born bridge star, who travels the globe playing bridge 52 weeks a year. Full of intriguing stories, charisma, passion, and exciting bridge.
"Bridge Hands to Make You Laugh and Cry" by David Bird and Nikos Sarantakos is a funny and heartbreaking collection of stories of bad luck and disasters at the bridge table, with a good discussion of how to avoid the calamities suffered by others
"The Bridge Player's Supper Book" by Nicola Cox, "The Bridge Party Hostess" by Molly Anderson, "Cook and Deal" by Dorothy Cook and "Play Bridge and Cook Too" by Margaret Ryan are all fairly similar books that are a combination of a cookbook and a selection of interesting and challenging bridge hands.
"Vulnerable in Hearts - A Memoir of Fathers, Sons and Contract Bridge" by Sandy Balfour is a touching and humorous history of the author's family and the game of bridge in pre-WWII Scotland, England and South Africa. The book is available in softcover (left) or hardcover (right).
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is one of the oldest and most popular computer bridge games and it is also one of the easiest to use. However, ease of use can be a dual edged sword and often prevents users from seeing all of the features that Bridge Baron has to offer. This book lifts that veil and demonstrates how Bridge Baron can be used by both beginners and advanced players; not only to learn to play bridge but also to study the game, practice with partners, compete in tournaments, and more. Every feature and option in Bridge Baron is covered explicitly. If you are new to Bridge Baron, this book will help you to get up and running quickly; if you are already familiar with the progam, this book will point you to parts that you may not have previously explored and will help you to use Bridge Baron to improve all aspects of your game. The book also includes notes on Bridge Baron's various bidding systems and a detailed explanation of every convention that Bridge Baron plays and how Bridge Baron plays it. 
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