Bridge books reviewed - 17

By studying the bidding and play of the world's best players you can improve your own game. "Learn from the Stars" by Mark Horton and Tony Sowter is a collection of deals, divided into bidding, declarer play and defence, where the reader can compare how experts have handled the different aspects of the game. Although there are a few difficult squeezes and endplays included, there is also much that the average club player can apply to his or her own game.

"Bridge: The Vital Principles" by Freddie North contains 69 deals; each one presented as a problem on the right hand page with the solution overleaf. Almost every type of play is covered, with the deals becoming gradually more difficult. The book is aimed at the intermediate player but many more experienced players can only benefit from the latter quizzes.
Unless you have met a particular situation before, such as a Dummy Reversal, Simple and Double Squeeze etc. you may well get caught out. Deal 27 was a tricky one:

"Judgment at Bridge" by Mike Lawrence is a book about style, rather than system. Should you open 1♣ or 1♦ when you have 3 of each, and when you have 4 of each? Should you open 1NT with a 5-card major, or with a 6-card minor? Should you raise your partner's 1♥ opening with 3-card support or bid your 4-card ♠ suit? The book is crammed full of examples of everyday decisions both in bidding and play, to help you improve your own judgment when your hand appears to meets the established criteria for more than one action. Chapters cover: What went wrong? Avoid the common errors. The short club, take out double, signoffs, over/underbidding, suit preference etc.

Julian Pottage worked on a number of books with the late Terence Reese, and this one pays homage to a man who was certainly the best bridge writer of his time. One of Reese's classics, Play These Hands With Me, pioneered the 'over-the-shoulder' style of bridge writing. What that book did for declarer play, "Defend These Hands With Me" by Julian Pottage will do for defense: the reader can follow the thinking of an expert player, stopping at critical points in the play to make his own decision about how to continue.

Julian Pottage 's previous books include "Clues From the Bidding" (reviewed below) and a number of titles co-authored with the late Terence Reese. He lives near London, England, and is a regular contributor to BRIDGE magazine in the UK.

Defenders invariably base their strategy on declarer's bidding. Yet so often declarers fail to do the same: they often thrash away without a thought of what the defenders have or have not done. Just one bid from an opponent may tip off declarer to the winning play - perhaps warning of a bad break or that a finesse is doomed. When the defenders have made several bids the declarer may be able to make spectacular double-dummy plays. The problems in "Clues from the Bidding", by Julian pottage, all contains situations where an astute declarer can listen to the bidding, or lack of it, and derive information critical to the success of his contract. This book was originally published in 1990, and this new edition is substantially revised and expanded.

In "Bridge, Zia... and Me" One of the world's top bridge players chronicles his career from his early days growing up in the UK to his position today as one of the world's best. Michael Rosenberg and the flamboyant Zia Mahmood, who also now lives in the US, were one of the world's best partnerships. Here we learn how they first met and started playing together. There are fascinating and funny anecdotes from Rosenberg's own career, his all-time favorite hands, and tips and ideas that will help the reader improve his own game. Finally, the author discusses some of the thorny ethical issues that plague today's tournament scene, and offers his own ideas on how to solve them.