No comments about Play of the Hand as Declarer & Defender.

5 comments about Gin Rummy: How to Play and How to Win.

1. This book is almost totally useless in teaching gin rummy to a relatively new player. It utilizes primarily an anecdotal approach using exclusively examples from games in which the author has played. While this may be interesting to the author's friends and competitors, it is of little or no interest to a member of the general public. Do not waste your time with this book unless you know the author.



2. I would like to disagree with the reviewer who said "poor author and teacher." Fraed doesn't give simple formulas or easy answers. That's good, because gin rummy is not that simple! But the answers are there, hiding in Fraed's examples and discussion. You have to work at gin over the table, and you should expect to work at reading a text on it.

   I think I found one little mistake on page 92, but that's nitpicking. ;)

   People interested in this book should also read the review by ckill2015 of Gin Rummy at its best -- which is basically the same book. C Killebrew had one of the most incredible records of all time playing gin on the internet and in real life.




3. The author provides good tips for partnership gin. However, his analysis of regular gin is best suited for beginners only. There are better books for singles players.



4. I need to start by saying I am at best a beginning player. However, the game I was taught by 3 different people as gin rummy is somewhat different than the game described in this book and not a variation listed in the back. Therefore, I have evaluated this book from the eyes of someone who has not really played "classic gin rummy".
   
   I thought the book deserved more than 3 stars as "ok" but hated to say I really "liked" it. I found the author interesting in his anecdotal style but found it hard to learn from as a beginner. I would have appreciated a bit more discussion at the beginning about the basics of the game and the two ways to win a game and more examples of scoring. He gives lots of examples elsewhere and it would have made a couple things clearer for me since my questions were not answered in the basic text.
   
   I got the book to learn a bit of strategy to beat my card playing brother-in-law. Since I was taught to play with fewer cards and often with more than one person but not with a partner, the playing strategies were not as applicable for the game we play but I did learn a bit. I am sure with more play I will come to understand some of the concepts better.
   
   What I will say for the book is that it made me want to learn the classic game of gin rummy. I had not realized it was even played for money or that there are tournaments in places like Las Vegas or Reno. I thought it was the stuff of movies, southern gentlemen in white suits with mustaches and country clubs. I think that after I play the classic game I will come to realize the value of this book and find that it definitely qualifies for that 4th star.



5. It doesn't matter how good at something someone is, if they don't write well a book by them will be substandard. This is the case here. The book is rambling and incoherant, and by the end i was more confused than enlightened regarding Gin strategy. It's written more like a biography than a book on game strategy and it's not a particularly interesting biography anyway. Don't buy this book. Get Sam Fry's instead: it is less than half the size but teaches you more than twice as much about Gin Rummy!

No comments about How to Play Winning Bridge: An expert, comprehensive teaching course designed to develop skills and competence: the importance of good bidding, card play ... guide to the game including history.

4 comments about More POINTS SCHMOINTS!.

1. Marty Bergen's follow-up to his justly popular "Points Schmoints" (imaginatively titled "MORE Points Schmoints") expands on the principles outlined in the earlier volume. Unfortunately, it lacks some of the sparkle and zip of that first effort. One wonders if the author himself did not suspect this; a short introduction detailing three years of football watching and general procrastination before tackling the sequel comes off as something of a mea culpa. Rest assured that much valuable information is here and many Bridge conventions only touched on in "Points Schmoints" are explored in detail now. For players still learning the fine points of the game (like this reviewer), this volume is an invaluable tool for understanding what stands behind such names as Jordan, Drury, Puppet Stayman, etc, and is a fine primer in the art of playing them. Sadly, the clever interweaving of literary and actual anecdotes that punctuated the lessons of the first book feel forced and contrived here. Some of the humorous lines are even recycled verbatim from "Points Schmoints." While Bergen's lessons are as relevant as ever, when compared with the scintillating earlier effort, the reader of "More Points Schmoints" can't help but come away feeling just a little disappointed.



2. A wonderful collection of tips and anecdotes that is sure to improve your game. Sequel to the 1996 Bridge Book of the Year.



3. Marty again checks in with a high-quality tip book in the same format as his stellar "Points Schmoints". Bergen digs a little deeper into many of the topics he only touched in the original. Again, the material should hit a home run with novice to intermediate players, who will find a wealth of points to ponder.
   
   The humor is not quite as pithy here, but the content is still solid.



4. Its wasn't as good as Points Schmoints but was still good.
   I did not like the fact that the author reused some of the same hands. For the cost of the book, he can be original enough to come up with 15 new hands.

4 comments about 100 Winning Bridge Tips: For The Improving Player (Master Bridge Series).

1. One of the most useful Bridge books I have ever read. Full of useful advise for common situations, both bidding and play. Lots of practical tips packed into small space. highly recommended



2. This is a great "bathroom book;" read one or two tip each time you are in there. If you follow the tips in this book, you will end up on top much more often than on the losing end.

   I read the tips on leading one night before a bridge tournament event. The next day I was on lead 20 plus times; in each case I made either the killing lead, or the least costly lead (we ended up 6th overall!).

   I can think or no book that will help your game faster than this book.




3. I'LL LET YOU KNO



4. This is an excellent book that tries to improve ALL aspects of your game. In bite-sized tips, your game is gradually taken to another level. I especially liked the sections on Declarer play and Defense, with the section on Opening Leads being the best feature of the book. As most players know "Lead Trumps when in doubt" is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. However, I was not sure when I SHOULD lead trumps. The feature of this book in my opinion is clearly laying out when trumps should be lead.

   These tips include most of the basics like Third Hand High, Rule of 11, as well as a lot more tips that are not as well known. The sequel to this book (50 More Tips ..), while also good, is not as useful for beginning players.

5 comments about Goren's New Bridge Complete.

1. I bought this book after I got Contract Bridge for Beginners... This book should be on the shelf of any bridge player! It's not the best book for beginners, but it could be used by a beginner as well as an advanced player. If you are a beginner, you should buy Goren's Contract Bridge for Beginners. It's short and to the point. Bridge Complete expands on many of the items in the beginner's book and offers many new items.



2. When first learning bridge almost a decade ago, I had Sheinwold's classic book (Five Weeks to Winning Bridge) and this one. This book was by and far the better; furthermore, it has remained a book that is constantly re-readable. Each time through I pick up another fascet of the game from Goren and his editors (since he died).

   The bidding system used is what is commonly known as a "two over one game force" which, in my opinion, is a very powerful system. It does take a little bit more study than a purely natural system, but not much.

   Although I well recommend this book for any serious beginner, even a complete beginner, my wife found the "Bridge for Dummies" (Eddie Kantar) book more accessible. Of course, she was only learning Bridge because I asked her to play with me... After all, what good is a wife if not a permanent Bridge partner? In any event, I highly recommend the Kantar work as well.

   A final word: despite the book's age, it is not at all dated.




3. Charles Goren explains basic bridge with clarity like no other. An added bonus is Charley has a sense of humor so you get an occasional smile along with your lessons.

   Your first lesson in bridge is "Don't run until you can walk!" How many people have you heard say something like, "maybe I don't know much about bidding, but give me a good hand, and I can play against anybody!" Don't you believe it! Submarine squeezes, dummy reversals, double throw in end plays are very exciting stuff, but 1) they don't come up all that often and 2) you have to visualize all four hands before they work.

   Goren starts you out on Chapter I with "The Bidding" just like you would at the table. Each chapter ends with a quiz. Take them and then go back and reread the areas you missed. Until you feel very comfortable with all aspects of bidding, don't go any further. You will never get to play that brilliant hand if you land in the wrong spot. That's what bidding is all about, to get you to that perfect spot where you get a chance to shine and slay your opponents.

   When I learned to play bridge as a teenager, Goren's Bridge Complete was my Bible. It has gone through many revisions since, but looking over the latest, I see it still retains all its virtues. I'm not denying this book will take a lot of time, and everything must be read more than once best with a paper and pencil close by, but you will be rewarded. The pleasure you will get from deftly executed bidding and play is ample compensation for the time you have spent. Read and enjoy. I'll see you at the bridge table!
   -sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer




4. When Goren said "complete," he meant it. Between the covers of this book, one will find everything one must know to learn the game and play it competently. For many bridge players, this single volume, can be a complete bridge library. The sections on declarer play and defensive play will be as good 100 years from now as they were the day Goren wrote them.

   BUT

   One could have questioned "new" on the original publication date. Especially for duplicate players, even the Laws of Contract Bridge have changed. More practically, bidding has evolved quite rapidly since Goren wrote this work, and the bidding ideas he presents were tried and true (that is, shop worn) before publication.

   If you are serious about the game, augment Goren with more modern works about bidding. Marty Bergen and Marshal Miles stand tall among those who will show you modern bidding methods at the leading edge. Still, if you can find more useful, well presented, effectively indexed information about the game in any other volume, buy it and clue me in on the treasure.




5. It covers most parts of the game (conventions, hand playing, defence...), but i found it rather old. Point count is oldfashioned, and that is enough to ruin your buying system... You will find enough useful clues though. Not bad.

1 comments about When to Bid, When to Pass (Master Bridge Series).

1. Many bridge books only illustrate technique by means of one example hand, and another, and another: "Here's a hand. Here's how to do bid (or play) this hand. On to the next hand." The refreshing thing about Mr. Klinger's books is that he starts with a principle, explains it in depth, and then gives an example or two. This way, one learns not to play just the hand in the example (which one will never encounter in real life, anyway), but all hands of a certain type.
   
   If you read nothing else, you will find the first chapter on the "Rule of 21 & 1/2" worth the entire price of the book. This improves greatly on the old Rule of 20 for deciding whether to open with a 1-bid, to preempt, or to pass. Example: the Rule of 20 will tell you to open this hand: QJxx Kx QJxx QJx -- 12 HCP and 8 cards in the 2 longest suits, right? Wrong.
   
   Experts probably use an algorithm like this, whether from this book explicitly or just through their experience and judgment. You can see this by observing some of their openings on Bridge Base Online's Vugraph sessions. Intermediate players can now make their opening decisions more like experts, using the simple formula Mr. Klinger gives.
   
   This method of deciding when and how to open has helped me reach slams, games, and solid part scores that others did not reach. Opening also inhibits the opponents' bidding.
   
   There's good advice throughout the rest of the book, too. This is the second book I've read by this author and both have helped me greatly.

2 comments about Cue-Bidding to Slams (Master Bridge Series).

1. Very good book on very difficult subject. It explains in details cue bidding and RKC Blackwood techniques for slam bidding. You will also find fully explained examples on every chapter. For my partnership this book has done a lot. One star is missing because there is no system proposition to adopt in partnership.



2. Cue Bidding is very important in slam bidding. Many intermediate level players and below only use Blackwood and they are missing out on an important technique.
   
   The author explains how to use cue bidding and gives many examples of both reaching good slams with a lot fewer than 33 points or staying out of bad slams despite holding 33+ points (not necessarily HCP).
   
   In addition to standard cue bidding (first round controls) teh author presents some other techniques such as mixed cues (1st and 2nd round) and multi cues and denial cue bidding.
   
   The only knock I have against some of Klingers books are he presents conventions that are not standard, and perhaps not as good as others. For example, he presents SCROLL, a method used by Australian Expert Tom Seres. Who uses that convention? No one. But overall, this is a great book.
   
   (Klinger also has a great 4 volume set of books Card Play Made Easy on Declarer play technique)

No comments about Advanced & Duplicate Bridge Student Text.

1 comments about Eddie Kantar Teaches Topics in Declarer Play at Bridge.

1. The books is mainly about counting your tricks and planning ahead and avoiding finesses. It doesn't cover anything like end plays, trump coups, squeezes, etc. Just the basics.
   
   Well written, and fun to read.