2 comments about Bridge Master Versus Bridge Amateur.

1. The bidding advice is aimed at beginners or very low Intermediates.
   Theer is one hand where responder holds 4 spades (with an honor) and 3 hearts (with an honor) and around 8 high card points. Opener bids 1 heart and you are asked what to respond. Maybe inexperienced players would respond 1 spade, but experienced ones (not the same as good players) would respond 2 hearts. The book tells you to support pard. this is 100% correct but is also rather elementary. Thats fine for a book for less experienced players. But its a waste of paper for more experienced players.
   There is a section on into to cue bidding. Thats great for someone who doesn't know anything about cue bidding. Maybe you think this book is for less expereinced players? Then try looking at the hands!
   
   There are a lot of good hands, aimed at Intermediate level players, not low Intermedaite ones. They show how hands are misplayed.
   There are also a number of Squeeze hands. Thats fine, but don't expect those who got anything out of the bidding section to know what to do with these.
   
   Some of the hands involve thinking about what can go wrong, such as a 4-1 trump break. Then there is one hand that shows how to try for an extra chance with a 0.15% (not 15%) chance of success. While thats fine when it comes up (aproximately once in 5 - 20 years) I wouldn't waste time with it. It involves playing for a miricle lie of the cards.
   
   The hands are on a variety of topics (they are all over the place), and this is not really conducive to learning.
   
   There were a couple of hands I did not agree with either.
   
   Also, 90% of the hands had all 4 sides exposed. This ruins it, and forces you to cover up teh defenders hands, which are not always EW, it varies.
   
   Its NOT a bad book. I liked the hands. I thought the bidding section a waste of paper. The fact that all 4 hands are exposed was pretty annoying. While there is "something for everyone" I would much rather read a book taht is more focused.
   
   Maybe I should rate it a 4. But I was disappointed with it and am returning it.



2. There is nothing compelling about this book. Some of the hands are interesting, the others are routine. The hands aren't bad but thats not enough of a reson to buy this book. There are easily 100 better books on play of the hand than this. Plus the format is poor - all problems have all hands exposed making it dfficult to attempt the problems before reading the solution.
   
   Insted try:
   Play Safe and Win - Jannersten
   Find the Mistakes - Jannersten
   Spot Light on Card Play - Darvas
   Many books by Terence Reese
   Many books by Frabk Stewart
   
   This book is bound to disappoint all readers. There is a little for each level, but not enough to justify the purchase. I think this book was just churned out, rather than well conceived.
   
   What I would have much prefered ws something along the lines of:
   - the bididng
   - 2 hands exposed
   - you try and play it out
   then read the solution. This is a common format in most modern bridge books. This is just a lazy throw back to the 1960's format.

2 comments about The Secrets of Winning Bridge.

1. Jeff Rubens's ageless book is on every expert's short list of the greatest bridge books ever written and should be in every player's library. Read once, it will be remembered forever. This edition is a bargain price. His ideas about hand evaluation are treasured gems sure to raise any player's understanding and enjoyment of the game, and Ruben's advice on duplicate, Swiss Teams, partnerships and conventions are among the best in the literature.



2. this is perhaps one of the best books on Bridge ever written, it is a classic, I recommend it for beginners and advanced players alike

3 comments about Basic Bridge in Three Weeks.

1. This well diagrammed, well organized, yet extremely condensed book really can bring the beginner up to the level of basic play; but note that basic is a relatiave term and that the book is written by a master. The book assumes the beginner is a bridge player at heart, which is to say, focused and dedicated. I don't think there is any book on bridge that can teach the game to a beginner alone, even to those who are players at heart, but Truscott's book comes close and is an excellent companion and guide both to the beginner and enthusiastic teacher. It is also a valuable reference and review for the so-called basic player.



2. I have read several books aimed at novice and intermediate bridge players, but this is the most comprehensive and readable book on the subject I have seen. Play of the hand is associated with the bidding in each chapter. This is unlike "Contract Bridge Complete" by Charles Goren, and other similar books, where the reader spends the first half of the book counting cards and memorizing bids. This juxtaposition of bidding and play makes learning or reviewing the basics of Bridge dynamic and exciting!



3. This is an excellent book. It is well organized, lucid, coherent. The format is ideal for a busy person like me: the chapters or short, to the point and can be read and absorbed in a period of 1/2-1 hour per session. Each chapter gives points about bidding followed by hand play so you always get to apply in practice what you learned in theory. I would have liked a "master chart" to which I could easly refer to review bidding responses instead of leafing back through the chapters, but this is a minor flaw. The book fulfills it's mission: after reading it one can play on a strong intermediate level. Alan J. Stein, MD

No comments about To Win at Bridge: Have You Got What it Takes? (Master Bridge Series).

No comments about The Power of Shape (Master Bridge Series).

3 comments about Canada's Bridge Warriors: Eric Murray and Sami Kehela.

1. I give it 3 1/2 stars
   
   A few interesting tidbits, and a few very funny quips by Murray and Kehela. I did not like the verbal description of the bidding (just show the bidding in the normal way). Some of the card play ws hard to follow.
   
   I would have liked a bit more on the people rather than so many pages of card play and analysis. The analysis is fine, just that I wanted someting else in a biography oriented bridge book.
   
   Maybe I would have like dthe book more if I was Canadian, perhaps I'd give it a 4?
   
   Or maybe I ws a little disappointed because there was so much on card play, and not as much as I'd have liked on the people.
   
   I much preferred Sabine Aukens book "I love this game".
   
   Not a bad bridge book, just not a great bio oriented book.



2. Eric Murray and Sami Kehela are two of the most successful bridge pair Canada's ever produced, and their biography is revealed for the first time in a survey of some thirty years of triumphs and tricky plays. Collections catering to neo-pro bridge players as well as bridge enthusiasts will relish the account of a different era of bridge challenges, when Canadians had to beat top U.S. players in North American pairs trials. A perfect, lively survey any who play bridge will appreciate.



3. Reading about Eric and Sami makes me wish I could have met them at the bridge table. Even losing to them would have been fun.

No comments about Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post: Collector Series Playing Cards : Double Bridge Deck (Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post Collector Series Playi).

No comments about Gamesman Bridge.

No comments about Watson on the Play of the Hand at Contract Bridge.

No comments about Picture Bidding.