1 comments about Bridge: Techniques and Tips from the Masters - 4249 Diagrammed Hands and Plays.

1. This is the meatiest bridge book I've ever seen. It is densely packed with solid information on every page, on all aspects of the game, and almost none of it for the beginner. I am nowhere near expert so I don't know how much of it will be "old hat" to them, but it's perfect for anyone wanting to leave the novice category and willing to spend a lot of time to do it. The book is divided into 12 sections by several different authors--6 on bidding, 3 on declarer play, and 3 on defense.
   
   Section 12 (deceptive play by defenders) is almost worth the price of the book by itself. It feels like a tiny sliver of pages at the back, but the scope and variety of the ideas are stunning. You can spend half an hour getting to the bottom of a couple paragraphs.
   
   The bidding sections require you to like 4-card majors, but aside from that they take a thorough look at ACOL from all angles, covering the thought processes behind "ordinary" bidding as well as numerous conventions. And the multiple authors frequently disagree with each other, allowing you to assess the merits of a particular method and tailor your bidding system. The section on slam bidding will even make you laugh a few times.
   
   The drawback of this book is the hideous amount of typos, probably as many as one per page. The typos come in all shapes and sizes, and frequently inhibit properly understanding the material. I remember being puzzled over a player making a 2-level overcall on Kxxxx before I realized that an ace was missing.

No comments about Beginning Bridge.

3 comments about The Art of Psychic Bidding: (And Its Pitfalls).

1. The book teaches little about when to make psyche bids, and insted just lists examples from high level competition.
   
   Victor Mollo (The Finer Arts)0 has a similar book, which is better.
   
   What I had hoped to see was a discussion of when not to psyche (with some examples) and when it was good to psyche (with a lot more examples).
   
   The book should have ben titled "Some Psyche bids made in high level matches or by good players"



2. Any with an interest in psychic bluffing's forms and applications shouldn't miss The Art of Psychic Bidding And Its Pitfalls. Psychic bidding is defined as bluffing calls to create an illusion of strength or length in a suit, or to hide weakness: this is the only full-length book on the topic to cover ethics, applications, and the experiences of famous psychs.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. The hands were pretty good. But there wasn't much teaching, and I didn't get anything out of teh book.
   
   Take Zia Mahmoud for example. It would have been interesting to have a chapter on Lead Inhibiting Doubles (psyches - bids pretending to control a suit so the defenders won't lead it). He is know to make those. Show a few examples of these, discuss when to use them and when not to.
   
   Fake Lightner Doubles - when the opponents have been bidding 2 suits and you have a void in the higher ranking suit, and by doubling you hope they bid 6 of the higher suit so pard can lead to your void. Give some examples, discuss what to look for.
   
   Example of a bad psych - bidding 1NT with 0 HCP. Guess what, pard is very likely to have enough HCP to put you in game. You may easily end up in a doubled game, down 2,3,4, when the opponents may have had a 50% game. Or pard with a good hand will put you in slam, down a few.
   What are bad psyches.
   
   Psychic bidding is a broad topic and this book taught almost NOTHING.
   
   Save your money.

1 comments about The Times Bridge: Common Mistakes & How to Avoid them.

1. Lots of common mistakes. Beginners and Low Intermediate players will benefit form reading it. 3 sections: bidding, declarer play, defense
   
   If you are Intermediate (for real, not just in your mind) this is far too basic.
   
   Good book for its intended audience.

1 comments about Go for the Gold!: Becoming an ACBL Life Master.

1. This should have been a great book -- I know of none other that attempts to cover this territory. Sadly, its coverage of bridge literature is amateurish. It's also ten years old, so cannot cover recent developments, such as software and the internet. If you're looking for a book that gives you specifics of which aspects of bridge to study and how best to do so, given your busy life, to help you progress from novice to intermediate, that book has not been written yet.

No comments about Miracles of Card Play (Master Bridge Series).

No comments about Bridge Made Easy Book 2.

2 comments about Leading Questions in Bridge.

1. I still think Mike Lawrences Opening Leads is the authoritative book on the subject. But this covers some areas it doesnt.
   
   For example, you are on lead against this auction
   1H - p - 1NT - p
   
   You have 4 spades so you think that declarer doesn't have 4, else they would respond 1 Spade and not 1 heart. The author asks - what if they are using Flannery, where 2D shows a 4=5 hand with 11-15 points. Responded knows opener doesnt have 4 spades and 11-15 so there is no reason for them to bid 1 Spade, and they can instead bid 1NT. Opener can later Reverse to show 4 spades, but that didnt happen.
   
   The point of the hand was that opponents agreements can give you information and you can't always use the same set of leads / assumptions.
   
   Chapters like - when to lead trump are especially valuable. The author says early on she was taught to be wary about leading trumps. So she sets out to give clear situations when its a good idea to do so.
   
   Not only is the material clear and well presented, it provides a set of inferences for pard and declarer. If you study this book, and LHO makes an unusual lead, ask "why might they do that? Teh auction does not indicate a trump lead". Hmmm, I wonder if its because LHO knows the suits are not splitting well, or the honors are poorly placed, and wants to cut down on dummy ruffs.
   
   I'm not sure I agree with the author on all her examples of when to lead unsupported aces. But its still an excellent book. For all levels.



2. The opening bid is one of the most important plays in bridge - and here to narrow the focus on this play is Leading Questions in Bridge, from a top player who addresses specifics such as whether to be an active or passive player, and how to lead trumps. Chapters are directed to intermediate players and discuss issues such as shortages, tricks, and more: perfect for any collection catering to serious bridge players.

4 comments about Easier Done Than Said: Brilliancy at the Bridge Table.

1. This book is refreshingly different from the normal bridge book the reader comes across. For one, it talks about the bridge scenario in India, which has never been captured before. The problems discussed are interesting and the analysis is thorough. Players of all levels should find this a useful reading material.



2. "Easier Done than Said - Brilliancy at the Bridge Table" by Prakash Paranjape is a beautiful book to read. It is a great book for bridge players at all levels. I have never been (acknowledged as) a Bridge Expert. It is said that one cannot know how a millionaire thinks (especially when it comes to spending) unless one is a millionaire. I may never know what experts think about this book. But I know that some so called experts were scared to read Hugh Kelsey's book "Adventures in cardplay" when it was published, thinking that it may confuse their thinking process and they may actually do worse in the Bridge tournaments if they read it. Well, no one needs to be scared of Paranjape's book in that way. It is a great book because it is easy to read and easy to understand. It has been known that Paranjape has a fine eye for instructive deals. What I think is, any deal that Paranjape sees, he will find an interesting point or two from it. What he and the editor Ray Lee have done extremely well in this book is that they have selected the deals wherein not only a great analysis has been presented, but it can be understood easily. There are no cliches used and a reader does not have to be a great statistician to understand the concepts presented. And still readers can learn a lot from the book and play better. Paranjape has described some great plays that are brilliant and elegant at the same time. Logic of each situation has been presented so beautifully, that a reader is enthralled by the simplicity. My hats off to the author, editor and Chuck Messinger, who has done the additional analysis for the deals in the book. I would give "TWO THUMBS UP" to Paranjape's book and recommend strongly for your reading pleasure. It is pleasing, entertaining and instructional for any Bridge enthusiast.

   -Mahadeo Patwardhan




3. "Easier Done than Said" will be enjoyed by bridge players of all standards. The bridge technique highlighted is not new, but Dr. Paranjape has a discerning eye for novel settings and the teacher's skill for taking the mystery out of complex ideas and making them comprehensible to the layman. The expert bridge player will enjoy the unusual setting of the hands; the advancing player will learn from the clear exposition of expert technique.



4. I expected to have seen most of the problems since I trained under Panja 4 years back but was pleasantly surprized to see quite a few new themes. Defintely worth buying even for all levels.

   I am now waiting for the DemiComa system to become publicly available.

No comments about The Bridge World's Test Your Play.