2 comments about Defensive Tips for Bad Card Holders.

1. Humorous and in language that I can really understand.



2. This is a superb work, chock-full of insights and intelligently organized by topic. Here's two key examples of frequently occurring dilemmas sorely neglected elsewhere: (A) Defending a suit contract as third hand, you can either cash a high card in a side suit, setting up a winner in dummy, or you can underlead your high card to give partner a ruff. Which should you do? In practice, either may be correct, depending on the context of the entire hand. Kantar gives a COMPLETE autopsy of exactly what to think about in order to make the correct choice. (B) Defending a suit contract as third hand, you hold ATxx in a side suit. Dummy hits with a small singleton in that suit. Kantar points out that you KNOW declarer is going to lead that singleton through you sooner or later, probably sooner. Do you fly in with the Ace or duck (smoothly)? The latter is more often correct, but not always. Here too, Kantar gives precise guidance on what to think about in order to choose the correct defensive play. The well over 500 tips in the book are loaded with good advice such as "When declarer doesn't dare lose the lead and is guessing which finesse to take for the fulfilling trick, cover NOTHING."

4 comments about Following the Law.

1. Though I have read the book 'To Bid or not to bid', I have found that I often count it wrongly. This book tells me how to use it a real situation. It is very helpful.



2. If you have read Cohen's first total tricks effort, understood it, and incorporated the principles of the Law of Total Tricks into your competitive bidding, you do not need this book. If the Law of Total Tricks does not inform your competitive bidding decisions, buy this book or the original. The second effort has a cleaner presentation including a thorough description of the wonderful DONT convention for competing over natural adverse notrump bids. If you take your bidding seriously, you owe yourself a solid understanding of Cohen's total tricks principles.



3. The Law. It's not perfect by any means, but understanding it can improve the game of nearly any player of intermediate or better strength. (Rubber bridge players can get by without it, though advanced players ought not; matchpoint duplicate players can't survive without it.) Larry Cohen's first book on the subject, To Bid or Not To Bid, is a fabulously valuable explication of the principle.
   
   Unfortunately, the Law is fairly simple and can be presented, as it is, in one not-lengthy book. Why is that unfortunate? Because Cohen didn't stop at one. The sequel, Following the Law, wasn't necessary, and it doesn't even manage to be valuable. Well over half the book is presentations of deals on which the Law was applied, or could have been. Golly, ya think it worked in those cases? Little is gained from these examples, and they serve only to justify a book that otherwise could have run around thirty pages.
   
   Cohen also includes some tips on adjustments, but there's far too little of this, the most difficult aspect of applying the Law for most players. He also discusses the DONT convention in detail, but there are better explications elsewhere. The rest is little more than a rehash of what was clearly stated before.
   
   If you haven't read the first book, do so. If you have, skip this one.



4. Just like the Authors first book onthe LAW, this one could have been 20 pages long with some editing and organization.
   
   Overall, the concept (the LAW) is worth knowing, just be aware that at higher levels its not as accurate as Cohen and Marty Bergen would have you think.
   
   Its worth knowing about the LAW, just from a much shorter better presented source.

2 comments about Competitive Bidding in Modern Bridge.

1. When to overcall and when to make a takeout double. Excellent rules for responding to takeout doubles and for making overcalls above the one-level.



2. By one of the great minds in the hitory of bridge: There's food for thought for any bridge player - novice to expert. If I could only own two bridge books they would be this and Watson's "Play of the Hand." Sorry, Marty! (Lucky I'm not so constrained.)

2 comments about "Diamond Series" An Introduction to Bridge: Play of the Hand.

1. This is an elementary book on Play of the Hand. Watson's Classic Book on Play of the Hand is much better. This book is part of the ACBL Beginner Series and has bidding reviews. The ACBL has finally realized that their bidding system in the Club Series and Diamond Series is outdated. The books are being rewritten. I would wait until the new edition is published and only buy this book as part of a class taught by an ACBL Certified instructor.



2. If you are new to bridge I highly recommend purchasing all four of Audrey Grant books in the ACBL Series... CLUB, DIAMOND, HEART AND SPADE. She is unquestionably the best bridge teacher for a novice. In layman's terms she is able to explain and unravel the mysteries of bridge. If you begin with the club book and progress through the series as they increase in difficulty... club, diamond, heart and spade you will be able to teach yourself how to become proficient in bridge painlessly. Her books are written in lesson formats... and they are used by many people who instruct bridge classes i.e. adult ed. Buy one... I'm sure you'll add the other three to your library. I also highly recommend her "Bridge at A Glance" pocket guide which is a quick synopsis of bidding and the appropriate respones thereof. I bought many bridge books before I stumbled upon Audrey Grant and wish I had found her books first! Good luck!

No comments about Bridge: Adding Precision and Pre-emption to Two-over-one and Acol.

2 comments about Audrey Grant's Better Bridge: Basics (Audrey Grant's Better Bridge Series).

1. Grant's series goes from beginning bridge players to medium skilled. A wonderful, easy to read and understand series.



2. I hadn't played bridge in 45 years, and I wasn't very good even then. Audrey's book presents a clear and well-organized introduction to bidding and playing, with many good example hands with explanations.

1 comments about Bread and Butter Bidding (Maxwell Macmillan Bridge Series).

1. We're by no means experts, but my partner and I have found this book fun and easy to understand. The chapters are short (only a few pages) and end with quizzes to reinforce the lessons.

1 comments about Card Play Made Easy 3: Trump Management (Master Bridge Series).

1. I very much like Klingers 4 volume set Card Play Made Easy.
   The books are concise, with good illustrative problems, and have lots of well designed quizzes. At the end of the book is a long quiz testing all the material.
   
   Not only do the problems test the subject matter they also test overall card play technique. For example:
   Lets say the problem is one of entries, with the reader focusing on one or two suits. Lets say a third suit contains AKxxx opposite Jx. The book solution reminds the reader to first play the Ace to see if the Queen drops. Its very unlikely, but if you get into good habits all these extra 1%, 2%, 3% chances add up. Sometimes two or more of these extra chances occur in a hand. Using correct technique costs nothing and may help you make an extra contract one in 20 - 30 times, without having to know advanced techniques, such as double squeezes.
   
   Unlike the Bridge Technique series by David Bird, these small books pack a huge number of well designed problems into a small space. (perhaps 150 problems vs. Birds 36) They are far better value for the money than the Bird books.

No comments about Jacoby Transfers (Practice Your Bidding).

1 comments about Suit Combinations in Bridge.

1. This is a badly conceived, badly executed book. The author starts off with no introduction, no explanation of how to solve card combos, no discussion of the distribution of cards, no theory as to the differences between winning the maximum number of tricks vs winning a predetermined number.

   She just jumps right into combinations with no explanation as to how to learn them except by dint of memorization.

   On the *second* page she launches into restricted choice. For readers who have yearned for a cogent explanation of this principle, you won't find it here. Brock cops out by simply copying from the Encyclopedia of Bridge. Worse yet, she copies so small a piece that unless you have the Encyclopedia to examine, it's hard to figure out what she's saying.

   Finally, the fundamental table of probabilities appears in an Appendix. This familiar table shows what the odds are that 5 outstanding cards will break 3-2, 4-1, 5-0, etc. This table has appeared so often and is so important to understanding card play, that most good players have it memorized.

   Except Brock. Her table is uniquely different: it's wrong. She contends that 4 cards will break 2-2 50% of the time and 3-1 40% of the time. (The correct odds are reversed: 3-1 is 50%, 2-2 is 40%, and 4-0 is 10%). This is a terrible typo as it will mean many readers will learn the card combos incorrectly.

   But it gets worse! Brock then specifically points out and discusses how unusual it is that even cards would break evenly in the case of 2-2, never aware that she is babbling about nonsense. Impossible to believe this lady could have won the Venice Cup without knowing the correct split on four cards.

   The bottom line is, I believe, she did not write this or review it. It's a careless hack supposedly authored by someone who couldn't have cared less.