[inquiry]

Clyde's book is a classic...
perhpas you haven't read it close enough, especially if you think L in BLUE stands for lower.... (of course, the w key is very close to the "s" key so maybe a typo)  ;D

Now, if you are more mathematically inclinded, you may like to to see if you can get your hands on E. Eng's "Bridge Squeeze Illustrated". This thing has mathematical theroms explaining why squeezes work and don't work, using equations. It is for serious bridge students with a knack for math.

But both books are designed to show you how squeezes work, and the requirements necessary for sucess. Eng's book coverage of guard and double guard squeezes is without parallel on that subject. If you pick up some namsy pasmy squeeze book and read about them, sure you might pull off the vienna coup and the occasional doulble squeeze (but try to work your way through any but the B2 type at the table without prior study can be very time consuming indeed).

So for those of you that just want to appreciate that squeezes exist... ok, read any thing like David Birds "Squeezes for everyone" or "Bridge Squeezes made easy".

Or you can try to get the entire squeeze of books/pamphlets by kelsey discussing just one type of squeeze (simple, double, triple, strip, etc).... but cyldes book has it all the basics (well, except guard squeezes). Sure, you have to go elsewhere to master backwash squeezes, and things like balanced and unbalanced entry squeezes, but after you get the basics down the rest comes much easier.

[Cave_Draco]

Lol, I haven't read Love for some years and it took several attempts to read it from cover-to-cover. I agree that it's a classic, but not light reading.

The fact that I got the L wrong reinforces my point; BLUE is not a very useful mnemonic,  ;D.

Other squeezes Love doesn't cover... Don't you just love the sound of gnashing teeth when you pull off a Stepping Stone,  .

Also, I don't recall Love giving much coverage to squeeze defence?

[inquiry]

Love's squeeze defense was primary given in problem hands... if I remember correctly. The problem I have with the mneumonic is "B"... busy, or both, or both busy.... and L can be 1 or 2, or well many.  

[luke warm]

jjsb, on Mar 19 2003, 12:47 AM, said:

well for my curiousity . U know i'm now lol . even if i'm french and those who answer that

1) how many book do u have in your collection?

2) tell me your 3 best books (in order if possible )?

3) what is the last book you have bougth?

4) what is ur best author?

5) have u been told by writter outside ur coutry ? if yes have u read some and what is your favourite?

6) any special comment about one book ? let me know

regards
syl

1) maybe 30 or so, but some have been given away or lost

2) this is tough.. probably 'to bid or not to bid: the law of total tricks' by cohen, then 'the play of the hand' by watson, then the two volume set that taught me the most about 2/1 (and i know some will chuckle, but it's true) 'competitive bidding' and 'non-competitive bidding' by bergen

3) now i'm into software, so my last purchase was kantar's 'advanced bridge defense'... i loved it

4) another tough one... probably victor mollo... i didn't add his 'card play', but it was a good book and very entertaining

5) mollo

6) the bergen set was so good for me because it was the first that really made me think about systems and the different ways certain conventions can be used to strengthen or weaken them.. they're responsible more than any for moving me toward 2/1

[xx1943]

jjsb, on Mar 18 2003, 05:47 PM, said:

well for my curiousity . U know i'm now lol . even if i'm french and those who answer that

1) how many book do u have in your collection?

2) tell me your 3 best books (in order if possible )?

3) what is the last book you have bougth?

4) what is ur best author?

5) have u been told by writter outside ur coutry ? if yes have u read some and what is your favourite?

6) any special comment about one book ? let me know

regards
syl

1) about 100
2) a) Kelsey: Killing defence at bridge (+ all other books from Kelsey)
.... Marty Bergen: Better bidding with Bergen (+ all others from Bergen)
....c) Larry Cohen: Following the Law
....d) Victor Mollo: Bridge in the menagerie (+ all others from V. Mollo)
3) Terence Reese; Roger Trezel: Master Bridge Serie
4) For playing: Kelsey; Reese; Mollo
....For bidding: Marty Bergen
5) I've read no good bridge book from a german writer
6) If I would do 50% of the goodies in the above books, I would be very happy.


AL = xx1943

[1eyedjack]

I broadly echo eyhung's comments.

Anything by Mike Lawrence on judgement is worth a read. Anything in his "Complete Book of ..." series (overcalls, hand evaluation etc).

Hugh Kelsey's books on Killing Defence and More Killing Defence. And I loved his little "Test your ...." series published by Gollancz.

A couple of books by Erik Jannersten are worth a mention:
"The Best of Bridge" (a selection of hands from the Wohlin collection)
"The Only Chance" (get into that IMP mindset!).

I learned up my Law of Total Tricks from Amesbury and Payne "TNT and Competitive Bidding" - came out long before Larry's The Law series so I never bothered to get the latter. Something on this subject is a "must have".

For entertainment I liked the anecdotal stuff in Power Precision by Alan Sontag (skip over the system bits).

For a complete book on defensive signalling methods, Helge Vinje "New Ideas in Defensive Play" - not new any more, of course.

Another Must Have is "Bridge Odds for Practical Players" by Kelsey and Glauert. Well, by Glauert, actually, but Kelsey sells.

Just about the best book for a beginner on card play technique is "Victor Mollo's Winning Double" by (of course) Victor Mollo. Packed with card play problems in the classic style (problem on one page, solution on the next) the problems are varying in complexity so that even the lowliest beginner can expect to get some right. The book is split into two halves, and the reader is invited to tackle the halves in the order of his choice, with a guarantee that he will score higher in the second half that he works through than in the first (each half containing problems of similar complexity). And it works. You will.

Someone mentioned Bridge Squeezes Complete by Love, and it is certainly the easiest read on the subject that I have found, but for the experienced player I think that a more complete work (if not such an easy read) is Eliminations and Endplays by Coffin.

For the system nuts, Ultimate Club by Ginsberg, Grannovetter Rubin and Becker is an interesting book, as is the hugely overpriced (when you can find it) E T Lindeloef's "Cobra".

Provided that you can get hold of both of them, for a bit of history it is quite fun to plough through "Story of an Accusation" by Reese and "The Great Bridge Scandal" by Truscott.

[Fluffy]

hallway, on Mar 19 2003, 01:43 PM, said:

I would like to add a question or two to Syl's Poll -

Could the readers please cast their minds back to the days when they too were Novices   and tell us which of your books you found :-

(i) helped you the most to understand  the fundamentals of the game

(ii) pathed the way for you to lift your game from Novice to .......(wherever you are today)

Thank you
Maureen

I couldn´t use it much, because of language problem, but to start I´ve been told 'pass a pass' (french book) is great.

[flytoox]

jjsb, on Mar 18 2003, 10:47 PM, said:

well for my curiousity . U know i'm now lol . even if i'm french and those who answer that

1) how many book do u have in your collection?

2) tell me your 3 best books (in order if possible )?

3) what is the last book you have bougth?

4) what is ur best author?

5) have u been told by writter outside ur coutry ? if yes have u read some and what is your favourite?

6) any special comment about one book ? let me know

regards
syl

1) English books about 30, Chinese books about 25.
2) Expert game by Reese, Killing def by Kelsey, Complete book on overcall by Lawrence.
3) Inference at Bridge by Miles, ok, but not great.
4) Lawrence/Kelsey/Reese
5) same as 4)
6) Read all Lawrence's books. He is kind of author who really tell you all his winning secrets.


Hongjun

[flytoox]

hallway, on Mar 19 2003, 01:43 PM, said:

I would like to add a question or two to Syl's Poll -

Could the readers please cast their minds back to the days when they too were Novices   and tell us which of your books you found :-

(i) helped you the most to understand  the fundamentals of the game

(ii) pathed the way for you to lift your game from Novice to .......(wherever you are today)

Thank you
Maureen

Bidding: complete book on overcall/balancing, 2/1 workbook by mike lawrence. And Better bidding with Bergen.

Def: killing and more killing defense by Kelsey

Play: Reese's Expert game and most puzzling hand in Bridge, Kelsey's logical play


Any student finished these books throughly can beat most of expert on BBO easily.

Hongjun

[Free]

I don't have many bridgebooks yet, but my favorite is

The art of psychic bidding (and its pitfalls) - Julian Pottage & Peter Burrows

I've had a lot of fun with it, and it's quite complete (really lots of examples and analyses) on a subject which nobody writes about.

[xx1943]

luke warm, on Jun 18 2004, 07:09 PM, said:

 

Isn't it very funny! This thread sleeped well from March 2003 (last post by inquiry) till in June 2004 Luke reanimated it. (many thx btw). And now between 2 days there are 5 or 6 new replies.

Apparently many members are still interested in this spot.

I think there must be a lot of goodies in post from 2003, that should be rediscovered.

I'm wondering if there is a possibility to create some aid (e.g. index or FAQ) to delelevop these source.

Al

[1eyedjack]

Oh, and "The Transfer Principle" by Brian Senior