[Jangvik]

Hi. There have been some threads in this forum about the best bridge book out there. But most of the threads do not contain any deeper description of the book mentioned. So I thought I would be the first in line with this topic and I hope many of you will describe the best book in your opinion.

I am always looking for good books to extend my library but find it hard to find any deeper recommendations. I like Points Schmoints! a lot, doesn’t say much. Why is it the best? For whom? And so on.
So please reply to this topic and let me hear about your best books. You can describe the books in which way you want, I don’t care. But, please mention which skill level is required at least. Someone of you might say that Masterpiece of Declarer play by Pottage is the best book, but if a beginner buys it he will most likely get very disappointed.

So here we go!

My favorite book.
How to read your opponents card by Mike Lawrence.
I have played bridge for many years now and rank myself as advanced. During all these years I have read a lot of books about bidding, playing, humor and other things. Most of the books have I reread over and over again. But the book that I have reread most is the book mentioned above. It is not a difficult book at all; I would say it is rather easy in fact. But nevertheless it is a book I must pick up once in a year because of it’s strength, to learn the reader to think in the right way as declarer.
I am a fast player, most of the times too fast. It happens that I forget important clues because of my speed and make silly mistake. Like making finesses that is doomed to fail, can’t find single kings and drop them, miscount the opps suit etc. When I notice that this has happen a couple times in a row I pick up the book by Mike Lawrence. And after that my declarer play will slow down again, not PO Sundelin slowness but a healthy slowness.

The title of the book says what it is about. How to read your opponents card. Mike describes in a very smooth way how to find the clues and evidence needed to locate the missing cards. He is giving lot of hints that you can use when you are the declarer to find the cards. He tells us how to think when the bidding is over and the first card is played. And I have had great help from that.
For example. You are playing 3NT (Opps silent during the bidding) and they are leading the 3 of heart. According to Mike you should think like this;
• He lead the heart of 3, therefore he does not have the Ace in that suit.
• He lead the heart of 3, therefore he does not have a suit headed with a sequence
• He lead the heart of 3, therefore he have 4 (or 5) cards in that suit.
• Etc.
As a result from this analyze you should get a pretty good picture how the card lies and make a plan for the game. If the opponents have open or overcalling it is a lot easier to locate the missing cards. And how you should do that is mentioned in this book.

A lot of the hints in this book are really obvious, but we don’t use them in our declarer play. If you read this book you will get the information of how to think when you are declarer. It is really improving your declarer play. If you rather often find out that your contract is a trick short comparing to others, or if you asking yourself why other seems to have find that singleton king, then this book is a must.

I would recommend this book to all who is eager to leave the intermediate level and become advanced. We who think we are advanced should definitely read this book occasionally, or at least try to learn those basic rules that are mentioned in the book.

A warning! When playing against beginners you should not try to follow the rules in this book because you will certainly fail. You will only get disappointed because beginners probably hasn’t read the book yet and don’t know how to show us all the hints we need.

Runners up.
Points Schmoints! By Marty Bergen. This book is a must. Learn about the law of 20 and the law of 15 (which has nothing to do with THE LAW). Perfect as a book you can have in the bath room. The book contains of a lot of short chapters which describes lot of different gadgets within bridge. It’s like a box of chocolate with many exciting flavors. Everyone from beginner to world class will enjoy this book. Marty Bergen has a good sense of humor who does this book very funny to read.

The book that didn’t reach the top 5 (nor was it close)
The complete book on overcalls in contract bridge by Mike Lawrence (Crazy I know, best and worse). In this book there are about a zillions similar hands where you should or not should overcall opps bidding … ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ whoops, well if you have the jack in heart you should definitely overcall but if the opps did bid 1 spade you should not… ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ mumble mumble but if you have the fifth to queen in diamonds however double and ……… ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The book that has nothing to do with bridge.
Everything from Wilbur Smith. His books about the life in England, South Africa and Africa in the 1700 century are absolutely excellent.

[whereagles]

I like "The Expert Game", by Terence Reese (I believe it also goes by the name of "Master play in contract bridge"). It is an advanced book, but is very well written, which makes it pleasant to read.

If you want something really twisted try "Adventures in card play", by Kelsey and Ottlik. You won't learn anything from it, but it will give you an idea how complicated card play can get. Though you can rest assured none of the hands it contains ever appeared in face-to-face play.

[Gerben47]

I also really like "Adventures in card play". And although rare, hands like that really do come up. The question is if you would be ready for them Entry shifting, backwash and suicide squeezes come up, albeit rarely.

[whereagles]

I'm fairly sure I can detect most simple and double squeezes at table. In practice simple squeezes do come up every now and then, like once every 100 hands or so. I think I made like 30 or so already. Double squeezes are much, much rarer, and I don't remember making more than 2 or 3.

As for more exotic squeezes, I've executed exactly 1 ruffing squeeze, 1 winkle squeeze, pard made 1 squeeze without the count, and another pard went down on a contract that I could have made on a vice squeeze. Oh, and a kibitzer once pointed out I missed an entry-shifting squeeze for an overtrick

The practical player would definitely profit from studying simple squeezes, but exotic squeezes are of very little use. Where they really excel is at messing you up

[inquiry]

Best bridge book ever, "adventures in card play". Period, end of story. Don't buy it for a player below the level of advanced.

Here is an extensive list of my comments about this book, so I will not repeat them here.

http://forums.bridgebase.com/ind...indpost&p=26187

I will add that in a survey by the ACBL of players at a World Bridge Championships the tournament players were asked to name their favorite bridge book with no breakdown by category Adventures in Card Play came in first

[flytoox]

inquiry, on Dec 15 2004, 12:28 PM, said:

Best bridge book ever, "adventures in card play". Period, end of story. Don't buy it for a player below the level of advanced.

Here is an extensive list of my comments about this book, so I will not repeat them here.

http://forums.bridgebase.com/ind...indpost&p=26187

I will add that in a survey by the ACBL of players at a World Bridge Championships the tournament players were asked to name their favorite bridge book with no breakdown by category Adventures in Card Play came in first

Ben, I tend to regard this book as the most beautiful book in bridge. In my opinion Lawrence's complete book on overcall is the best book. Alfred in the forward says: if u read only one bridge book a year, that is it!

[ArcLight]

>How to read your opponents card by Mike Lawrence.

While the book is a classic, pelase take a look at his COUNTING at Bridge and just released sequel Counting at Bridge 2 software. These are fabulous programs, and while the subject matter is similar to "How to Read your Opponents cards" they are just a lot better.


>Points Schmoints! By Marty Bergen.
I liked this book, along with some of his others (PS 2, Marty Sez, MS2, MS3)


>The complete book on overcalls in contract bridge by Mike Lawrence
Mike Lawrences books are NOT quick reads. They are not as fun to read as Martry Bergens books. The reason is he forces you to spend a lot of time to pause and think about whats going on. It takes a lot of time to have to estimate HCP and distributions for all 4 hands after each bid. His books on Opening Leads and Hand Evaluation took me a long time to get through. Were they "fun"? No. But neither was reading a college level Calculus book. But I had to do it anyway to learn the subject. Mike Lawrences books require time and effort on the part of the reader. They are gearered towards serious students who reckognize that it will take some work and studying to improve.


I think The Law/Following the LAW are also worth reading.

[the hog]

"Adventures In Card Play". This is the best bridge book ever. For someone to say "you won't learn anything from it" is a staggering comment. I learnt heaps.

[Rado]

Hi all, my top's:

1. Partnership bidding at bridge - Robson/Seagal
2. To bid or not to bid + Following the law - Larry Cohen
3. Better bidding with Bergen - Marty Bergen

[whereagles]

The_Hog, on Dec 15 2004, 10:20 PM, said:

"Adventures In Card Play". This is the best bridge book ever. For someone to say "you won't learn anything from it" is a staggering comment. I learnt heaps.

There we go again.. things have to be put in the correct context. That book is pointless for the practical player. In the beginning it has a few didactical hands, but that's just about it. When the authors start talking about entry-shifting squeezes, its usefulness quickly drops below zero.

Of course, if you like exotic stuff then you'll certainly learn a lot from it. But if you prefer to concentrate on practical things, then you'd be better off not paying too much attention to what the book says, because it will only suceed in messing you up.

So, to sum up:
In the context of practical play: the book is just for amusement, not to be read as a text book.
In the context of someone wanting to learn the finer details: the book is as good as it gets.

[inquiry]

whereagles, on Dec 16 2004, 07:55 AM, said:

There we go again.. things have to be put in the correct context. That book is pointless for the practical player. In the beginning it has a few didactical hands, but that's just about it. When the authors start talking about entry-shifting squeezes, its usefulness quickly drops below zero.

So, to sum up: In the context of practical play: the book is just for amusement, not to be read as a text book.
In the context of someone wanting to learn the finer details: the book is as good as it gets.

Well, the original poster didn't ask for PRACTICAL PLAY books, or books to learn the most you can from, or books for beginners, or books for intermeiate players, or books for adavanced players, or books for experts, or books for amusement, or books that tell a story. He asked that we "many of you will describe the best book in your opinion.

This means, if you describe for you what it the BEST BOOK in our opinions. Not the best book for beginners, not the best book for practical reasons, the best book, and then give opinions why. In your mind, clearly, best book means PRACTICAL. I find practical run of the mill and there are thousands (well hundreds) of practical play books. One just as practical and just as useful as the next. There are bunches of humerous ones, there are bunches of good puzzle ones (play these hand with me kind of things). There are bunches on defense, there are bunches along the lines of encylopedias (in weight and content, and some in name). But, there is only one "Adventures in Card Play. It is unique, it is wonderful. It is, without a doubt, the best book on bridge ever written.

As for entry-shifting squeeze, I have pulled off about a half a dozen since reading that book. Can't imagine ever findng them before that. Gotten better at elopment, manage a couple of backwash squeezes...but even if I never was able to do any of these plays, just reading about them and seeing how they work is awesome.

So for you, go read your practical books, no doubt those will help everyone...but don't buy me one for christmas... for one reason, what you consider practical I mght consider as an insult if you bought for me. For another, I probably have half a dozen "practical" books just like it on my shelf. But if the person you are buying for doesn't have Adventures in card play, they will not have anything like it on their shelf. (BTW, I do accept the computerized versions of books from Bridgebase as christmas gifts.... hint to family members reading this...after all, I already have adventures in card play).

Ben

[whereagles]

"inquiry" said:

As for entry-shifting squeeze, I have pulled off about a half a dozen since reading that book.

Obviously, you've been playing too much.. lol

"inquiry" said:

So for you, go read your practical books, no doubt those will help everyone...but don't buy me one for christmas...

And what makes you think I'm going to buy you a book for christmas??

By the way, let me stress that I did say 'adventures in cardplay' is a fine book. Just that I mentioned it's unlikely to be of much help for daily play.

[the hog]

"By the way, let me stress that I did say 'adventures in cardplay' is a fine book. Just that I mentioned it's unlikely to be of much help for daily play. "

Totally disagree. The chapter on trump elopements alone is worth the purchase price of the book.

[LukeG]

If you are looking for a light read, consider Bridge with the Blue Team by Pietro Forquet. It has many beautiful deals, and is the sort of book that you can pick up for a few minutes to read about just a hand or two.

[Flame]

LukeG, on Dec 18 2004, 03:28 PM, said:

If you are looking for a light read, consider Bridge with the Blue Team by Pietro Forquet.  It has many beautiful deals, and is the sort of book that you can pick up for a few minutes to read about just a hand or two.

Yes great book, emazing how well they played, sometimes hard even for a double dummy.

[Fluffy]

I have no bidding book at all (living with a world master I didn´t need them, I could get my questions answered correctly ), but have got a lot of card playing books, most of them declarer plays by Hugh Kelsey

Besides improving my english (ok, not enough as you could see on a recent post), I´ve found them hard at start, couldn´t solve more than 3-4 problems fully, (some I found most of the clues but not all), from each book (of about 30 problems), but I felt really proud when I did (They are between level 4 and 5 bridge master level). They aren´t the best books avaible, but I can say I didn´t waste my money at all.

[Flame]

Who is your world master Fluffy ?

[keylime]

Ben,

As dear of friend as you are to me, I can't agree with your choice.

By far, the most complete bridge texts of books by category:

Bidding: The Godffrey Series by Rosenkranz. Great story wrapped around the Romex methodology, with great treatments, science, and goodies.

Play: Watson's classic Play of the Hand. Still sells. Enough said. Close 2nd to Reese on Play.

Defense: A Switch in Time by the Granovetters. Easily understood, increases accuracy, and the negative inferences are great.

Misc: This one is tough. Many good candidates fall into here.

[EarlPurple]

"How To Win At Bridge When Constantly Picking Up 4-counts And Watching The Opponents Bid One Cold Game/Slam After Another" would be a useful book for me.

or

"How To Stop All The Major Decisions Falling To Partner".

or at least

"How To Attract Top Partners".

[Fluffy]

Flame, on Dec 18 2004, 11:33 PM, said:

Who is your world master Fluffy ?

Federico Goded, my father.