[Flame]

Test your matches play by huge kellsy (hope i got it right, i dont have it with me)
It was just after i finished solving 32 bridge master level 5 hands, i was driving home with a freind who is a better player then i, we discussed bridge, we compered books and bridge master problems to real life bridge problems, and i agreed with his claim that those 5 level hands wont come at the table, but i also claimed that most bridge books hands are just the same, and sadly im much better solving problem from books then at the table, he took this book out of his bug and told me it has real life like problems. After reading most i totally agree, and reccomand this for advanced and experts. I really see the different bettween this book and others, to put it in one sentense, the hands in most books are clear, you need to find a line and when you think of it you are 100% sure you got it right, there is usually only one good line, while in real life and in this book, in most hands you arent sure you solved it until you see the solution and the full hand, the information you have isnt 100% clear , you need to make assumptions.
Great book (my success ratio solving in this book is not as good as other strong books i read which support my thory that this book has more real life problems)

[Chamaco]

Flame, on Mar 30 2005, 03:55 PM, said:

I really see the different bettween this book and others, to put it in one sentense, the hands in most books are clear, you need to find a line and when you think of it you are 100% sure you got it right, there is usually only one good line, while in real life and in this book, in most hands you arent sure you solved it until you see the solution and the full hand, the information you have isnt 100% clear , you need to make assumptions.

Hi Flame !!
I like the book you mentioned (to be fair I have to say I like most Kelsey's books).

However, I only want to point out this:
if you like typical and practical hands, of the sort that arise at the table, I have found that Terence Reese' books are great.

Among others, "Play these hands with me" is a book that - for an intermediate player like me - is incredibly well suited.
It's like you say: in most "teaching" hands, there is only one or two techinical difficulties, that are easy to detect and diagnose (not necessarily to solve).

In hands at the table (and in this book), instead, it's not to easy to make a plan, and that is the sort of hand that for non-experts are more difficult: no clear immediate plan.

[helene_t]

"I fought the law" by Lawrence/Wirgren

It's well known that the LOTT (without adjustments) is accurate on less than 50% of all boards. How much of this can be corrected for by adjustments is difficult to say because adjustments are difficult to formalize.

The authors propose a more accurate method, called Short Suit Total and Working Points. It is very similar to LTC and also similar to the LOTT with all the adjustments proposed by Cohen, with the major difference that much more emphazis is put on duplication of ruffing value and honours, including vasted honours oposite a short suit.

It is difficult to compare SST/WP to the LOTT in terms of accuracy since
1) SST/WP is used for estimating your own side's tricks rather than total tricks
2) SST/WP makes use of information which is not used by the LOTT

The authors give many examples of how SST/WP can be used to making better decisions than the LOTT would let you make. Some of the examples banal, but many are convincing.

I'm dissapointed that the authors do not (or maybe I just missed it?) discuss the similarity to LTC. Once I tried to develop a hand evaluation formular based on short suits and working points but abandoned it when I realized that it added very little new in comparison with LTC. I'm left with the feeling that this is still the case, allthough of course the authors studied this much more in dept and based on much more insight than I did.

At least the authors deserve credit for formalising the value of duplication. And as said, they provide many convincing examples.

I'm sure this book is interesting for advanced players. For ordinary players like me, it's way too advanced. The LOTT has helped me a lot, this book will not.

[Chamaco]

helene_t, on May 30 2005, 08:48 AM, said:

The authors propose a more accurate method, called Short Suit Total and Working Points. It is very similar to LTC
.....


.....
I'm dissapointed that the authors do not (or maybe I just missed it?) discuss the similarity to LTC. Once I tried to develop a hand evaluation formular based on short suits and working points but abandoned it when I realized that it added very little new in comparison with LTC.

Good point, I felt the same way.

Of course the SST/WP accounts for the LOCATION of honors (e.g. "working Points" in "working suits"), so it avoids overbidding that would occur with the acritical ("acritical" = mechanical, becoming just "losers-counters" instead of "point-counters") use of LTC.

BUT, if one makes use of LTC with a grain of salt (e.g. deevaluating honors in misfitting suits, and reevaluating short suit honors fitting with pard's suit), I have a feeling it amounts to more or less the same as SST+WP, but LTC is quicker to use.

=========

As a side note:
most hands used in the book to demonstrate the failure of LOTT are hands with duplication: either duplication of shape (mirrored singleton-doubleton-trebleton) or duplication of values (eg AQTxxx opposite KJxxx, when at least some of these honors are superfluous).

Many of such duplications cannot be diagnosed with most bidding systems (of course with some exceptions), so the fact that an evaluation system fails in such circumstances seems to me an unfair criterion to say it's unsound.

[mike777]

Inside the Bermuda Bowl by John Swanson

Have read this book 5 times and it gets better and better with each rereading.

If you want to know all about bridge at the top in USA and Bermuda Bowls in 1960-1980 buy this book.

If you want to know the true life stories of the Fathers of 2/1 buy this book. I have not laughed so hard in ages. Real life bridge problems you will not read any other place. Example what do you do when you are getting on plane to play for a big championship and you think your teammates are traveling on stolen tickets. Worse, they got them from your Partner? Where Smolen is a way to get your partner out of jail in time to play as well as an inventor of conventions.

If you want to hear about the many famous worldwide bridge scandals of these 2 decades, buy this book.

If one want another take on the Blue Team, buy this book.

Best of all, John, late at night, may even chat with you on BBO.

[andych]

Could someone write a review of Gier Helgemo books?

Helgemo World of Bridge
Bridge with Imagination

[nikos59]

I have read the one he wrote with David Bird, I guess
it is the second of your list, Bridge with Imagination.

Very well written and with several original topics
and/or angles. Also, the deals come from Nordic
sources hence you probably haven't seen them
elsewhere.

Moreover, although Helgemo has lost a couple
of world championship finals, he doesn't accuse
his opponents of cheating.

[mike777]

Helgemo's World of Bridge by Geo Tislevoll with Geir Helgemo. (2000).

Solid B

Tislevoll did most of the writing about Helgemo hands. 100 page book of around 35 hands or so. Each hand has a short 3 page story wrapped around it.

[beatrix45]

Adventures in Card Play, by Geza Ottlik and Hugh Kelsey, Victor Gollancz Ltd., London, 1979

The most advanced book on squeezes, et. al. ever written. It's Clyde Love's 'Bridge Squeezes Complete' on steroids. Too advanced for almost all players, but fascinating nonetheless. Read it, and ask yourself just how good a dummy player you really are.

[fifee]

"How to Read Your Opponent's Cards," one of Mike Lawrence's first books, is one of my alltime favorites. Mike does a great job of explaining how to "think" at the table, which is an easy thing to teach but sometimes hard to learn.

He offers a hand and then asks the reader questions like who has the ♣Ace or the ♦King. After having time to think on these questions, the reader then turns the page and Mike offers the logic needed to find these cards.

I can pick this book up and open it randomly and appreciate the content. If you have not read this book, I am sure you will find it enlightening. You can probably order the book through BBO, too.

P Anderson

[MickyB]

Yes, an excellent book Fifee, along with his computer programme Counting at Bridge which is similar but IMO even better.

[ArcLight]

Complete book on Takeout Doubles by Mike Lawrence

Great book, comprehensive, I rate it an A.

What I liked:

1) Has lots of sub topics covering all aspects of takeout doubles in depth and breadth

2) many example bidding sequences and hands.

3) the author will ask you what a sequence means. Is this double for penalty or takeout? How many points do you think pard has? How long is his suit?

4) gives lots of bidding tricks and suggests some conventions, such as responsive doubles.

I sugegst going through the book with a notebook, taking notes on all the different guidelines.

[luke warm]

fifee, on Jun 2 2005, 09:11 AM, said:

"How to Read Your Opponent's Cards," one of Mike Lawrence's first books, is one of my alltime favorites. Mike does a great job of explaining how to "think" at the table, which is an easy thing to teach but sometimes hard to learn.

hi.. i haven't read this one, do you know how it compares to rubens' 'secrets of winning bridge'? are they complimentary, do they cover the same things, etc? thanks

[mike777]

luke warm, on Jun 2 2005, 04:19 PM, said:

fifee, on Jun 2 2005, 09:11 AM, said:

"How to Read Your Opponent's Cards," one of Mike Lawrence's first books, is one of my alltime favorites.  Mike does a great job of explaining how to "think" at the table, which is an easy thing to teach but sometimes hard to learn.

hi.. i haven't read this one, do you know how it compares to rubens' 'secrets of winning bridge'? are they complimentary, do they cover the same things, etc? thanks

How to read the OPP cards may be the best bridge book ever..

It is all about counting the opp hands. If you read only one bridge book in your life read this one. Then reread it every year.

[Winstonm]

Killing Defense and More Killing Defense by Hugh Kelsey

Whatever you do, do not read these books unless you want to: A) end with a raging headache from the concentration improve you bridge thinking skills immeasurably C) become a much-improved defender, at which point I will not longer want to face you at the table.

WinstonM

[luke warm]

justin said:

How to read your opponents high cards is a classic, one of the most useful books ever imo. Whenever people ask me which books they should read i tell them Killing Defense by Kelsey and How To Read Your Opponents High Cards

mike said:

How to read the OPP cards may be the best bridge book ever..

It is all about counting the opp hands. If you read only one bridge book in your life read this one. Then reread it every year.

thx guys, i'll buy it now

[jillybean]

mike777, on May 30 2005, 04:28 AM, said:

Inside the Bermuda Bowl by John Swanson

Is out of print Atleast, I can't find it on amazon or chapters.
Can someone lend me a copy!

jillybean2

[Walddk]

jillybean2, on Jun 3 2005, 04:25 AM, said:

mike777, on May 30 2005, 04:28 AM, said:

Inside the Bermuda Bowl by John Swanson

Is out of print Atleast, I can't find it on amazon or chapters.
Can someone lend me a copy!

jillybean2

If Copenhagen is not too far away from you, you can get it at "Bridgebutikken" (The Bridge Shop).

http://www.bridgebutikken.dk/Cart/items.ph...4.105.153&bog=S

180 Danish Kroner (US$30). They can also send it to you. Then they will add p&p of course.

Roland

[helene_t]

They appear to have it at postfree . Maybe the postal costs will be lower from Sidney than from Copenhagen.