[Chamaco]

luke warm, on Dec 31 2005, 04:00 PM, said:

my impression is, it can't be a book for beginners... i would think one would need to be intermediate to intemediate+ to understand most of the plays in the book, and advanced to have actually heard of some of the plays (surround plays, uppercut, etc)

i didn't find a lot the plays especially difficult (difficult would be counting/infering the position needed to make the plays), but i would definitely recommend this book for anyone from inter to advanced...

Yes, the idea is not so much that the plays are difficult, but rather typical.
Basically you get to build an internal database of "goal positions" to aim to when you tackle a hand that has some specific features.

The idea is that one should be at a point of not even have to think of them, if he has to execute at the table an ending based on these positions.

====

I got this concept of studying typical endgames from playing and teaching chess (2 of my kids became national junior champions): studying and memorizing several simpe positions, until it becomes a second nature to have them right is the way to learn solving more complex problems.

This is even more so in bridge, IMO, where the available time for thinking is less than in chess.

[Winstonm]

Perhaps a reader here could help me. Long ago I read a fascinating book written by Jose le Dentu that covered a wide range of international tournaments.

I particularly remember a hand credited to Georgio Belladonna that the author says Belladonna could not remember playing.

Another quote (paraphrase ) was "meeting Terrence Reese in Amsterdam in the red light district too late for a single nymph to be diplayed in any window and calling out, 'Master Reese. A hand and I will let you pass.'"

This was a wonderfully entertaining read and I would be interested in once again obtaining a copy but have forgotten the title.

Any ideas, anyone?

Winston

[pigpenz]

remind me i think i have a copy of it at work, but wont be there until next week. I think it was a intersting book with different stories like the 3 card monty ending where it asks if you want to bet on defending or delcaring.

[mike777]

Play Bridge with Reese, Terence Reese, 2001, 17.95$, 240p.
Grade=A-

One of my favorite Reese books. Reread after several years.
Excellent for the advancing player. 75 play hands with lots of counting and visualization. Most of the hands are advanced but require no special expert knowledge. As in real life a few of the hands require less than perfect defense and our ability to take advantage or induce defensive errors.

Very enjoyable read and I highly recommend this book.

[pclayton]

I don't post much on this thread. However:

Here are the books sitting on my bedstand and next to my commode:

1. Masterpieces of declarer play by Pottage (great! adv to exp stuff)

2. Thinking on Defense by Jim Priebe (I love it, but the problems don't always have a clear link between reasoning and the answer)

3. Play Swiss Teams with Mike Lawrence (easy stuff)

4. 2003 and 2004 binders of BW's

5. My binder of system notes

Not far from my reach at any time are Adventures in Card Play and both issues of Killing Defense.

Also - if you are interested:

1. A Short History of Byzantium by Norwich

2. Goedel, Escher and Bach by Hofstadter (I'm really TRYING to understand this crap)

3. The 8 step swing by Jim McLean

4. 1453 by Crowley

[CarlRitner]

Winstonm, on Dec 31 2005, 02:02 PM, said:

Perhaps a reader here could help me.  Long ago I read a fascinating book written by Jose le Dentu that covered a wide range of international tournaments.


Any ideas, anyone?

Winston

Here's two possibilities:

Bridge: Triumphs And Disasters (1990, Paper, Gollancz, London)

Championship Bridge (1974, Cloth, Harper & Row, New York)

The first one was co-authored with Reese, so it sounds very likely. I do have one copy left.

Cheers,

Carl Ritner
ACBL Library Book Sale

[Winstonm]

There are two books - both out of print - I'd like to get my hands on: Championship Bridge by Jose le Dentu and Bridge with the Blue Team by Forquet.

Anybody know where these two books might be found?

Winston

[pdmunro]

Quote

There are two books - both out of print - I'd like to get my hands on: Championship Bridge by Jose le Dentu and Bridge with the Blue Team by Forquet.

Try PostFree Bridge Books

http://www.users.big...books/authL.htm

http://www.users.big...books/authF.htm

[sceptic]

I just read step by step Discarding, by Danny Roth, I think this is suitable for intermediates, though the chapters on avoiding endplay and discarding against squeezes, I found to be a bit harder to understand fully and I will probably have to read those chapters again a few times, before I am happy that I understand them fully.

I like the style they are written in and the examples given helped me to understand the concepts he was teaching.

[Winstonm]

pdmunro, on Jan 8 2006, 10:39 AM, said:

PostFree Bridge Books

http://www.users.big...books/authL.htm

http://www.users.big...books/authF.htm

Thanks.

[ArcLight]

>There are two books - both out of print - I'd like to get my hands on: Championship Bridge by Jose le Dentu and Bridge with the Blue Team by Forquet.

>Anybody know where these two books might be found?


At my local library of course.
(They are on my reading list for this year or next. Along with "Focus on Defense" by Danny Roth, some by Victor Mollo , "Spot Light on Card Play" by Darvas, "Logic, Intuition and Instinct at the Bridge Table" by Jayaram, and maybe a few by Randal Baron/Frank Stewart.)


Step by Step Discarding is an excellent book. I'll have to reread it eventaully.


Championship Bridge
http://www.campusi.com/bookFind/asp/bookFi...odId=006012542X


Bridge With the Blue Team (Master Bridge Series)
www.buy.com

[AceOfHeart]

The Most Puzzling Situations in Bridge Play by Terence Reese 1979


It is an interesting book on how to play cards properly, not of those triple squeezes but simple card play that will maximise your chance to make a contract like tackling side suits properly, combining chances for finesse, how to aviod ruffs etc. I can solve only about 20% of the hand in the first read but i am only intermediate.

A sample hand from this book is this:may or may not agree on bidding but it is bidding 27 years ago

Scoring: IMP

---

Bidding goes 1NT(1) by south, 2NT(2) by north 3NT by south all pass
Lead 5 of spades
(1) Opening 1NT have many merits as compared to 1♥:it is descriptive: you aviod the awkward situation when partner respond 1nt to an opening 1H;concealment of the five card major may work to your advantage making west harder to compete in spades.

(2)based on a 15-17 1nt opening

The early play 5 of spades and dummy 9 is covered by 10 and won by Q.

First look

Declarer notes that although there are 9 hearts in the two hands,3nt is at least as good a contract as four hearts. However the spades are probaly 5-3 or 6-2 so South cannot afford to lose the lead.


Solution: There is no good reason for south to reject the heart finnese. If the king is wrong he will go down at once , but if East have the Kx or Kxx, he will make the contract easily. But another possiblity must be considered, East haveng K10xx.?

---

To pick up hearts without loss when the cards lie as above south need 3 entries to dummy. Since two diamond tricks will be enough for game,assuming 5 tricks can be made in hearts South should begining by overtaking the King diamond with the ace and finese the jack heart. When west discards a club. South can now finnese the jack of diamonds of an additional entry to dummy and end up with 10 tricks.

To begin with a low diamond to the Queen is not good,because west may be smart enough to insert the jack on the next round blocking the entry-finesse.

[cherdano]

That's a good hand for the thread on safety plays! Assuming this were IMPs, the safety play would lose an IMP on almost 50% of the deals (K onside but not KTxx). It would gain 10 IMPs (assuming not vulnerable) on very roughly 4% of the deals (♥KTxx and ♦J onside). So it is very close.

However, the safety play also loses 10 IMPs when West has the ♥K, spades are 4-4, and East has the ♦J. I am too lazy to work out probabilities, but it seems to me that at IMPs, Reese's line would be wrong.

Arend

[Gerben42]

Quote

A sample hand from this book is this:may or may not agree on bidding but it is bidding 27 years ago smile.gif

Agree with the bidding! It is timeless.

Probablility of both ♦ and ♥ finesse wrong is 25%, times 32% (♠ 4 - 4) times 25% (must have ♠2 and 3 in East, otherwise not 4th best). About 2.0%.

♥KTxx and ♦J onside is about 2.8% of the deals btw (50% of 59% of all 4-0 breaks, which have probability 9.6%)

So we're talking about a 0.8% improvement of the line if I got it all right.

[cherdano]

Gerben42, on Jan 9 2006, 01:31 PM, said:

Quote

A sample hand from this book is this:may or may not agree on bidding but it is bidding 27 years ago smile.gif

Agree with the bidding! It is timeless.

Probablility of both ♦ and ♥ finesse wrong is 25%, times 32% (♠ 4 - 4) times 25% (must have ♠2 and 3 in East, otherwise not 4th best). About 2.0%.

To be pedantic: assuming a 4-4 split, the probability of East having 3 and 2 is 1/2*3/7 or 21.4%. Also, it seems to me that RHO might play the K from KTxx more often than from KTx etc.

So the improvement is more than 0.8%, but still not enough at IMPs, and maybe about break-even vulnerable at total points.

Arend

[MickyB]

To be pedantic: assuming a 4-4 split, the probability of East having 3 and 2 is 100% (unless West has led something other than 4th highest )

Probability of both ♦ and ♥ finesses wrong is 24%, the probability of East having both the 2 and 3 of ♠ is 9/18 * 8/17 (we know of 4 cards in each hand, 4 spades in West's, 2 spades and 2 heart honours in East's). This works out at 5.65%, which is an overestimate, because West is more likely to lead from a 5 or 6 card holding than a 4 card holding, and he may also have led lowest from three.

[Flame]

And dont forget to add that even if LHO has the J of diamond, he still has to play it which is far from obvious to the avarage+ player.

[ArcLight]

Master Class: Lessons from the Bridge Table by Fred Gitelman 2005

The book uses an over the style approach, similar to Terence Reese's Play These Hands With Me/Play Bridge with Reese. The author explains the players (usually declarer, but sometimes the defender) thought process and at key points will ask the reader to make a decision. Sometimes he tricks you because a critical mistake has already been made and the contract is gone. Sneaky!

The hands are mostly advanced, and even if you can identify the correct technique, there is usually an additional step needed to succeed. I think the
focus is on visualization of the hands, rather than some extremely difficult play

I very much liked the style of the narrative, and how the author threw in a few tidbits about the players.

Personally, I would have preferred the hands to be a little easier, say replacing the hardest hands with those near the median in the book. I realize the author selected hands he found interesting or well played, and since he's a world class player he's more likely to select some though hands.

Overall its a good book for advanced players. Intermediate can also get something out of it, but they wont solve more than a handful of the hands.


Here is a hand (p128) declared by Sabine Auken, that she made.

W N E S
1♠ p 2♣
X 2♦ p 2NT
p 3♠ p 3NT

---

West leads the Q from KQ.

What line of play looks good? How will you handle the diamonds?

Spoiler

Auken realized that playing for a 3-3 split would not be enough. She would end up squeezing dummy. Therefore she played for the Diamond Q to be doubleton, and drop it by playing A K. It was a long shot, but the only chance she had.
In addition she made a nice play of ducking a heart so if she went down, it would probably be by 1 less.

Fred does a nicer job explaining this, but I found it an interesting hand. I would have played for the 3-3 split and realized dummy would be squeezed but hoped I'd still have made it. But at her level the defenders would probably have set her.