[mike777]

Right Through The Pack. Darvas & V. Hart. 1947. 327p. $14.95
Level=Expert
Grade=C-

Short fantasy chapters featuring all 52 cards in the deck, each telling its own story. Considered an all time classic, many experts rate this book as the best bridge book ever written.

I found following the play of the hands too difficult. Often I was unsure of what cards had been played and what cards remained to be played. Having to read and reread the same page over and over again made me lose any joy in this book. Those who have no difficulty in following the play may enjoy this book more than I did.

[ArcLight]

>>Right Through The Pack. Darvas & V. Hart. 1947. 327p. $14.95
Level=Expert
Grade=C-


I'm sorry you didn't like that book. I did and thought it was really clever.
I don't remember if it was hard to follow, I will take a look. If I recommended it to you and you didn't like it I apologize.


3 No Trump in Depth by Augie Boehm

Good beginner / intermediate level book on (you guessed it) 3NT contracts.
The book has 2 sections, play and bididng. The play section is pretty routine and I've seen that material in a million other places. Ducking, Avoidance Play, Dangerous opponent, Rule of 11, Communications. All worthwhile for beginners and those who are not comfortable with all this. I found the bidding section more interesting. While not complex it may be material that many intermediates are not familiar with. Such as:
- with 2 unbid suits, a new suit shows a stopper for NT
- with 3 unbid suits, the 4th asks for a stopper or half stopper, depending on teh sequence
- showing a half stopper (Qx or Jxx)
- asking for a stooper, such as 1S (3S) with a long running minor
- showing a concentration, such as AQx, when you are considering a try for slam or 5 of a minor
- some tricks in a sequence involing a natural NT bid.

Overall, the book is very worthwhile for beginners, and ok for intermediates. If you are an intermediate who is into bidding tricks and are familiar with what I listed above, you might not get much out of teh book.

I rate it a B+/A- for beginners, and a B for lower level intermediates.

[goobers]

lol, has anyone read Samurai Bridge?

[MickyB]

goobers, on Jan 7 2008, 06:56 PM, said:

lol, has anyone read Samurai Bridge?

Lol. I have indeed. I don't really feel qualified to review it, maybe you could

[ArcLight]

Card Placing for You by Andy Kambites


Pretty good book on placing high cards based on bidding, or assumption (i.e if East doesn't have the Ace of Clubs you are going down, since East is a passed hand and has already shown up with XXX he can't also have the Q). Some good problems on drawing inferences on the defenders actions such as -
-why did they not force you to take a ruff
-why allow you access to dummy for a finesse
-why did they duck this trick

For Advanced Interemdiates (and advanced players too - a few will get you)

[mike777]

mike777, on Jul 3 2006, 09:46 AM, said:

Dormer On Deduction. Albert Dormer. 1995. 15$. 143p.
Grade=A-
Level=Intermediate/Advanced

Reread this book after a decade. Excellent book on deduction and visualization. I highly recommend it. The problems are a bit harder than I remember. This book will help you ask the right questions of yourself in the play and on defense.

Just reread this one. Again it is harder than I seem to remember. Good book. Still give it an A-.

[ArcLight]

Play it Again Sam by Martin Hoffman and Terence Reese

Pretty good book of 65 mostly declarer play problems, where you need to draw clues form the bidding and use proper technique. On a few of the hands I disagree with the bidding. The format is the player in your seat makes some subtle mistake and your partner makes a caustic comment (this must come naturally for Reese ). You must find the error in technique. Some non simple squeezes that will be missed by Intermediates

A good book for Intermediate and advanced players. (pretty cheap used on the net)

======================================
Find the Mistakes by Eric Jannersten

75 declarer play problems where declarer makes his contract (usually with overtricks) and you must identify how his technique was poor. The problems are displayed double dummy so you have to cover the EW hands. Actually you dont becaus ein the solution on the next page it says this line of play would fail with a different layout (presented on the next page)


Good book for intermediates and advanced players. Some squeezes intermediates might overlook


Both books are good for improving your technique and card reading.

[mike777]

Bergen's Best Bridge Tips. Marty Bergen. 72pp. $7.95. 2004.
Grade=C
Level=Int.

A very short book of bridge tips. Main focus is on bidding. This is one of Marty's lesser efforts. I would skip this one and buy one of his other great books.

[ArcLight]

While I enjoy Marty Bergens books, I think many of them have a lot of filler/blanks and some seem to be "churned out" (i.e. just to publish anything, and make some money - which is not good value to buy).

I agree with Mikes assessment.

I wish he had written "Is it Forcing" which he suggested as an upcoming book at the back of one of his books (this was 5+ years ago). I've asked him to write it, but I don't think he is interested. It's my understanding he is working on a book on major suit raises.

[kgr]

I just read 6 Dutch books "Bridge Spel en Tegenspel" of Cees Sint / Ton Schipperheyn
based on idees of Terence Reese and Roger Trezel (names of the original books between brackets)
- Veilige speelwijzen (Safety Plays in bridge)
- Blokkerende speelwijzen (Blocking and unblocking plays in bridge)
- Eliminerende speelwijzen (Elimination play in bridge)
- Listige speelwijzen (Snares and swindles)
- De kunst van het uitspelen (when to duck, when to win & Those extra chances)
- De kunst van het tegenspelen (The art of defence)
The authors of the Dutch books mention that in contrary to the original books the problems are presented in Q & A form. Every chapter has a short introduction followed by the games in Q & A. (So it is possible that the Dutch books are more interesting then the original books...maybe a good opportunity for all bridge players to learn Dutch ).
I found these books very interesting and would rate them A+.
It's more difficult for me to give them a level. For BBO level I would say expert+, for BBF level intermediate/advanced.
Anyway an interesting read for all playes below expert level.
Grtz,
Koen
PS: These books were purchased by my sister in law on a flee market for less then 1 EUR. She doens't know anything about bridge, but it turned out to be the best investment I have ever made.

[han]

Nice review, maybe you should post it in the Dutch part of the forum:

http://forums.bridge...showforum=dutch

[ArcLight]

I just Read K. Martens book "Bidding Like Music - Hand Evaluation"

I really liked the format, a large number of competitive bididng problems. ANd he suggests some special meanings of bids in certain situation. The problems centered on visualizing the 3 other hands. Potentially great material.

The big problem I had is while the author said the bididng system would be "Standard", I don't think most of his auctions and interpretations make sense in Standard American. Plus in some of the solutions he says in "Polish Club" this is what you do. Except we aren't using Polish Club in this book. I think a systems nut (like Ken Rexford) might enjoy the book a bit more than I did. If "Standard" means a pretty different system, then the book is not of use to 90% of potential readers. Too bad as there is a lot of good stuff in there.

[blackshoe]

ArcLight, on Mar 13 2008, 09:06 PM, said:

If "Standard" means a pretty different system, then the book is not of use to 90% of potential readers. Too bad as there is a lot of good stuff in there.

If you read a bridge book with an eye towards understanding principles, rather than getting bogged down in "that's not the way I'd bid it!", then IMO it really doesn't matter what system is used.

[Tola18]

ArcLight, on Mar 13 2008, 09:06 PM, said:

I just Read K. Martens book "Bidding Like Music - Hand Evaluation" 

......

the author said the bididng system would be "Standard", I don't think most of his auctions and interpretations make sense in Standard American.  Plus in some of the solutions he says in "Polish Club" this is what you do....

I would guess he does mean some sort of basic polish club (WJ).

It is usual if a polish grandmaster says heshe plays natural, heshe means polish club, a not too fancy variation.

If he REALLY means natural he would probably say Acol, or SA if the material written for american or BBO public.

[the hog]

Arclight, you can learn a lot even if the system is different. Look at Blackshoe's post. Look at the priciples; Standard does not mean SA, it means what is standard in your country. Don't be so narrow minded, you might find something you really like.

[ArcLight]

>Arclight, you can learn a lot even if the system is different. Look at Blackshoe's post. Look at the priciples; Standard does not mean SA, it means what is standard in your country. Don't be so narrow minded, you might find something you really like.

I try not be narrow minded.

I think the "answers" to many of the problems are not obtainable because the bids in the authors "Standard" (not Polish CLub) system are pretty different form what most would consider "Standard". What this means is unless you know what the authors system is, you wont be able to solve many of the problems.

I think "Standard" is nebulous but is probably not radically different overall from country to country, even if there are some differences in certain areas. (ex. some in Australia are fond of the short club 1 ♣ opener with just 2). Now if this is some Polish standard then it may be a great book for someone who knows that system.


>If you read a bridge book with an eye towards understanding principles, rather than getting bogged down in "that's not the way I'd bid it!", then IMO it really doesn't matter what system is used.

"understanding principles' is a very generic term.
You would not be able to solve thes eproblems becaus eyou would expect a player to have a certain distribution based on their bidding. When you look at the answer and see they ahd something different,, because of the system, it wont really help you. It will "help" in a minor way, when you se ethat yes the bid makes sense in the context of the authors (non-standard) expectations. But it wont help you solve the problems.


I don't think most people will get much out of this book because the bidding wont follow what they expect. They wont be able to solve many of the problems. They wont learn principles, because they may know them, and were just misleads by the different meaning of the bid.


I liked the format of the book, and with a coauthor (revising teh bidding) it could have been much better. I don't think this will be of much value to anyone other than those who know what ever "Standard" system the author is using, and also to those interested in system design. They wont be able to solve the problems, but they might be interested in an interpretation.




I would guess he does mean some sort of basic polish club (WJ).

It is usual if a polish grandmaster says heshe plays natural, heshe means polish club, a not too fancy variation.

If he REALLY means natural he would probably say Acol, or SA if the material written for american or BBO public.

For someone who knows whatever teh author considers "standard" I would recommend this book. If you know what the bids mean, you will certainly enjoy it more than I did.

Since it was translated into English I assumed it would be a "standard" that English speakers are familiar with, rather than a Polish Standard.

[Vilgan]

random bump because this is a good thread (and it took me a bit to find).

[cjames]

Random bump from me too. Should not be too difficult to pin this topic?

[ArcLight]

Bridge in the Menagerie by Victor Mollo

Not only is it an amusing book, there are some interesting hands that I wish had not been presented with 4 hands exposed initially. Hideous Hog makes some deceptive plays based on the evidence. It would be fun to see if you could make those as well.

Hideous Hog is hysterical. I found the chapter on Kibitzers arguably the funiest in the book.

This is not just a fiction book. Its highly entertaining, with charming hands.

[Vilgan]

Any comments on Washington Standard by Steve Robinson? Been told it is a good baseline for higher level 2/1, but never heard of it outside of that 1 person.