[Rossoneri]

Bridge with Imagination by David Bird and Geir Helgemo.

Found this book in the 5 pound section in London's Chess and Bridge shop. A very interesting read for the creative ways to play a hand. Most of the hands are from Helgemo, but there is quite a collection of hands featuring other well-known players as well. The deals are divided into different chapters dealing with different topics, so this makes for easy reading and linking the various discussions in the book. I wouldn't say this book is a textbook, it definitely is not, but it will help to broaden your mind to the possibilities of playing a hand.

Recommended only for Advanced and above. Intermediate players might find some help but I would think that some of the plays and discussion would be of little use to Intermediate players as they are too advanced/obscure to be of the most benefit.

I rate this an A. Bird's writing style is always enjoyable to read!

[Bende]

Does anyone know how much has been updated in the 2nd edition of "The Complete Book on Overcalls in Contract Bridge" and whether it is worth getting the new edition?

Tobias

[babalu1997]

Bende, on Dec 9 2009, 06:12 AM, said:

Does anyone know how much has been updated in the 2nd edition of "The Complete Book on Overcalls in Contract Bridge" and whether it is worth getting the new edition?

Tobias

i ask the same question, except, i have the book downstairs, waiting for the boss to take abreak so i can start reading

[eyhung]

Quite a bit has been updated, especially with regards to advancer's bids. Lawrence now advocates a more modern advancing structure, with preemptive jump raises, mixed raises, jump to 2NT as a 4-trump limit raise, and discussions of various cue-bids. I think it's worth reading.

[hanp]

moved to watercooler by me.

[mike777]

It's Your Call. Marshall Miles. 2009. 19.95$ p.220.
Level=Advanced
Grade=B



A compilation of his bidding panel problems. The last quarter of the book Marshall discusses some of his bidding theories. Another entertaining book from him that many will enjoy. Some panelists are BBO forum members.

[eyhung]

Calf. By Krzysztof Martens
Level = Expert - World Class

The theme of this book is about not defending too quickly, but carefully considering the clues about the unseen hands to find the right play. All of these hands were misdefended by the author at the table "like a calf" -- can you do better?

I do not recommend this book for intermediate (ACBL Flt C) or advanced (ACBL Flt B ) players, because much of the material in here verges on the spectacular. Like a mystery novel, the right answer is never the "obvious" answer. You will frequently make moves contrary to human nature, such as tossing winners away under declarer's winners, discarding unnaturally to give declarer a false impression of the hand, or shifting to unusual suits/cards in anticipation of future squeezes/endplays. I think an advanced player would be better off with a more traditional defense book so that they could identify more common patterns of defense -- but if your aim is to become a world-class player, you must read this book. Many of these problems seem easy to miss at the table, unless you are playing at the top of your game. Reading the book will broaden your thinking and emphasize the important lesson not to defend "on autopilot".

The presentation and layout are poor: all the hands have East as dummy and West as declarer, which is a bit jarring, and it's often too easy to skim the failed defense and jump straight to the answer. But the quality of material is high -- I was exposed to some concepts I had not seen before -- and that makes the book worth reading. I consider it the modern successor to Kelsey's KILLING DEFENSE.

This book is part of a series of books written by K. Martens. After this one, I plan to get the others in the series. The books are quite expensive ($20-28 each) but apparently you can order them as e-books online for cheaper.

[inquiry]

eyhung, on Feb 10 2010, 02:08 AM, said:

Calf.  By Krzysztof Martens
Level = Expert - World Class

eyhung @ Sep 15 2009, on 05:01 PM, said:

Expert Bridge Simplified by Jeff Rubens
Bridge World Books, 2009
Level : Adv+ to Expert
Topic: Cardplay and Odds

Eugene, someone owes you a commission, as I ordered both of these books yesterday.

[barmar]

I started Rubens a week or so ago, and I had to put it aside when i got about a third of the way through it, to let things sink in. It's good stuff, but quite taxing. It reminds me of Bird's book on squeezes, there's too much material to absorb in a short time.

[eyhung]

barmar, on Feb 11 2010, 09:55 AM, said:

I started Rubens a week or so ago, and I had to put it aside when i got about a third of the way through it, to let things sink in. It's good stuff, but quite taxing. It reminds me of Bird's book on squeezes, there's too much material to absorb in a short time.

Heh, despite writing that review several months ago, I still haven't finished Rubens yet. I've been playing more than reading lately, and I felt the first half gave me enough to chew upon for now. I'll revisit the second half later, as the Martens e-books I ordered seem to be far more practical in treating themes that I expect to see at the table.

[babalu1997]

The Complete Book on Overcalls at Contract Bridge: A Mike Lawrence Bridge Classic


this book is easy to read

the sequences are presented in constructive manner and actially easy to remember and absorb

easier that the comple on balancing


just as good as the complete hand evaluation book


how to read your opp card i dislike, have never managed to finish the first chapter

this overcall book is very good tho

[ArcLight]

>.how to read your opp card i dislike, have never managed to finish the first chapter

Please give it another chance, or skip that chapter and go onto the next one. Its a really good book. He has a sequel "How to play card combinations" thats highly worth reading also.

[mr1303]

I saw a book on cue-bidding today in Chess & Bridge on Baker Street, written by none other than Ken Rexford.

Is it any good? Has anyone already reviewed it? I've had a brief look through this thread but couldn't find anything easily.

[ArcLight]

>> saw a book on cue-bidding today in Chess & Bridge on Baker Street, written by none other than Ken Rexford.

>>Is it any good? Has anyone already reviewed it? I've had a brief look through this thread but couldn't find anything easily.

It has some theoretical discussions, and for a player of Justins calibler may provide food for thought.

In general it will not be helpful to those below his level.


I would instead suggest the book by Klinger (Cue Bidding to Slams
) or the one by Alan Mould (Step By Step Slam Bidding)


I will sell/tarde mine

[helene_t]

mr1303, on Mar 13 2010, 12:23 AM, said:

I saw a book on cue-bidding today in Chess & Bridge on Baker Street, written by none other than Ken Rexford.

Is it any good? Has anyone already reviewed it? I've had a brief look through this thread but couldn't find anything easily.

If you start this thread at february 23, 2007, you will find a number of posts about that book.

Justin's post is http://forums.bridge...pic=8640&st=306

[Rossoneri]

Was pretty tempted to buy the Jeff Rubens book, but the times when I was out, the book stall was not being manned and when I finally found it being manned, 2 people had beaten me to it!

One question I was wondering though: how useful would the book be to someone who has formal training in probability as compared to someone who doesn't?

[Mbodell]

Rossoneri, on Apr 4 2010, 03:35 PM, said:

Was pretty tempted to buy the Jeff Rubens book, but the times when I was out, the book stall was not being manned and when I finally found it being manned, 2 people had beaten me to it!

One question I was wondering though: how useful would the book be to someone who has formal training in probability as compared to someone who doesn't?

I think it would be useful to both types of people. I can only offer my experience (someone with reasonably formal training in math, probability, and statistics) that it was still quite useful to me. I quite liked it. The problems seemed quite good, and I've still got to go back and do some more of them.

I also should recommend the other two books that I picked up at the Reno nationals from book sellers and have quite enjoyed:

Bridge, Probability & Information by
Robert F. Mackinnon (published by Master Point Press).

This book was quite interesting and talks at great length about considering the whole hand and how the splits of one suit effects the splits of the others and how to evaluate the relative probabilities of different likely hand patterns for opponents. I thought this book was quite excellent in its readability as well as covering some very interesting topics.

Bridge Squeezes Complete: Winning Endplay Strategy by Clyde Love updated by Linda Lee with help from Julian Pottage (again, Master Point Press).

I have read the classic (borrowed from a partner) and was happy to get my own copy. I find the text in the new update easier to follow, and don't need to decipher odd ancient bidding in the problems. However, I don't like that I have to cover the opponents hands to solve the problems (the problems are presented double dummy). But still I'm happy to have this book.

[Phil]

eyhung, on Feb 10 2010, 02:08 AM, said:

Calf. By Krzysztof Martens
Level = Expert - World Class

The books are quite expensive ($20-28 each) but apparently you can order them as e-books online for cheaper.

At a recent regional these books were about 35 dollars each.

I'll wait for them to come down.

[cherdanno]

I bought one of the Martens' books (European Championship) as ebook. I did like the book, and was also happy to have bought it as e-book. The problems for each chapter were on a double page that I printed out. Then when I had thought about all of them I went through the solutions on the screen. So you have to print very little and still don't have to spend a lot of time on your screen when reading them.

[whereagles]

I recently acquired Emile Borel's "The Mathematical Theory of Bridge".

It's basically a thorough probabilistic study of several situations in bridge, starting from shape and bidding, up to opening leads and cardplay decisions.

The book is from 1939, but probabilities are not time-varying

I'll be posting some more comments as I read it.