THE WINNING BRIDGE CONVENTIONS SERIES Competitive Doubles Bridge students quickly discover that 'basic' bidding' will only get them so far. If they really want to improve, it is necessary to master a certain number of bidding conventions, and be prepared both to play them and play against them. Each of the books in this series covers a number of useful conventions, explaining them carefully along with numerous examples and quizzes to help the reader understand what is being learned. Included in this book: Takeout Doubles, Negative Doubles, Responsive Doubles, Snapdragon Doubles, Balancing Doubles, Re-opening Doubles, Support Doubles, Maximal Doubles, Common Misconceptions and Practice Hands. PATTY TUCKER (Dunwoody, Georgia) is an ABTA Master Bridge Teacher and cofounder of Whirlwind Bridge and Atlanta Junior Bridge. Her success at the bridge table culminated in her victory in the 2000 Baldwin Flight A North American Open Pairs with long-time bridge partner Kevin Collins. Patty and Kevin were married in 2006.

The previous book by this same author team, Planning the Play of a Bridge Hand (978 1897106 51 8), was named the 2010 Book of the Year by the American Bridge Teachers' Association. Building on the success of that title, this book gives near-beginners a chance to practice the principles on which sound declarer play is based: count your winners, count your losers, make a plan. This is not just a series of problem hands, however. Each section contains a brief introduction of its topic, and the ideas are reinforced with carefully explained solutions and helpful tips throughout.

From the mind of Charles M. Schulz, the world's most beloved cartoonist, comes these funny looks at the game of Bridge. The game, the culture, and the very human foibles of those who play it all come under his masterful attention.

If your answer is 'YES' to the following three questions, this is the PERFECT book for you: 1. Have you read A Bridge to Simple Squeezes? 2. Did you see merit in the structured approach introduced in that book for executing simple squeezes? 3. Do you feel that in spite of your great effort you are still not finding squeezes? In this book, Still Not Finding Squeezes?, the structured approach is applied to the 39 squeeze examples that David Bird and Tim Bourke created for their book, Test Your Bridge Technique: The Simple Squeeze. These examples will give you the experience you need to include squeezes in your arsenal.

This is the fifth (and according to the author, the very last - but don't hold your breath!) edition of what is acknowledged to be the definitive book on a convention that every serious player uses. Completely revised and updated from the previous version, this newest version contains even more leading-edge ideas, and is full of examples, quizzes and practice hands. A must for the tournament player. Includes, among many other features: - Why you should play 1430 and 3014 RKB responses, and when - The extensions of RKB: the queen ask, the specific king ask, and more - How to handle voids, as asker or responder - RKB in minor-suit auctions - 60 practice hands for you to bid with your favorite partner This is the only book that explains every facet of one of the most popular conventions in modern bridge. Eddie Kantar (Santa Monica, CA) is one of the most popular and prolific bridge writers in the world. A winner of two World Championships, and a member of the Bridge Hall of Fame, his many books include Modern Bridge Defense, Advanced Bridge Defense, the hilarious Kantar on Kontract, and of course, Roman Keycard Blackwood. His work appears regularly in many bridge magazines around the world.

There is such an abundance of hints, tips and advice available to bridge players that when faced with a particularly difficult problem, we find ourselves scrambling to remember that crucial solution. In this book, Paul Mendelson explains that when you stop trying to remember what to do, but simply think instead, the answers to expert problems become more apparent, accessible and easier to apply at the table. Packed with tips, examples, hands to study and practise at the table, system improvements, guidance for maximising your score at duplicate pairs, and innovations just for you, for your partnership and group of bridge friends, this book will improve every reader's game markedly. Following on from Control the Bidding and Winning Ways to Play Your Cards, Thinking About Bridge will reinforce some of the key elements of the game, whilst adding a new expert dimension on understanding to each discipline, making the game more enjoyable and your performance more successful.

What is 'Standard' Bidding? This is an increasingly hard question to answer, but the proliferation of bridge on the Internet in pickup partnerships makes it imperative that someone does so. Perhaps the most popular natural system for the hundreds of thousands of online players worldwide is the Standard American Yellow Card, or SAYC. In this book, for the first time, SAYC is fully described and explained. This will be an invaluable to aid to anyone wanting to learn and understand SAYC, or anyone who simply knows the basics and is eager to fill in the missing pieces in their repertoire. Ned Downey and Ellen Pomer, the authors, are experienced bridge teachers and partners in the 'Bridge Forum' web site. Ned also teaches bridge via the Swan Games online playing site. Ellen is well-known on the Internet under her handle 'Caitlin', and regularly writes for various magazines on Internet bridge. This title gives basic introduction to the standard bidding conventions used on bridge websites.

A collection of bridge problems which provide a fun way to practice an important play technique. This is part of a twelve book series that will add an extra dimension to the Bridge Technique series (Bird & Smith), which won the American Bridge Teachers' Association Book of the Year award in 2002.

The "Deadly Defence" sequel goes deeper into the areas needed to become a deadly defender and a feared opponent, and provides a large number of practical problem hands set in quiz form Defense is the hardest part of bridge and even top-class players make mistakes much too frequently. The first part of this book gives insights into how to become a deceptive defender and how to recognize special defensive situations. The second part consists of a series of quizzes, with answers containing the logic and reasoning behind the correct play. After all the quizzes have been completed, readers will be amazed at how much more clearly they can see the winning defense at the table--and practice makes perfect if they tackle the problems again every three to six months. There is a lot of emphasis in the book on passing vital information so that a partner will be pointed into the right direction to find the winning play. Any bridge player will come away from this book with a greater insight into how to be an accomplished defender.

Another title in the best-selling '25' series, using the same popular format. Over the last fifteen or so years, the 2/1 Game Forcing bidding method has gained substantial popularity, but for various reasons it is not taught in beginner classes. This book is therefore designed for players who are familiar with Standard bidding and are interested in switching to the 2/1 method. It covers basic concepts as well as the differences between 2/1 and Standard auctions, and includes a discussion of more advanced ideas and conventions that fit particularly well with 2/1 methods. Existing books on this topic (notably by Max Hardy and Mike Lawrence) are too advanced and/or too technical for this level of player.

Just about every bridge player over forty has read Victor Mollo's Bridge in the Menagerie, a book that is on any list of the all-time top ten on the game. Towards the end of his life, Mollo continued to write stories about the same well-loved characters (Hideous Hog, Rueful Rabbit, Oscar the Owl and the rest), but they appeared in various magazines around the world, and if you weren't a subscriber, you didn't get to read them. This is the second collection of 'lost' Menagerie stories from one of the best-loved bridge writers who ever lived.

The BOLS Bridge Tips competition started in 1974, and took place off and on for more than 20 years. During that time, virtually all the world's greatest writers and players contributed their ideas to the series. For the first time ever, the entire collection of BOLS Bridge Tips are gathered here in one volume, edited and organized for easy access by the average player. Included too are biographies and photographs of all the contributors. Not sure what to lead? Can't decide the right bid? Want to make more contracts? Get pointers from the all-time greatest names in bridge -- Reese, Rodwell, Zia, Flint, Goren, Hamman, Wolff, Schenken, Garozzo, Belladonna, Chagas and many more -- they're all represented. All the advice is here in a perfect potpourri for players of every standard.

Most of the contracts that you play are suit contracts. The presence of a trump suit provides more choices and also more dangers. This third book in the Card Play Made Easy series deals solely with trump contracts - and aims to impart skills that are not too difficult to recognise and to put into practice. The topics include how to create more winners and how to eliminate losers, how to spot the defenders' plans and how to thwart them and how to choose the best line when you have a number of options. Chapters 1-7 end with a collection of declarer problems on the relevant area and the recommended line of play for each. After the final chapter there is a lengthy quiz on all aspects of the book, plus the solutions. After studying the advice and deals in these pages, you are bound to become a more successful declarer.

First published in 1988, this book has been out of print for several years. It's a mystery and a bridge textbook all in one, and accomplishes both exceptionally well. Based on the author's own experiences, and set in and around a Manhattan bridge club, the story includes many real-life characters whose names will be familiar to readers. First in a set that includes I Shot my Bridge Partner.

With the publication of Sixpack, six keycard RKCB has come of age!

As soon you identify a double fit, don't ask for keycards - just "launch" and tell. In most cases, you can find out about keycards - all six - below the game level. Part I of the book lays out a set of basic rules for any casual partnership to apply quickly and easily. Part II gets more advanced and complex, but operates along the same principles. Apply Sixpack throughout your notrump structure and expand it to a wide range of standard bidding situations.

With many examples and four extensive quizzes for partners to practice the convention together, Sixpack gives the reader the experience and confidence to use the convention effectively at the table.

Bridge students quickly discover that basic bidding will only get them so far. To improve it is necessary to master a certain number of bidding conventions, and be prepared both to play them and to play against them. Each of the books in this series covers a number of useful conventions, explaining them carefully along with numerous examples and quizzes to help the reader understand what is being learned. Included in this book: Strong Hands, Reverses, Jump Shifts, 2NT Rebids by Opener, Strong 2C and 2D Waiting, Cuebidding Controls, Gerber, Blackwood and Practice Hands. PATTY TUCKER (Dunwoody, Georgia) is an ABTA Master Bridge Teacher and co-founder of Whirlwind Bridge and Atlanta Junior Bridge. Her success at the bridge table culminated in her victory in the 2000 Baldwin Flight A North American Open Pairs with long-time bridge partner Kevin Collins. Patty and Kevin were married in 2006.

For the past fifty years, Monday afternoons in New Haven have always been the same: Roz, Rhoda, Bea, Jackie and Bette - the Bridge Ladies. A card table with four folding chairs (and one dummy seat). A plate of homemade cookies or brownies on the kitchen counter somewhere, largely untouched. And once they begin the game, hours of silence, punctuated only by the sound of cards being plucked up or snapped down. As a child, Betsy Lerner thought the Bridge Ladies were fascinatingly chic, with their frosted hair-dos and shiny nylons. To the teenage Betsy, they seemed hopelessly square. As an adult, working in New York City, they were a relic of her past. But when her husband accepted a job in New Haven, she found herself right back where she started. Suddenly, the Bridge Ladies came hurtling back, their Monday lunch and Bridge Club still ongoing. They had accepted their lot in life and were, mostly, grateful. They didn't talk about their problems, much less those involving sex, relationships, or their children. On paper, they were unremarkable, even dull. But once Betsy started really looking at them, she realized that they were anything but. Wildly perceptive and, in turns, hilarious and fearlessly vulnerable, Lerner's memoir is required reading for anyone who has ever had a mother. And it teaches us an important lesson: Facebook may connect us across the world, but social media can't deliver a pot roast and it won't dry your tears.

The "Financial Times'" weekly bridge columnist offers a completely revised and updated guide to sharpening bridge techniques, with more than 20 new tips and fresh material For the social bridge players who knows the rules and can play a reasonable hand, but want to refine their skills and improve their understanding of the game, this is the perfect guide. Packed with those gems of knowledge it usually takes years to accumulate, this invaluable book offers solid advice on how best to deal with a variety of situations. The tips range from simple to more advanced and all are clearly explained and are illustrated by an example hand and a reader's test. There is no simpler or more enjoyable way to improve bridge skills.

Ron Klinger has assembled 50 great puzzles on declarer play, which will give the bridge player an opportunity to test their card-handling skills. Whatever the situation, whether high or low cards are held, the reader cannot fail but improve their game by tackling this splendid selection of declarer play puzzles - and learn from the detailed explanation that Ron Klinger gives on the following page.

This is a practical and comprehensive guide to playing Chess and Bridge from complete novice to advanced player level. It describes the fascinating history of world bridge championships, the great chess games, and the famous players who have popularized and developed the games we know today. It features over 1600 illustrations and photographs that take you step by step through from key basic principles of bridge to the opening, middlegame and endgame in chess. This superb instructional book will tell you everything you need to know about chess and bridge, from the fascinating histories of the games to how to play and master strategies to win. The first section, How to Play Chess, begins with rules of the game, and how to move each piece. The different strategies are explained, along with advice on how to manage the game as it progresses from opening through the middle game to the endgame. The second section, How to Play Bridge, begins with an explanation of the basic principles of bridge. This is followed by a detailed and colourful history of the game. Basic skills are all covered, from how to play and improve your game to advanced level tactics in bidding and card play.

To bid or not to bid - the perennial dilemma in competitive auctions. The easy answer to the question lies in the correct use of the Law of Total Tricks. The LAW has been part of bridge literature since the 1950s, but it was in this book that Larry Cohen brought it to the attention of the majority of bridge players. Still the most lucid explanation of the LAW ever published, this is a book that every bridge player needs to own, to read, to re-read, and to study in order to improve his results.