The logical follow-up to the author's best-selling Competitive Bidding in the 21st Century, this book deals with the latest expert thinking on constructive auctions at bridge. As usual, Miles' ideas are cutting edge, and not everything he recommends will appeal to everyone. However, through discussion, Miles challenges his readers to think about and question what they are currently doing, ultimately reinforcing their own confidence in the style they choose to play.

Are you having a problem at bridge or perhaps a disagreement with your partner? Why not ask the expert? Ron Klinger replies to bridge queries from players around the world. The answers to questions that may have bothered you are also probably in this stimulating book.

No matter how good your bidding system or your partnership understandings, such advantages will vanish if you fail to make an accurate assessment of the value of your hand. As the bidding proceeds, you need constantly to make adjustments to your initial evaluation. The authors show you how to do that. They provide guides which allow you to judge whether your hand fits well with your partner's, whether the danger of a misfit exists, whether your high cards lie well or badly in relation to the opponents', how high to bid, when to try to outbid the opponents and when to choose to defend. This stimulating book reveals the methods used by the experts to reach a precise appraisal of the partnership assets - here is your chance to do just as well.

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.

In the 1970s, two of the best bridge writers of all time collaborated on a series of eight small books on aspects of card play at bridge. These books have long been out of print, and are being republished now in two combined volumes, edited and updated by Bridge Magazine editor Mark Horton. Accurate Card Play is the first of these two books, and comprises the following titles from the original series: Safety Plays in Bridge; Blocking and Unblocking Plays in Bridge; Elimination Play in Bridge; When to Duck and When to Win in Bridge.

Bidding in the slam area has developed rapidly over the past 20 years and players are bidding slams more often and more accurately. In this book Ron Klinger shows how to judge whether slam is likely or not and reveals the methods to find the critical cards in partner's hand, whether it is to stay out of a poor slam, bid a good small slam or find an excellent grand slam.

For more than three decades, David Bird's tales of the bridge-crazy monks of St Titus have appeared in magazines around the world. In this eleventh collection in book form, the pompous and self-important Abbot travels to the Upper Bhumpopo mission in Africa. He plays against the Witchdoctor, the Parrot, Mrs Okuku and Miss Nabooba, Mhozi and Mjubu - characters that are familiar from earlier books in the series. Regular followers of David Bird's work will know what to expect - a first-rate mixture of excellent bridge, entertaining characters and sparkling dialogue.

Kansas City, 1929: Myrtle and Jack Bennett sit down with another couple for an evening of bridge. As the game intensifies, Myrtle complains that Jack is a "bum bridge player." For such insubordination, he slaps her hard in front of their stunned guests and announces he is leaving. Moments later, sobbing, with a Colt .32 pistol
in hand, Myrtle fires four shots, killing her husband.
The Roaring 1920s inspired nationwide fads-flagpole sitting, marathon dancing, swimming-pool endurance floating. But of all the mad games that cheered Americans between the wars, the least likely was contract bridge. As the Barnum of the bridge craze, Ely Culbertson, a tuxedoed boulevardier with a Russian accent, used mystique, brilliance, and a certain madness to transform bridge from a social pastime into a cultural movement that made him rich and famous. In writings, in lectures, and on the radio, he used the Bennett killing to dramatize bridge as the battle of the sexes. Indeed, Myrtle Bennett's murder trial became a sensation because it brought a beautiful housewife-and hints of her husband's infidelity-from the bridge table into the national spotlight. James A. Reed, Myrtle's high-powered lawyer and onetime Democratic presidential candidate, delivered soaring, tear-filled courtroom orations. As Reed waxed on about the sanctity of womanhood, he was secretly conducting an extramarital romance with a feminist trailblazer who lived next door.
To the public, bridge symbolized tossing aside the ideals of the Puritans-who referred derisively to playing cards as "the Devil's tickets"-and embracing the modern age. Ina time when such fearless women as Amelia Earhart, Dorothy Parker, and Marlene Dietrich were exalted for their boldness, Culbertson positioned his game as a challenge to all housebound women. At the bridge table, he insisted, a woman could be her husband's equal, and more. In the gathering darkness of the Depression, Culbertson leveraged his own ballyhoo and naughty innuendo for all it was worth, maneuvering himself and his brilliant wife, Jo, his favorite bridge partner, into a media spectacle dubbed the Bridge Battle of the Century.
Through these larger-than-life characters and the timeless partnership game they played, "The Devil's Tickets" captures a uniquely colorful age and a tension in marriage that is eternal.

"From the Hardcover edition."

Readers of David Bird's humorous bridge stories will give a delighted welcome to this new addition to the celebrated series. As ever, the irascible Abbot makes his acerbic presence felt and the long-suffering fraternity diverts itself with much entertaining and excitingly interesting bridge. For more than 30 years, David Bird's tales of the bridge-crazy monks of St Titus have appeared in magazines around the world. In this tenth collection in book form, the pompous and self-important Abbot hosts a tricky visit from Monsignor Vecchio, a representative of the Vatican authorities. Everything must be done to ensure that the visitor, a very moderate bridge player, finishes well in the monastery duplicate. In another story, the Abbot visits the Convent of St Hilda's and is not overjoyed to be put in partnership with the 80-year-old Mother of Discipline. Regular followers of David Bird's work will know what to expect - a first-rate mixture of excellent bridge, entertaining characters and sparkling dialogue.

Imagine sitting beside a world-class bridge player and being able to listen to his thoughts as each hand develops... you can help but improve your own game! Every hand in this fascinating book comes from actual play; many of them are taken from the author's own experience in world-level competition. Fred Gitelman believes that there is something to be learned from every bridge hand, whether you are a novice or an expert, and he proves it here. Just as fascinating as the bridge, however, are Fred's observations on his partners and opponents, who range from world champions to famous amateurs like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

Fred Gitelman (Las Vegas) has a trophy case full of world championship medals, many of them earned playing for his native Canada. He is known throughout the world as a leading designer and producer of bridge software, while his web site, Bridge Base Online, is the most popular bridge-playing site on the Net.

A fascinating collection of the 'best of the best', selected by one of the world's top bridge writers. Taken from nearly a hundred years of bridge history, these deals will provide any bridge player with hours of fascinating reading. Each of them has its own unique point of interest, sometimes deriving from a brilliant maneuver in the play or bidding, sometimes from the historical circumstances surrounding the deal or its consequences. Some of these deals decided a world title, some were important only to those who took part, and at least one ended in murder.

Each book this series is a collection of bridge problems which provide a fun way to practice and develop your skill in an important cardplay technique at bridge. These books are designed to add an extra dimension to the detailed instruction contained in Bridge Technique series (Bird & Smith), which won the American Bridge Teachers' Association Book of the Year award in 2002.

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.