All North American players are taught to play using a strong notrump, but that is not the way of the rest of the world. Even in North America, weak notrump systems, or even Kamikaze notrump systems, are becoming more common. This book discusses the advantages and disadvantages of playing a system with a weaker notrump opening, and shows how the 1NT range impacts the rest of the bidding system. Even those who have no interest in converting to a weak notrump range still need to know how to play against weak notrump systems, so for them the book includes advice on effective competitive methods.

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.

Many competent players are frustrated by an apparent inability to score well at duplicate pairs. No matter how hard they try, the secret of success seems to lie forever beyond reach. The truth is that playing good bridge is not enough to win at pairs. The regular winners are those who have learned to adapt their strategy to take account of the vagaries of match-point scoring. A small shift in emphasis can make a big difference to results. In this book Australian expert Ron Klinger shows you how to do it. There are five sections covering constructive bidding, competitive bidding, opening leads, declarer play and defence, and they are full of well chosen example hands and sound advice. Put these tips into practice and your results are sure to improve.

The world of tournament bridge does not stand still. Styles change, new ideas come forward, more effective methods are developed. This text was first published in 1995, but even in the short time since then there have been a number of improved strategies and conventions which can help the reader to win more often. This edition contains the standard methods which have proved successful in the past as well as the recent developments, how they work, when they apply and why their adoption should lead to better scores.

Played around the world - according to one famous player, if you play bridge, you will make friends wherever you go. If you want to bid accurately and achieve greatly improved results at the bridge table, you have to master the Losing Trick Count. It is a tried and tested method of hand evaluation which has stood the test of time. Ron Klinger, famous international player, author and teacher who has more books to his credit than many players have had good hands, has brought the LTC up to date by relating it to modern systems and conventions. Now in its fifteenth impression since original publication, this remarkable book is set to hold its place as the standard text on the Losing Trick Count.

""The monks are back. That's all you need to know if you have already been exposed to the wonderful series by Terence Reese and David Bird, featuring high-level bridge deals and high-level laughter, about the fanatical bridge-playing denizens of St Titus." Divine Intervention" follows one of the earlier books by including an African interlude. But the high-spot in this book comes when a director tries to give a ruling in an unprecedented situation involving the silent Brother Anthony." --"The Bridge World" """ ""Ensure that you start reading this book at a weekend, in the morning, because--like me--you may not be able to put it down until you have finished. The deals are interesting, the instruction is painless, the stories are amusing, and the characters are fascinating stereotypes, familiar personalities to every club player."" --Bridge Plus

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.

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."

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.

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.

The pompous and self-important Abbot returns from his heroics in the Chennai Bermuda Bowl to discover that his fellow monks have taken little interest in this adventure. It is no easy matter for him to once again endure the aggravating ups and downs, familiar to us all, of life as a bridge player. The Abbot plays matches and duplicate sessions against a range of colourful opponents. How can it be that a battle-hardened veteran of the Bermuda Bowl cannot always sweep such moderate opposition aside? Claude Yorke-Smith, his overbearing brother from Devon pays the monastery a visit. The Abbot spends a week in the Convent of Hilda's and is shocked by the severe attitude of the Mother of Discipline. In the final part of the book, the Abbot is visited by his partner from Chennai, the Parrot. How will the bridge players of Hampshire react to such a feathered and outspoken opponent? Other Abbot titles by David Bird: Miracles of Card Play; Unholy Tricks; Doubled and Venerable; Cardinal Sins; The Abbot's Great Sacrifice; Heavenly Contracts; Celestial Cardplay; The Abbot and the Sensational Squeeze; Divine Intervention; The Abbot, the Witchdoctor and the Disastrous Double; The Abbot, the Parrot and the Bermuda Bowl.

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.

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.

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.