The Bridge World magazine
About TBW
Home Page
Welcome To TBW
Article Sampler
Contact Us
Subscribe
Gift Subscriptions
For Subscribers
Subscription Services
Subscribe
Back Issues & Binders
Editorial Department
Master Solvers' Club
For Everyone
Intro to Bridge
Bridge Glossary
Shop at our store
Bridge World Standard
Bridge Links
Bridge World Extra!
Play Bridge at BBO
Copyright © 1996-
2013 Bridge World
Magazine, Inc.

 

Subscribe to The Bridge World
The Bridge World Subscribe
The Magazine No Bridge Player Should Be Without

MAY 2013

Shop At The Bridge World


BOOKS AND SOFTWARE   New Titles  • All Books  • Bridge Software  • Search By Author  • Used/Out-Of-Print Items
BY TOPIC   Bidding  • Declarer Play  • Defense  • Systems and Conventions  • Humor  • Tournaments/World Championships
RECOMMENDED FOR   Beginners  • Intermediates  • Advanced Players  • Teachers  • Directors
FEATURED ITEMS   Great Gift Ideas  • Bridge Classics  • Best Sellers  • Featured Titles  • Published By The Bridge World
OTHER ITEMS   Playing Cards  • Scorepads  • Bridge World Binders  • Bridge Games  • Books On Other Games

BOOKS ON DEFENSE
25 Ways to Be a Better Defender
by Barbara Seagram & David Bird
List Price: $18.95  Price: $14.78  You Save: $4.17 (22%)

Defense is the hardest part of playing bridge, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible to learn. In the final book of the bestselling '25' series, the authors explain how to make a plan as a defender: how to work out from the auction and play what declarer probably has, and which of the strategies available to defenders is likely to be successful. Opening leads, signaling and discarding are all covered in this basic guide to a vitally important topic.

216 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Barbara Seagram •  David Bird



Advanced Bridge Defense
by Eddie Kantar
List Price: $23.95  Price: $19.16  You Save: $4.79 (20%)

American Bridge Teachers Association Book of the Year Award Winner. Eddie Kantar's various beginner books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in ten different languages, not least because of his unique style and the humor that he introduces into the learning process. Advanced Bridge Defense is intended to cover some of the more complex concepts of bridge defense for the modern advancing player, and will undoubtedly be a standard teaching tool and reference work for the next quarter-century. The topics covered here (planning the defense, inferences, various ways of counting the hand, developing extra trump tricks, falsecarding, and lead-directing doubles) are handled so thoroughly that even more advanced players will benefit from studying this book. Designed to be used by bridge teachers, or by students learning on their own, this book contains a host of features that help the student to grasp the material: clearly laid-out concepts, margin notes, practice hands, chapter-end quizzes, key-point summaries at regular intervals, and an index. It is intended to be read after the companion volume, Eddie Kantar Teaches Modern Bridge Defense.

240 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Eddie Kantar



Bergen For The Defense
by Marty Bergen
List Price: $18.95  Price: $14.97  You Save: $3.98 (21%)

Opening leads, signals, holdup plays, uppercuts, and a whole lot more.

216 pages. Hardcover.

View all titles by Marty Bergen



Bridge Quiz Defence
by Raymond & Sally Brock
List Price: $16.00  Price: $6.40  You Save: $9.60 (60%)

Bridge defence is probably the hardest part of the game mainly because it's difficult to spot the danger signs. Many of the deals in Bridge Quiz: Defence address this problem asking you to plan your defence before the critical point has been reached. It will increase your powers of visualization and as a result expand your ability as defender.

128 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Raymond Brock •  Sally Brock



Bridge: Defending Together
by Freddie North
List Price: $16.95  Price: $10.85  You Save: $6.10 (36%)

It's important that partners cooperate--interpreting the bidding correctly and being on the same wavelength--and here's how they can do just that. There are answers to such questions as "What can I infer from my partner's lead?" and "Is my partner's suggested line of defense worth pursuing?" as well as discussions of maintaining communication, avoiding a bath coup, blocking and unblocking, creating an entry, helping a partner avoid mistakes, and much more, Example hands and revision quizzes accompany the explanations, reinforcing the invaluable tactical lessons.

160 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Freddie North



Bridge: Defense at Trick One
by David J. Weiss
List Price: $15.95  Price: $12.60  You Save: $3.35 (21%)

Teaches counting and defending intelligently based on the information available. Collection off 60 deals is presented as problems for the third hand player at trick one.

192 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by David J. Weiss



Complete Book Of Opening Leads
by Easley Blackwood
List Price: $17.95  Price: $14.36  You Save: $3.59 (20%)

The most comprehensive book ever written on opening leads. Almost every situation imaginable is presented with a wealth of examples from world championship play. Chapters include when to lead long suits, dangerous opening leads, leads against slam contracts, doubling for a lead, when to lead partner's suit, and many others.

475 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Easley Blackwood



Deceptive Defense
The Art Of Bamboozling At Bridge (Vol. 2)
by Barry Rigal
List Price: $22.00  Price: $16.72  You Save: $5.28 (24%)

Would you like to beat some unbeatable contracts? Would you like to make some unmakable contracts? Would you like to become a bridge magician? This book will show you the way to improve your game, amaze your partner, and befuddle your opponents. Deception in the hands of a defender is a two edged sword. While trying to slice up the declarer, you may wound your partner. Listen to Barry Rigal, the bridge doctor who can prescribe the right treatment.

210 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Barry Rigal



Defend These Hands with Me
by Julian Pottage
List Price: $17.95  Price: $12.39  You Save: $5.56 (31%)

Julian Pottage worked on a number of books with the late Terence Reese, and this one pays homage to a man who was certainly the best bridge writer of his time. One of Reese's classics, Play these hands with me, pioneered the 'over-the-shoulder' style of bridge writing. What that book did for declarer play, the present one will do for defense: the reader can follow the thinking of an expert player, stopping at critical points in the play to make his own decision about how to continue.

192 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Julian Pottage



Defend With Your Life
by Terence Reese & Eddie Kantar
List Price: $16.95  Price: $13.56  You Save: $3.39 (20%)

This joint venture between Bridge experts Eddie Kantar and Terence Reese offers a random selection of problems. Complex enough to keep you awake at night, but practical enough to offer solutions that can be applied to similiar situations at the bridge table. If you work at the problems in the right way, assembling all the information available, you will find your notions of defensive play will be transformed.

150 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Terence Reese •  Eddie Kantar



Defending Notrump Contracts
Test Your Bridge Technique Series
by David Bird & Tim Bourke
List Price: $9.95  Price: $7.56  You Save: $2.39 (24%)

Short and full of practical examples, each book takes the reader through the most important aspects of card-play technique at bridge. Where appropriate, play is examined from the point of view both of declarer and defenders. Full of quizzes and chapter reviews, these award-winning books will also reinforce the bridge concepts you learn.

104 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by David Bird •  Tim Bourke



Defending Suit Contracts
Test Your Bridge Technique Series
by David Bird & Tim Bourke
List Price: $9.95  Price: $7.56  You Save: $2.39 (24%)

Short and full of practical examples, each book takes the reader through the most important aspects of card-play technique at bridge. Where appropriate, play is examined from the point of view both of declarer and defenders. Full of quizzes and chapter reviews, these award-winning books will also reinforce the bridge concepts you learn.

104 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by David Bird •  Tim Bourke



Defense
ACBL Series
by Audrey Grant
List Price: $14.95  Price: $11.81  You Save: $3.14 (21%)

Audrey Grant and the Contract Bridge League have worked together to produce a series of bridge books for new players and experienced players who would like to review the basics and improve their game. * Audrey Grant, a Canadian educator and world famous bridge teacher, calls herself "an authority on simplicity." She has an uncanny knack for teaching people to play bridge, the most popular game on the panet. * The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), with nearly 170,000 members in Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the United States, is the main sanctioning body for organized bridge in North America. It sponsors more than 1,000 bridge tournaments a year and has more than 3,500 affiliated bridge clubs. * Grant has written more than 20 books on bridge. Those most in demand are the five books which make up the the ACBL Bridge Series - Bidding (Club Series), Play of the Hand (Diamond Series), Defense (Heart Series), Commonly Used Conventions (Spade Series), and More Commonly Used Conventions (Notrump Series). * Grant's passion is teaching. In this series of books, she makes it easy to learn the game of bridge and to improve the knowledge and skills of the reader/student. Her attitude toward bridge is what sets Grant apart. While many approach the game with the grim seriousness of a brain surgeon, she approaches it with a sense of fun. * The ACBL and Audrey Grant have collaborated on a series of television programs for PBS.

420 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Audrey Grant



Dynamic Defense
by Mike Lawrence
List Price: $11.95  Price: $9.32  You Save: $2.63 (22%)

An over-the-shoulder look at the most difficult part of bridge. Attempt to find the winning plays. 65 problems explained and analyzed.

226 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Mike Lawrence



Easy Guide To Defensive Signals
by Julian Pottage
List Price: $16.95  Price: $11.53  You Save: $5.42 (32%)

East knows that West has a void in hearts. West knows that East has a stopper in clubs. But how? To the novice player, it seems as if experienced bridge partners can read each other's minds. But the real secrets of defensive signaling are much less mysterious--and much more interesting. Learning how to signal, both through cue-bidding and in the play of the hand, will do more to help beginners drastically improve their game than anything else. This book is the ideal way to learn--a clearly written, logically organized course in this essential subject.

160 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Julian Pottage



Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Trump Leads
And Were Not Afraid To Ask
by George Rosenkranz
List Price: $8.00  Price: $4.64  You Save: $3.36 (42%)

"You are always given the West hand, the bidding with explanations, and asked what you would lead. As you begin to absorb the principles laid down in the book, you are almost forced to realize how important it is to try and form a picture of the opponent's distribution before plunking that telltale opening lead on the table. "Dr. Rosenkranz has tackled a tough subject, has presented a clear-cut method of analyzing the whys and wherefores of the of the opening trump lead, and, in my opinion, has hit the bull's-eye. Personally, I don't think I am going to be quite so generous on opening leads anymore. Thanks, George."--Eddie Kantar

158 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by George Rosenkranz



Famous Leads And Defences
by David Bird
List Price: $18.00  Price: $14.40  You Save: $3.60 (20%)

This is a collection of famous opening leads and key decisions in defence. On each deal, David Bird sets the scene and leaves the choice of which card to play to the reader, who can compare his efforts with those of the champion who originally held the cards.

128 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by David Bird



Improve Your Opening Leads
by Ron Klinger
List Price: $19.95  Price: $15.96  You Save: $3.99 (20%)

More games are lost by making the incorrect opening lead than by any other play--this essential guide to better bridge will help any player improve their game and their results. The opening lead is one of the toughest areas of bridge. By following the guidelines in this book not only will you find the winning lead more often, but you will also be able to avoid the futile or dangerous leads which make declarer's task easier. By giving less away with the opening lead, your scores are bound to improve. This book is about the logic and methods for finding the best lead time and time again. The first section deals with the approach you should adopt before you even consider plucking a card from your hand. It provides a series of steps to enable you to come up with the best start. This is followed by a section of practical problems that arose in major competitions where the very best players did not always find the right answer. Most importantly, the solutions to each problem include the logic behind the right choice and the clues that should point you in the right direction. After completing this book, perhaps you will not find the killing lead every time, but you will find it more often.

96 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Ron Klinger



Killing Defence At Bridge
by Hugh Kelsey
List Price: $20.00  Price: $16.00  You Save: $4.00 (20%)

Killing Defence at Bridge is one of the all-time classics of the game. When it was first published, it revolutionized defense play, and today it continues to be as incisive and relevant as ever.

192 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Hugh Kelsey



Leading Questions in Bridge
by Sally Brock
List Price: $17.95  Price: $13.82  You Save: $4.13 (23%)

Perhaps more points are won and lost on the opening lead than at any other time in a bridge hand. With only the bidding and his own thirteen cards as guidance, the opening leader must make a decision that has the potential, at one stroke, to determine the outcome of the play for better or worse. In this book, a top player and writer takes the reader through the questions that need to be asked before selecting an opening lead: whether to be active or passive, whether to lead partner's suit or your own, whether to lead trumps or not, whether to try a deceptive lead, and so on. These and many other issues are covered in an approachable book aimed at the player who wants to improve a key aspect of his game.

176 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Sally Brock



Masterpieces of Defence
by Julian Pottage
List Price: $16.00  Price: $12.80  You Save: $3.20 (20%)

Defense: the mere word can cause bridge players to step back. Yet the fact remains that you will defend roughly twice as many hands as you declare. A solid grasp of what it takes to break a contract is thus a key element of winning on a regular basis. Julian Pottage shows how players of all levels can optimize their talents.

128 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Julian Pottage



Matchpoint Defense
by Jim Priebe
List Price: $18.95  Price: $14.78  You Save: $4.17 (22%)

If defense is the hardest part of playing bridge (and it is!) then defending at matchpoint scoring is the toughest challenge a player can face. Every trick matters, irrespective of the contract, and every decision is potentially critical. In Thinking on Defense Jim Priebe introduced the idea of visualization, picturing likely hands for declarer and basing defensive strategy on those. In this book he show how to apply the same methods when playing in matchpoint events, which means essentially every pairs competition.

200 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Jim Priebe



Modern Bridge Defense
by Eddie Kantar
List Price: $23.95  Price: $19.16  You Save: $4.79 (20%)

Eddie Kantar's various beginner books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in ten different languages, not least because of his unique style and the humor that he introduces into the learning process. Modern Bridge Defense is intended to cover the basic concepts of bridge defense, and will undoubtedly be a standard teaching tool and reference work for the next quarter-century. The topics covered here (leads, signaling, second- and third-hand play, and discarding) are handled so thoroughly that even more advanced players will benefit from studying this book. Designed to be used by bridge teachers, or by students learning on their own, this book contains a host of features that help the student to grasp the material: clearly laid-out concepts, margin notes, practice hands, chapter-end quizzes, key-point summaries at regular intervals, and an index. It is intended to be read before the companion volume, Eddie Kantar Teaches Advanced Bridge Defense.

240 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Eddie Kantar



Modern Defensive Signalling
by Kit Woolsey
List Price: $5.95  Price: $5.00  You Save: $0.95 (16%)

Learn the latest innovations in leading, discarding and signaling. Upside-Down, Odd-Even, Lavinthal, Encrypted signals. How declarer can combat these methods.

64 pages. Booklet.

View all titles by Kit Woolsey



More Killing Defence at Bridge
by Hugh Kelsey
List Price: $22.00  Price: $17.60  You Save: $4.40 (20%)

This sequel to Hugh Kelsey's bestselling Killing Defence at Bridge focuses on the importance of what to discard and how to control options in defence. By helping you develop insights into the hidden possibilities in the lie and play of the cards, this book will make you a sought-after partner, and a respected opponent.

192 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Hugh Kelsey



Opening Lead
by Krzysztof Martens
List Price: $20.00  Price: $17.20  You Save: $2.80 (14%)

How to think about the opening lead from an expert perspective. Larger number of analyzed practice examples.

165 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Krzysztof Martens



Opening Leads
by Mike Lawrence
List Price: $19.95  Price: $15.76  You Save: $4.19 (21%)

Covers all standard lead considerations plus more.

289 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Mike Lawrence



Partnership Defense
by Kit Woolsey
List Price: $12.95  Price: $10.88  You Save: $2.07 (16%)

The best book on defense ever written. How everyone can learn to defend like an expert. A detailed discussion of signals, leads, matchpoints, defensive conventions and protecting partner. Quizzes and a unique partnership test at the end.

303 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Kit Woolsey



Pathways to Better Bridge Defense
by Danny Roth
List Price: $14.95  Price: $11.81  You Save: $3.14 (21%)

Become a better defender! So you tend to get dealt very bad hands. I know exactly how you feel! But, facing the facts of life and recognizing that it is not your fault, you are going to have to accommodate this failing and improve your defense. It's a hard part of the game; even in international competitions, the standard of defensive play is, to put it kindly, modest. Yes, you will get plenty of reports of brilliancies involving spectacular switches, deceptions, unblocks and discards of honors. But for every one of those, there are countless others in which the display would disgrace any beginners' class. I am going to assume that you are a regular club or tournament player who knows the basics of defense but who comes unstuck when it comes to situations where you have to work the hand out in detail. This book will help you to improve dramatically in this area.

184 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Danny Roth



Planning in Defense
Bridge Technique Series 11
by David Bird & Marc Smith
List Price: $7.95  Price: $6.36  You Save: $1.59 (20%)

Short and full of practical examples, each book takes the reader through the most important aspects of card-play technique at bridge. Where appropriate, play is examined from the point of view both of declarer and defenders. Full of quizzes and chapter reviews, these award-winning books will also reinforce the bridge concepts you learn. At this price, what bridge player could stand not to have all twelve?

64 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by David Bird •  Marc Smith



Positive Defense in Bridge
by Terence Reese & Julian Pottage
List Price: $16.95  Price: $12.71  You Save: $4.24 (25%)

This book was originally published in 1985, and in this new edition is substantially revised and expanded. It is a collection of bridge problems designed to teach players how to think along the right lines at the bridge table. Anyone who absorbs even a fraction of the ideas presented here will himself making contracts that might have been defeated, and defeating contracts that might have been made.

160 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Terence Reese •  Julian Pottage



The Golden Rules of Opening Leads
by Julian Pottage
List Price: $22.95  Price: $18.36  You Save: $4.59 (20%)

The fate of many a contract hangs on the opening lead, making it the most important play in the whole hand. The Golden Rules of Opening Leads is an excellent guide to this frequently neglected aspect of the game. Here you can find all of the rules, with examples relevant to bridge today. If you study this book carefully, you will find that the way to pick killing leads derives from what you hear in the auction and in relating that to what you see in your hand.

160 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Julian Pottage



The Setting Trick
Practical Problems in Bridge Defense
by Ian McCance
List Price: $18.95  Price: $11.18  You Save: $7.77 (41%)

Problems in defensive cardplay; all deals selected from real events.

160 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Ian McCance



Thinking on Defense
by Jim Priebe
List Price: $15.95  Price: $12.60  You Save: $3.35 (21%)

Defense is the most difficult part of bridge, and for most players, the hardest part of defense is figuring out what to do. In this book, the reader is shown step-by-step how to visualize declarer's cards from the bidding and play, and then how to use this information to form a plan for the defense. This book is based on Jim Priebe's popular articles 'Visualization on Defense' which appeared in the ACBL Bulletin in early 2001.

192 pages. Paperback.

View all titles by Jim Priebe