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THE BRIDGE WORLD

ITEMS BY DR. JAMES MARSH STERNBERG

Item ImageActive or Passive
A Guide to Being a Better Defender
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
142 pages. Paperback.

Innumerable books have been written on declarer play. Far less attention has been paid by bridge writers to defense, which is the weakest part of most players' game. This book presents a series of problems in defensive play, the central theme being active versus passive defense. This problem may start with the opening lead, arise at Trick Two, or be a decision later during the play of the hand . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageAn Entry, An Entry, My Kingdom For An Entry
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
170 pages. Paperback.

This little word is vital in every bridge player's lexicon in its entirety, and especially important is the final syllable--TRY. A clear understanding of this topic should be one of the top priorities of every bridge player. When the dummy comes down, both the declarer and the defenders should be thinking about entries. Declarer is planning the transportation between the hands while the defenders . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageBlocking and Unblocking
Don't Paint Yourself Into A Corner
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
166 pages. Paperback.

In this book, we will see a variety of examples of how to unblock your suits and how to block theirs. Mastering these will lessen your frustrations. The plays are easy, it's the anticipation in sufficient time that is a good deal more tricky. I'm sure you will recognize some of these situations from your own times at the tables where you may have found yourself blocked. There is some overlap; som . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageEliminations and Endplays
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
155 pages. Paperback.

Card play at bridge embraces both declarer play and defense. Hundreds of books have been written about it. Our approach here, as in our previous books, is to focus on a particular deal type. Repeated experience with a theme makes it easier to recognize deal types and employ the appropriate techniques for each. A common and important line of play is elimination play, eliminating the side suits to . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageFrom Zero to Three Hundred
A Bridge Journey
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
76 pages. Paperback.

Three hundred. What's so special about the number 300? It's the magic number all serious bridge players seek, often unsuccessfully. It takes three hundred masterpoints of varying types to become a Life Master in the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). When Dr. James Sternberg took up the game, he had never played, but thought it was a game that could be learned in a few weeks and would provid . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageLOL: It's Loser-On-Loser
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
168 pages. Paperback.

Just what is LOL? Yes, a common abbreviation for Laughing Out Loud, and often used to refer to a Little Old Lady, but in bridge it means a Loser-On-Loser play. At times a declarer can improve his/her situation by playing a losing card from one hand on a loser in a different suit from the hand opposite. This occurs when a player has a loser in two suits but can arrange to lose them both on one tri . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImagePlaying to Trick One
There Are No Mulligans in Bridge
Second Edition
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
178 pages. Paperback.

Bridge is a game of mistakes. The best players make fewer mistakes. It's not a matter of being brilliant--the real expert players never make basic mistakes, they keep the ball in the court, in the fairway. Sure there is an occasional hand where they make a brilliant play but that's not what distinguishes the true expert from the good player. One often hears an expert say "I've seen this hand befo . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageReversing The Dummy
And Its Cousin, The Crossruff
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
87 pages. Paperback.

When discussing declarer play, the first thing I always suggest is for declarer to try to determine what kind of hand he is dealing with. Proper play of the hand starts with planning your play at Trick 1. After identifying/counting your losers, you need to look for ways to eliminate them. Counting winners too sometimes makes things easier, especially for dummy reversals. After all, there are only . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageSecond Hand High, Third Hand Not So High
No Rules, Just Right
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
206 pages. Paperback.

"Second hand low" and "third hand high" are adages we learned in Bridge 101 along with others like "cover an honor with an honor" and "always return your partner's suit." These so-called rules will get you by, but they won't see you very far. Second hand must become familiar with certain basic positions to try to foil declarer's plans, often by playing second hand high. Likewise, many contracts a . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageShortness
A Key to Better Bidding
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
125 pages. Paperback.

This book is about only one thing: Shortness, singletons or voids. It's impossible to overestimate the value distribution plays in bidding accuracy. High cards are nice; anybody can bid games and slams when the high cards are falling out of their hands onto the table. But usually those results don't get you very far. It's usually an average or maybe just above. You don't win bridge tournaments th . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageSimple Squeezes Made Simple
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
List Price: $23.95  Sale Price: $20.36  You Save: 15%
104 pages. Paperback.

Squeezes. Just the word strikes fear into the heart of many bridge players. But simple squeezes are actually quite simple. The single or simple squeeze accounts for 90% of squeezes and 90% of this book deals with simple squeezes. If you wish to become more than just a mediocre bridge player mastering the techniques of basic simple squeeze play is a must. In any session of bridge of twenty or so d . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageSolving the Mystery of the Redouble
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
120 pages. Paperback.

More often than any other calls in bridge, redoubles produce confusion. When they do, the resulting disasters are more catastrophic than any others. Many doubles originally treated as penalty have been supplanted by conventional doubles. So also many "business" redoubles, originally used to quadruple the stakes, have been diverted to other uses. In this book we shall show you how to tell the diff . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageSuit Preference
The Abused and Misused Signal
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
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98 pages. Paperback.

If there was ever an area in bridge that resembles walking thru a mine field this is it. No topic causes more confusion and arguments than suit preference signals. "Partner, I played a deuce. Why didn't you switch to a club?" is heard everywhere all the time. Most signals in bridge are attitude and some are count. At the end of the line are suit preference signals. And yet, they can be found in t . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageThe Finesse, Only a Last Resort
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg
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250 pages. Paperback.

How much do you really know about finesses? A finesse is one of the most common techniques in bridge and yet one of the most abused. The term "finesseaholic" describes a player who never met a finesse he/she didn't want to take. So often the finesse is really a last resort, only when other more promising lines of play are not available or have failed. As a common technique, so much is often taken . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageThe Search for a Second Suit
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
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178 pages. Paperback.

Becoming a good declarer starts with some basic principles. All the books tell you the same thing; before playing to Trick 1, think and form a plan. But what should you think about? Players often look at a deal and see a new mystery, a complex problem. They become overwhelmed. Of all the ways of winning tricks, cashing high cards and taking finesses are easiest. But establishing a long suit requi . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageTo Ruff or Not to Ruff
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
List Price: $23.95  Sale Price: $20.36  You Save: 15%
157 pages. Paperback.

To ruff or not to ruff. The question seems so easy. To draw trumps promptly or is there something else to do first? Declarer has so many options. Ruff in dummy, a ruffing finesse, a crossruff, a dummy reversal, even a trump coup or scoring a trump 'en passant'. And preventing the opponents from obtaining ruffs. What about the defenders? Should they be the ones to draw trumps? Can they spin straw . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageTrump Promotion
The Uppercut
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg • Danny Kleinman
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92 pages. Paperback.

How do defenders win trump tricks? Other than having high honors, natural winners, it's by getting an early ruff of a short suit. Far more fulfilling and intriguing possibilities arise in poking away at declarer's trump suit and plucking out an unexpected trick. Trump promotion has been described as the magic of creating trump tricks that didn't exist at the beginning of the deal. The basis for t . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageTrump Suit Headaches
Rx for Declarers and Defenders
2nd Edition
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
250 pages. Paperback.

The trump suit adds a dimension that makes bridge so different from other card games. In a suit contract, play is complicated by declarer's need to keep control. If control is lost, it may be almost impossible to make proper use of one's strength in the side suits. Before playing to trick one, one should ask what might go wrong? If playing a suit contract, is there a reason not to draw trumps? Or . . . read more.

                                   
Item ImageWhen Michaels Met The Unusual
by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg
List Price: $17.95  Sale Price: $15.26  You Save: 15%
97 pages. Paperback.

In the earlier days of bridge, a direct cue bid of the opponent's opening bid was traditionally played as a 'strong cue bid', a hand too strong for an ordinary take-out double, and forcing to game. A typical hand was any 4-4-4-1 hand with 18-19+ HCP. These occurred so seldom and players found they could be handled by starting with a take-out double anyhow that the direct cue bid was finally put t . . . read more.