Partnership Bidding at Bridge

You are better of playing for a few years before reading this book, as the lessons will be much easier to absorb. Roughly speaking, the authors advocate different meanings for bids in contested auctions than is standard. They want to show a fit for pard and a 2nd suit. This can be important in contested auctions. They change the meaning of some other bids, and discuss changes in philosophy. They discuus (in depth) the different meanings of sequences that end up in the same contract. There is a great deal of emphasis on pressure bidding (forcing the opponents to make the last guess). On teh downside. there may be some cost to your constructive auctions. I found the book thought provoking. You will need to read this as a partnership. Springing this on a pick up partner will result in a bad time for both of you. Before adopting these ideas - I'd like to know how widely they are used by experts. I would rather use a slightly inferior "standard" system than frequently adopt lots of new systems or conventions. (my card play deficiencies are where I need to improve most)

This book is probably the single most important bridge book on competitive bidding ever written. Perhaps I feel this way because these authors have described many recommended methods, the jump fit bids and the non-jump fit bid in particular, that I have been playing since 1980. But there are several more gems in these pages, both in terms of sugggested methods of conventional raises in competition and in terms of theoretical discussions (e.g., rationale for pressure bidding and off-beat preempts, rules for defining forcing pass situations, and the importance of having a wide assortment of bids describing various hand types that include support for partner's long suit), that are absolutely priceless. The only major critical comment I have is that the book is chock full of typos. But don't let this annoyance distract you from appreciating the quality of the message reflected in the analyses and theoetical presentations. They are consistently top shelf. Please don't read this book if you plan on playing against me!