[TimG]

Back in the day, if someone wanted to learn to play bridge, they might be handed a copy of 5 Weeks to Winning Bridge. Is there a contemporary equivalent?

[Stephen Tu]

The "Learn To Play Bridge" downloads from the ACBL site. Also Kantar's "Bridge for Dummies".

Not really "5 weeks" "equivalents", but I think the best starting points for beginners I've read through. I usually recommend those to start, then move on to Root to advance in cardplay.

"5 weeks" still has excellent cardplay material of course, but the bidding is dated, and maybe the play advances in difficulty a bit fast for a beginner?

[chasetb]

Well, I started bridge 3 years ago, and the first book I read was The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge (1st Edition) , H. Anthony Medley with a foreword from Mike Lawrence. I checked it out free from my local library, and while it taught rubber-style bridge, toward the end it had all the stuff you needed if you wanted to switch over into duplicate. The early stuff is on bidding, but towards the end they do get on cardplay.

Since then, a 2nd Edition has been released (Lawrence is now a co-author), and they cleaned it up a little as well as adding a section at the very end on 2/1. On Half.com , after shipping costs (US) the 1st edition comes out to just over $4 and the 2nd edition just under $7. I recommend the 2nd one only because of the improvements and the 2/1, but both are witty and insightful, and they help you learn.

[broze]

Remarkable! My learning to play bridge story is exactly the same. I used this book to teach myself bridge three years ago. I was having a lazy week one summer and for some reason we had this book in the house and I barely even know why but I read it and taught myself the game in a couple of days. A few days later I signed on to BBO as a novice and had to put up with hundreds of pickup partners criticising my adherence to Strong Jump Shifts (I have since converted to weak) After the summer was over I taught a few people at my college what I knew, one of whom has become my regular partner and caught up with me in ability!

All I can say is that the book (which as you mentioned is a little light on the cardplay) taught me basically everything I needed to know and three years down the line I'm still completely obsessed. In fact it's become my passion.

chasetb, on 2012-July-27, 10:21, said:

Well, I started bridge 3 years ago, and the first book I read was The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge (1st Edition) , H. Anthony Medley with a foreword from Mike Lawrence. I checked it out free from my local library, and while it taught rubber-style bridge, toward the end it had all the stuff you needed if you wanted to switch over into duplicate. The early stuff is on bidding, but towards the end they do get on cardplay.

Since then, a 2nd Edition has been released (Lawrence is now a co-author), and they cleaned it up a little as well as adding a section at the very end on 2/1. On Half.com , after shipping costs (US) the 1st edition comes out to just over $4 and the 2nd edition just under $7. I recommend the 2nd one only because of the improvements and the 2/1, but both are witty and insightful, and they help you learn.

[chasetb]

Broze, the reason I started bridge was I transferred to a new college, and my friends at the old college were already back from their Spring Break when I started mine. After reading the local paper and seeing the Bridge column (Becker bridge), I decided to spend a week to learn Bridge, just to understand the column. Unfortunately, I had no luck in teaching any of my friends.

[Quantumcat]

Most clubs here in Australia use Paul Marston's "Introduction to Bridge".

Probably the reason most beginner bridge books don't teach cardplay is that it is something you can figure out for yourself, unlike bidding.

[Zelandakh]

Quantumcat, on 2012-August-01, 20:52, said:

Probably the reason most beginner bridge books don't teach cardplay is that it is something you can figure out for yourself, unlike bidding.

I find this slightly funny as, after the introduction, I basically taught myself much of bidding theory by trying stuff out and writing everything down, whereas I think I could have spent every day trying to teach myself card play without reaching a good level in it. Perhaps it depends on the way you think but I think trying to create signalling and leading conventions from scratch would be pretty difficult for the average player, not to mention the correct count for different squeeze types and some of the advanced defensive plays.

[Quantumcat]

Not the leading conventions I was thinking about, but learning to work on a long and weak suit first rather than cash your aces and kings, drawing trump, and figuring out how to ruff losers and take finesses. These are things you can figure out without being taught. Bidding, on the other hand, requires a lot of conventions - you wouldn't figure out HCP by yourself for instance, so you wouldn't be able to work out what was an opening hand and what wasn't except by feel. You probably wouldn't even work out the concept of an "opening hand" by yourself - maybe the weak hands open and the strong ones don't, and you pass an opening unless you have a strong hand? It would also take a lot of play before you realised that having eight trumps is a good idea - you can work out by "feel" you need more than the opponents, but do you need seven or ten? You wouldn't even know that it is very unlikely to have a ten card fit so that isn't what bidding is looking for! Etc etc etc.

[1eyedjack]

For cardplay technique I recommend "Victor Mollo's Winning Double" (by Victor Mollo of course)

Out of print, but the second hand market on t'Internet has copies.

It is nothing more than a set of problems set out on one page, solutions on the next. Pretty much the entire gamut of basic play problems is covered: When to duck, when to draw drumps, when not to draw trumps, when to finesse or not, a couple of very basic squeezes thrown in to keep the interest going.

The book's name is derived from it's format. It is divided into two halves. The specific problems are unique, but the nature and complexity is evenly spread out between the halves. The reader chooses which half to tackle first, and the author claims that whichever you choose first, you will score higher on the second set. Quite a good confidence booster.

[shintaro]

Wasn't there a book by the Lederers called 'Bridge with the Lederers' or something