Customer Reviews

Card Play Technique: The Art of Being Lucky (Batsford Bridge)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the best book EVER written on declarer play AND defence. And the way the author deals with the same topic alternately from the point of view of declarer and defender makes this book that much more useful. Considering when it was written (more than 40 years ago - this is a reprint), I'm still amazed by how well this book is organized. Principles are explained clearly and illustrated beautifully with sample hands. Each chapter is followed by a quiz (do take the time to try and solve the problems). The presentation is concise, witty and informative at the same time. Very easy to read, and just as useful today as when it was first written. Almost every good player I know has read this book many times.

I must say this book puts to shame the only other comparable "classic", Watson's Play of the hand, which has a tendency to be long-winded. The difference here is that Victor Mollo is a genuinely great writer who knows how to entertain while teaching.

If you buy only one bridge book in your entire life, this should be it. It is written with such skill and humor that it reads like a novel... not only will you learn a tremendous amount from this book, but you'll enjoy yourself in the process. The chapters alternate between Dummy Play and Defense, covering everything from promotion to grand coups. Players of all levels will benefit from reading (and rereading) this excellent book.

Part of the fun of reading this excellent book is watching your own play improve just from reading. If you go a step further and use a deck of cards and deal out the hands, you will gain even more insight into the intricacies of the world's most difficult card game. The chapters of the book alternate: first a chapter on play of the hand, then a chapter on defense. The result is that there is a linkage between the two parts of the play, with one chapter demonstrating how to make a particular type of play and the next showing you how to thwart it. If you play bridge, you owe it to yourself to read this classic.

I have studied quite a few bridge books, and won a number of championships, but THIS one stands out over all the others on the play of the hand.

I heartily recommend this to every intermediate or advanced player.

Not only is this a great book, its fun to read. It's not a dry technical book, its well written and enjoyable to read. The author "covers" many declarer topics from both sides (such as defense against squeezes or defense against endplays). The author has a knack for presenting a subject both clearly and succinctly. There are summaries at the end of each section and a short quiz.

I found this book far superior to Watson's "Play of the Hand" (which seems to be geared towards beginners) but in content and style (its not boring, its fun).

You shoudl have at least a year of experience and read a few other books on technique, such as Bill Roots "How to Declare a Bridge Hand". This one will open your eyes to many other more advanced techniques. Its a great compact presentation. It's a starting point, not a comprehensive presentation of all aspects of advanced methods.

1. Play for a year.
2. Read some books on the way.
3. Read this - your eyes will be opened.
4. Play some more.
5. Read some more.
6. Work on counting.
Repeat steps 3-6


If you are a beginners this will be over your head. Some reviewers gave bad ratings. Thats a mistake. Its a great book, but only if you are ready for it.
(giving this book a bad rating would be like me giving an audrey grant book a 1 becaus eits too simple for me)

I decided to pick up a copy based on some other reviews. I had read his Menagerie series and knew to expect superb writing. Before, I had always steered new players to Watson's Play of the Hand for card play technique. While Watson is a great writer in his own right and his book remains a classic, in my opinion Mollo is a far more eloquent writer.

This book is concise and gets to the heart of each lesson/theme quickly. Economy of words is clearly of utmost importance to Mollo. I love how he alternates the same theme between Declarer play and Defense. It reads much faster than Watson's because it's far less dry, and will be easier to get through for readers.

For this reason, I now recommend this book for technique. Total newbies to Bridge will probably want to start with something a little more elementary (try the ACBL free software course), and once you have some experience behind you, pick this one up.

I have read quite a few bridge books prior to reading this one. I am almost certain that all the great contemporary bridge writers (Lawrence, Kantar, Root, etc) have been inspired by this book and have taken and developed portions of this book into their own.

This book is not for the very beginners and not for experts. You need a bit of practice and experience in order to be able to absorb all the material here. Exclusively about play, each chapter tackles the many principles involved in the play of the hand. From finessing all the way to squeezes and everyhing in between from both sides of the table is approached. Nothing is elaborate because the topics are so many, but the intermediate/advanced reader will be impoving their game considerably after disecting this book.

The style is very dense and direct with very subtle and well placed hummor. Each chapter (21 in total) is followed by a resume of the main ideas discussed in it and a quizz of about 10 problems follows before the next chapter.

This is a must read, must have book for the big majority of the active bridge players.

Enjoy!

First, my mother tongue is French, I'm sure you will excuse my style. This being said, unfortunately, I was very disappointed when I started reading Mollo's book. I wanted to find a book that was covering both the dummy play and the defense. Also, I wanted to revisit the very basics, to have a solid start, and then to go gradually into more complex techniques, covering virtually all aspects of the play, including the more advanced techniques. I was looking for the ultimate book: the Bridge Bible written by a brilliant teacher!

Unfortunately, Mollo starts saying that he will not insult us covering the simple finesse, but will jump right away into the double finesse... The other chapters are similar. This book takes into account that we already have a sound basic technique and covers some variations and tricky situations. Each hand must be studied with actual cards to understand the supposedly "obvious" conclusions he draws.

When I was not looking for a book anymore, I finally tried Watson's book. I hesitated at first, because his style is supposed to be dry and too detailed. EUREKA!!! This is the ultimate BIBLE! Not only it fulfilled all my above expectations, but he goes one step beyond, he is a genius, each chapter is a revelation. I did not learn techniques; I learned the principles underlying the techniques. I now understand why Watson's book is recommended by most schools around the world. This is probably the only book you will every need about the play of the hand.