Customer Reviews

How to Play a Bridge Hand: 12 Easy Chapters to Winning Bridge by America's Premier Teacher

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

 

 

Bill Root's How to Play a Bridge Hand is very well organized and very easy to follow - from how to play card combinations through operating a squeeze play. At the end of each of the twelve chapters there is a quiz of problem hands to solve. There is much to be learned from this book and I highly recommend it for the novice through advanced player. Winner of the American Bridge Teachers' Association book of the year award.

A splendid effort from Bill Root. Covers every aspect of play with tips on strategy, technique, and psychology. Covers suit combinations, communications, entries, trump control, ruffing, counting, card reading, squeezes, and end plays. 1990 Bridge Book of the Year.

As one who considers himself in the upper novice category of bridge playing, I find this book to be a great tool to learn various techniques for playing bridge hands. There is no bidding in the examples unless it is required for play decisions. There is also no discussion of defense. The book has 12 chapters which each feature an 8 hand quiz at the end. The quiz hands usually focus on the concept covered in the chapter, but also branch out into ideas covered in previous chapters. Basic techniques such as trump play, entries, end plays, and squeezes have their own chapters. As the forward points out, this book is not for rank beginners, nor will the expert get much out of it. For the other 90% of us, it's a great resource to have!

I am a newbie, here, but having read a bit of this book and Watson's one, I have to say the following: both are excellent books, but both suffer from extreme teaching mentalities. This one is terse, you have to expand the text and analyse it; Watson's book on the other hand spoonfeeds the reader who has to condense and summarise everything in it.

Root's book is dry but effective; be prepared to really work out the examples not just the quizes and you will end up with another book of your own notes; in the end, you really learn the topic.

Also, some person here complained that this book is not for a beginner; I am a beginner. This book has prerequisites which are covered in the free software supplied on the website of the American Bridge Association (ACBL?). Once you go through that teaching tool, you are ready for this book, no problem.

I highly reccomend this book. Terse, focused to the point at hand (ha, ha), it is dry reading, but highly effective if you decide to expand on the text on your own on the margins.

Do not read it passively.

"How to Play a Bridge Hand" is the definitive primer on declarer play. No, it does not teach advanced play technique like backwash squeezes or smother plays. What it does is provide a novice to intermediate player an overview of every aspect of dummy play. The discussions attempt to identify every common card play situation, and the quizzes reinforce this material. If it seems dry at times, that's only because Root apparently wanted to pack as much teaching into as little space as possible - and he succeeds admirably.

This is a must-read book for anyone wanting to begin to improve their dummy play.

Root's book is concise and effective, there is no superfluous flowery statements in this book and everything presented here is what you need to winning bridge.
A polished book, you will like it, but be sure you have some very basic bridge knowledges before reading it!

Bill Root's "How to Teach a Bridge Hand" is for most bridge players from novice to advanced, but not for experts. It covers the basics of dummy play, with clear presentations. You won't find strip squeeze and entry-shifting squeeze in this book, but you will find the book useful for those hands frequently appearing at the table

To get anything out of this book you need to have a litle practical experience first. A pure Novice will not get as much out of the book.
With several months experience, you will appreciate this book a lot more. Its slow going, but thats necessary because this is a technical subject. After reading it, you will forget quite a lot of it. Try reading it again a year later. Then it will sink in much better.


For thiose who gave this book a bad review becaus eit was too advanced for them - the problem is with you, not the book. You are not yet at the level to use this book effectively. To read this book as a novice/weak player will not help so much. You need the experience to give you a frame of reference.

After reading this book you can advance to the harder books like teh Card Play Made Easy series and Mollos Card Play Technique.

A splendid effort from Bill Root. Covers every aspect of play with tips on strategy, technique, and psychology. Covers suit combinations, communications, entries, trump control, ruffing, counting, card reading, squeezes, and end plays. 1990 Bridge Book of the Year.

This book was recommended by my bridge teacher. It has great hands to practice with clearly stated answers.