Introduction to Declarer's Play [Paperback]

E.B. Kantar (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (June 1979)
• ISBN-10: 0134798406
• ISBN-13: 978-0134798400
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,157,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eddie Kantar, a transplanted Californian, is one of the best-known bridge writers in the world. He has more than 30 bridge books in print, some translated into 8 languages, and is a regular contributor to the Bulletin, The Bridge World, Bridge Today, and many other bridge publications.
Eddie, a two-time World Champion, is highly regarded as a player and known as one of bridge's great ambassadors.
Eddie learned to play bridge at age 11. By the time he was 17, he was teaching the game to his friends. Eddie was so enthusiastic about bridge that he often took his bridge books to school, hiding them behind his textbooks so that the teachers couldn't see him reading about bridge during class. At the University of Minnesota, where Eddie studied foreign languages, he taught bridge to pay his tuition.
Eddie gained stature as a player by winning 2 World Championship titles and 11 North American Championships. His North American titles include wins in the Spingold Knockout Teams, the Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams, the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams, and the Grand National Teams. Eddie is a Grand Master in World Bridge Federation rankings and an ACBL Grand Life Master. Today Eddie is best known as a writer, and many of his books are considered classics. When not playing bridge or writing about the subject, he can be found playing paddle tennis (an offshoot of tennis) or bridge at the paddle tennis courts at Venice Beach (come and join the fun in either game). By the way, Eddie is the only person ever to have played in both a World Bridge Championship and a World Table Tennis Championship (he did better at bridge).
Eddie was inducted into the Bridge Hall of Fame in 1996, the same year he was inducted into the Minnesota State Table Tennis Hall of Fame.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best intoduction, February 3, 2003

By 

Prasad Upasani (Southern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Introduction to Declarers Play (Paperback)

This is the best introduction to declarer's play. Not in depth, but you MUST know what's here before you can progress to the next level. After you are done you can read the introduction to defence by the same author. However, to get to expert level in declarer play and defence, you have to read "Card Play Technique" by Victor Mollo.

5.0 out of 5 stars I miss poker :-(, April 24, 2011

By 

William J. Nicholas (Wilmington, Delaware) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Introduction to Declarers Play (Paperback)

Just last week our wonderful. US government made online Poker illegal. I had been playing Poker online since in started in 2000, and I played steadily except for a two-year hiatus when I feared they would make it illegal ... and I pulled my money out. This time they caught me unawares and have my Poker money tied up God knows where. During that last hiatus, I took up Bridge (again for the umpteenth time) and updated my Bridge book collection. I played exclusively on Bridge Base Online which I heartily recommend. I became a solid intermediate player and did develop interest in the game, but when it seemed safe to go back to Poker, I did so. A few years later they caught me. Well, I need my entertainment and since I'm no longer any good at sex, I returned to Bridge.

This time I had a bevy of books to choose from, all those that had lain dormant for the past few years. The question was whih ones would get me back on track the soonest. I started with a series of book which had been pretty easy before but now presented problems. A particular on the play of the hands was Seagram's and Byrd's book 'Plan the Play of the Hand' said to be for newcomers. I realized how much I had slipped by getting only about 50% of their quizzes right as about near 100% before. Clearly I had slipped and slipped badly. So I recommend this book very highly, but don't try it till you have gone through a simpler text. Thus came in Kantar's 'Introduction to Declarer's Play', the kindergarten book on play. The most excellent advantage was I could whip through it like a dervish and understand it and retain it all. Then I returned to Seagram's and Byrd's book and found it to be much much easier.

I then divided my study into three phases, declarer's play, defender' play (Kantar's 'Introduction to Defender's Play'), and I've yet to settle on the bidding book. Even though it is some twenty years old, 'Commensense Bidding' by William Root may be the foundation text for bidding. We shall see. Audrey Grant's Bidding Book endorsed by the ACBL is definitely more up-to-date and is beautiful bonded. Follow by 2/1 bidding by Rodwell and Grant, and you may had a solid winner in getting back to the player you used to be.

I think that it is important for a Bridge book to be fun to read and follow the practical jokes line by line. This draws you to play, kid around and really have an enjoyable evening. Should an evening end with sex, seems to be up for grabs.

5.0 out of 5 stars Beginning bridge player, May 14, 2010

By 

Docent at a college art museum - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Introduction to Declarers Play (Paperback)

I am a beginning bridge player. A friend of mine who has played bridge for many years AND is in the same bridge club as Warren Buffet in Omaha, NE (!)recommended this book and the accompanying one to me. No one source is all encompassing, but I've found this little book enormously helpful as I struggle to figure out how to learn strategic play in this game.