Customer Reviews

Partnership Defense In Bridge

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

 

 

Like many books on defense this book covers the basics of Signaling (Attitude, Count, Suit Preference). It also expands on these and has numerous examples of creative suit preference signals, such as when Attitude and Count are known or irrelavent using teh spot cards for signals. There is a nice section on Deceptive Declarer play, or how to mask the defenders signals. The sections have a number of examples and then some problems for the reader. These problems are not trivial, but they are not super hard either.

This is a good book to read after you have read Eddie Kantars Modern and Advanced Bridge Defense, and Mike Lawrences Dynamic Defense.

If you are not already a solid defender would not start with this book, instead start with Kantar.

You should already be an above average player before tackling this.
-Heavy focus on signaling.
-When to mislead partner on defense.
- Partnership quizzes - these alone are woth the price of the book

This book is for intermediate players, so my review is for intermediate players.

Better defenders identify declarer's concerns and intentions, resulting in a line of defense to realize the concerns and frustrate the intentions. The card play and signals support that line of thinking.
This book is backwards as it focuses on card play and signals with the thought process all over the place depending on the subject at hand.

The clarity of writing itself is only OK, and I have no issue with the content.

I just had trouble trying to apply the disorganized specifics to my actual game.

If one browses through a collection of books on bridge, what will one find? There will be some books about bridge matches, showing how some great players made some great plays (often as declarer). There will be some books on bidding systems and conventions. Some books on declarer play. And, of course, not even last and certainly not least, a few books about defense. But even these books are often oriented towards individual defensive skills. They are geared towards the player who can walk into a game and score well with a pickup partner.

But that leaves out the partnership aspect of the game.

Many of the books that emphasize partnership deal primarily with what system to play, what conventions to play, and how to test one's partnership's ability to arrive at good contracts.

However, there's a big need to defend well. That means agreeing on what signals are to be used and when they are to be used, and it means practicing them! And this well-written book will be of good use for your partnership if you go through it together.