Points Schmoints!: Bergen's Winning Bridge Secrets [Hardcover]

Marty A. Bergen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1995

SIGNED BY AUTHOR on front endpaper, author's tips also written on front endpaper. First Edition, stated, 5th printing, 1999 Magnus hardback. Very fine orange red cover, gold lettering, and unclipped dustjacket; bright pages, a few dogears, no remainder

Product Details

• Hardcover: 210 pages
• Publisher: Magnus Books; First Edition edition (November 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963753320
• ISBN-13: 978-0963753328
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book - already a classic, April 4, 2001

By 

Prasad Upasani (Southern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Points Schmoints!: Bergen's Winning Bridge Secrets (Hardcover)

This is the perfect book for players who more-or-less have the basics in place. This will correct your misconceptions and raise your game a couple of levels. The first half of the book is all about bidding, and rather than just talking about basic bidding, tells you what to do in those tough borderline situations. A great example is his "Rule of 20", used to decide whether to open the bidding or not: If the sum of your HCP and the number of cards in your two longest suits is 20 or more, open with your normal 1-level bid; else pass. Very effective, and much better (and easier) than counting short-points, long-points, or quick tricks, since this takes into account the ENTIRE distribution. The second half of the book is about declarer play and defence, and is equally good. What distinguishes this book from the rest is that the author doesn't waste space on the basics, and instead concentrates on the intermediate-to-advanced stuff.

Another selling point of this book is Bergen's great sense of humor. Peppered through the book are short anecdotes of actual hands played by him, his friends or students. Most of them are very funny. One gets the sense that Marty was "saving up" his experiences for this book, and has put all his best stuff on paper here. None of his other books come close to the standard set by this book for content or organization, though "More Points Schmoints" tries hard.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and helpful, September 23, 2003

By 

William Garrett (Sunnyvale, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Points Schmoints!: Bergen's Winning Bridge Secrets (Hardcover)

Marty Bergen's "Points Schmoints" is a fun-to-read book that offers a dozen tips on how people who've already mastered the basics of bidding and play can improve their game. The Law of Total Tricks, in particular, is extremely useful for duplicate games.

While Bergen writes with wit and flair that keep this book engaging, I wish he'd done a bit less story-telling and provided a bit more depth of content instead. For the price I feel his book is a bit thin, and that's the one thing that keeps me from rating it 5 stars.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book for intermediates, December 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Points Schmoints!: Bergen's Winning Bridge Secrets (Hardcover)

A must for intermediate duplicate bridge players who want to improve their bidding skills. Experts will also find the book beneficial as a review. Easy and enjoyable to read.