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25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know
Explains twenty-five bidding conventions, including the grand slam force, lead-directing doubles, negative doubles, new minor forcing, responsive doubles, reverse Drury, splinter bids, Stayman, takeout doubles, and weak two-bids
190 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 26, 2013
I was given this excellent book by one of my bridge friends and have referred to it many times.
It is written succinctly to provide you with an understanding of 25 bridge conventions that will be sure to improve your game. It is divided into three parts: Section I – Basic conventions Section 2 – More complicated Section 3 – Sophisticated stuff. No matter what level you are currently playing at you can find answers in this book.
What makes it one of my most-thumbed through books is that each convention is presented in a couple of easy to follow pages. You don’t have to slog through an entire chapter to get the “guts” of the concept you are looking for.
If you play bridge – you’ll love this book!
Diana Young- World Traveler – currently sailing in the South Pacific for six month and #1 Amazon Best-selling author of Financial Fitness for Beginners.
It is written succinctly to provide you with an understanding of 25 bridge conventions that will be sure to improve your game. It is divided into three parts: Section I – Basic conventions Section 2 – More complicated Section 3 – Sophisticated stuff. No matter what level you are currently playing at you can find answers in this book.
What makes it one of my most-thumbed through books is that each convention is presented in a couple of easy to follow pages. You don’t have to slog through an entire chapter to get the “guts” of the concept you are looking for.
If you play bridge – you’ll love this book!
Diana Young- World Traveler – currently sailing in the South Pacific for six month and #1 Amazon Best-selling author of Financial Fitness for Beginners.
June 7, 2018
Bridge Players Required Reading!
Written by Barbara Seagram & Marc Smith, and published by Master Point Press - Toronto in 1999, this book is a definitive description of the twenty-five most important bidding conventions used in the card game of Contract Bridge. There is a summary, followed by a quiz, at the end of each chapter, and the quiz questions alternately apply to both bidder and responder. Each convention is a separate chapter in the book, and my review will be divided accordingly.
Chapter 1 describes the Stayman 2 ♣ response to an opening bid of one Notrump. The description and examples are clear and concise, and everybody might learn a little from reading them. I know I did.
Chapter 2 is about Takeout Doubles, along with how and when to use them. The rules and guidelines for both the doubler and the responder are very clear, logical and easy to understand. The authors also discuss cue bidding in opponents suit (after a takeout double) in this chapter. I found it to be informative.
Chapter 3 is about Weak Two Bids. The lesson explains clearly when, and with what card-holdings, a player should open the bidding at the two-level. The proper responses to a weak two bid by partner are also described. There was at least one tip in the chapter with which I had not been familiar, but which makes perfect sense. I learned something from this chapter.
Chapter 4 is about the Strong 2 ♣ artificial opening bid in the Standard American bidding system. I had forgotten about the 2nd negative by responder, so this chapter was a good reminder for me. The chapter is an excellent description of the strong, forcing bid and its responses.
Chapter 5 is about Reverses, a topic that is near and dear to me after several different partners recently missed my Reverse and stopped bidding short of a game contract in recent games. We are told in this chapter that a Reverse is absolutely forcing for one round. We are also told that the first suit bid by opener must be longer, or of equal length, to the second suit bid. Furthermore, the Reverse bidder must have at least 16 High Card Points (HCP) in order to Reverse. As always, the quiz at the end of the chapter is enlightening.
Chapter 6 is a description of the Blackwood and Gerber Ace/King asking bids. It is important to note that Blackwood can never be used over a Notrump bid because 4 NT is a Quantitative Notrump Raise inviting a slam bid from responder with a maximum hand. The Gerber 4 ♣ bid is the only Ace-asking bid available to Notrump bidders. Of interest is the display of a pair of hand with 34 HCP together that cannot make a slam of any kind. The deficiencies of Blackwood are explained and demonstrated to show that knowing about Aces and Kings will not always benefit a declarer, especially if one Ace is missing. In addition to Blackwood there is still a great benefit to cue bidding controls, in my view. The authors make a sage observation: “Do not use Blackwood as a constructive tool for bidding slams; use Blackwood to avoid bidding bad slams.” We are also advised not to use Blackwood or Gerber in hands with a void or two quick losers in an unbid suit. Useful advice!
Chapter 7 describes the Negative Double. It presents a set of guidelines for when, and how, to use the Negative Double. The Negative Double is probably one of the cheapest, and most effective, ways of finding a Major suit, and especially a Heart, fit. It is an inexpensive bid, requiring only 6 points to Double at the 1-level. It is such a useful bid that you should see its use at least once in every game you play—if not by you and your partner, then certainly by your opponents.
Chapter 8 is about Jacoby and Texas Transfer Bids in response to Notrump. It is a thorough evaluation of when and how to use these conventions. Many players will find the information in this chapter to be useful, if only as a refresher.
The next chapter begins Part 2 of the book, titled More Complicated. The chapters in this Part describe the more sophisticated conventions, such as Chapter 9’s Jacoby 2NT forcing response over an opening bid of One Heart or One Spade. Like the Jacoby Transfer bid, this one was the “invention of the late great Oswald Jacoby (1902-1984) of Dallas, Texas, who also popularized transfer bids and the weak jump overcalls.” The Jacoby 2NT bid is a powerful and streamlined way to find a fit in a Major suit, along with Game-forcing values. It is an extremely useful convention used by a great many Bridge players.
Chapter 10 tells us about the Splinter Bids that were invented and put into widespread use by Dorothy Hayden Truscott in 1964. They are a great way to show partner a singleton or void in a suit while, at the same time, expressing support for his/her Major suit. It is a precise bid, showing 13-15 points and, at most, a singleton in the bid suit. What more could opener wish for?
Chapter 11 was, to me, not as clearly explained as the earlier chapters in the book. In fact, I found parts of it to be downright confusing. I had to read it over several time to get the authors’ point. The chapter is about Cue Bidding the opponent’s suit. As I understand it, a cue bid in opponents’ suit after partner has either opened, or overcalled, in a Major suit is a type of limit raise showing support for his/her suit and a stronger hand than a raise in the suit, which then becomes weak and preemptive, whether a single raise or a double raise.
Chapter 12 explains the concept of Balancing. This is a very important concept in the game of Contract Bridge. Partnerships need to thoroughly understand the principles of Balancing, plus the judgement of when and how to use Balancing bids. As you might have deduced, this is a hot button for me. Partnership understanding and communication is an essential to winning at this game, and anybody who can’t trust a partner to Balance when appropriate will probably not do well at the table. At least . . . that’s been my experience. This chapter clearly outlines the requirements for making Balancing bids, and the appropriate responses to them.
Chapter 13 is about the Help Suit Game Try bidding sequence. One of the less current parts of the lesson is the rule that responder MUST pass after the auction 1♠-2♠-3♠ or 1♥-2♥-3♥ . . . that responder cannot make another bid in this auction. More modern players play that sequence to mean that the Trump suit is the suit in which opener needs help, and that responder should bid game with that help, and pass without it. The Help Suit Game Try is an artificial bid that follows an auction that has responder making a simple raise of opener’s bid of one of a Major suit. If responder has some high card values in the bid suit, or if he/she has a singleton or void along with 4-card support for the agreed-upon Major suit, then a game bid should be made. Otherwise, the contract should be signed off at the three level. This is a great convention, IMO.
Chapter 14 is all about Control-Showing Cuebids. These are an excellent way to find a slam that might not be found any other way, and many Bridge players do not understand, or play, them. The use of cuebids to show controls after a suit has been agreed-on is a slam-going convention that can show Aces, Kings, Voids and Singletons. In many ways these bids are more powerful than the Blackwood and Gerber conventions because they can allow the bidding of a Grand Slam missing an Ace, or a Small Slam missing one or more Kings. It is, however, important to remember the rules for using these bids: A Trump Suit must have been agreed; if a Major Suit has been agreed, then any bid of a suit above the three level of the agreed Major is a cuebid; and if a Minor Suit has been agreed, then any bid of a new suit above 3 NT is a cuebid. This system might be considered to be too complicated for many players, but the potential rewards make the extra work required for mastery worthwhile, in my view.
Chapter 15 describes the Grand Slam Force convention. Although its use might not arise frequently, when it does, you might easily gain a Top Board, or a substantial swing in IMP scoring. It can never be used when the Blackwood convention has been used in an auction, because a 5NT bid after Blackwood is a King-asking bid. It can, however, be used whenever a suit has been agreed upon, or after Partner preempts. Although the situation for its use might not arise often, when it does, this is an excellent convention to use in order to find a makeable Grand Slam, or to stay out of one that cannot make (missing the Ace of Trumps, for example).
Chapter 16 presents the Michaels Cuebid and the Unusual Notrump convention. Used to describe two-suited hands, these bids can be very useful to a partnership that wants to make the opponents work for every contract, or even to take some away from them. Both bids are used after opponents have opened the bidding, and both bids serve similar purposes: they describe two-suited hands. In each case, the suits MUST be at least 5-cards in length. In the case of a Michaels Cuebid over one of a Minor suit opened by Opponents, both Major Suits are shown. In the case of a Cuebid of the opponents Major suit opening bid, the other Major suit and an unspecified Minor suit are shown. A 2 NT asking bid requests that the Cuebidder show the Minor suit. The Unusual Notrump bid is made over Opponents’ Major suit opening bid to show both Minors. Both of these bids can show either a weak hand, or a strong hand (Mini-Maxi). Intermediates strength hands must be bid naturally.
Chapter 17 describes the Landy Convention for bidding over a Notrump opening by Opponents. It is made by bidding Two Clubs to show both Major suits (at least 5-4). Responder can choose which Major suit should be played or, alternatively, with a stronger hand can continue the convention by bidding Three Clubs to direct the Landy bidder to show his/her preferred Major Suit. Many players today choose the more descriptive Hamilton-Cappelletti or Meckwell conventions over Landy, but many others still use it.
Chapter 18 begins Part 3 of the book titled: Sophisticated Stuff. The first convention described in the Chapter is the Lebensohl Convention. An important concept when using this convention is called Slow Shows. What it means is that using Lebensohl generally shows a stopper in the opponent’s overcalled suit, while bypassing it denies such a stopper. Using Lebensohl shows a weaker hand than bidding a suit directly at the three level.
Chapter 19 describes the Reverse Drury Convention. It is a way to determine whether Partner has opened one of a Major suit in 3rd or 4th position with a full opening hand, or a light one. The artificial response of 1 ♦ tells responder that the bid was not light. The original Drury bid was just the opposite, hence the name Reverse Drury to refer to the 2 ♦ bid showing a full opening hand.
Chapter 20 is an expansion of the Blackwood Ace and King seeking convention originally described in Chapter 6. It describes the Roman Keycard Blackwood convention, also known simply as “RKC.” This convention includes information regarding the King and Queen of Trumps by responder to the 4 NT and 5 NT asking bids. It can make all the difference in finding a slam contract in a suit. Two versions of this convention are currently in popular use: 3014 and 1430. These numbers refer to the possible responses of the Club bid meaning either zero or three, or it meaning one or four. The number indicated in the response is no longer simply Aces or Kings, but the number of “Key Cards.” In this case, the first Key Card to be shown would be the King of Trump, and the convention can also ask for the Queen of Trump. It is a more powerful tool than simple Blackwood.
Chapter 21 covers the Fourth Suit Forcing (FSF) convention. Although this name is a misnomer because the simple change of suits is a one-round force all by itself, this is a useful artificial bid that asks partner to further describe his/her hand while, at the same time, forcing the auction to game. Responder has forced to game, but which contract? Opener’s response to the FSF bid will tell the partnership where the contract should be. This is a situation that probably comes up more frequently than one might think.
Chapter 22 explains the New Minor Forcing (NMF) convention. In this convention, bidding the other Minor after opener opens with one of a Minor, responder bids one of a Major, then opener bids one NT, is an artificial and forcing bid showing at least 11 HCP and interest in game. It also shows a that a Major suit response to the one of a Minor opening is a 5-card suit. One other thing I noticed about the bid is that it provides a way to find a 4-4 fit in Hearts when the bidding has gone 1m-1♠-1NT-2m-2♥. This auction might occur when responder is 5-4 in the Majors with five Spades and 4 Hearts. Opener might have 11-15 points, a relatively flat hand with 4 of the bid Minor, and a 4-card Heart suit. With 5-4 distribution in the Majors, responder has no particular desire to play in Notrump, so an 8-card Heart fit might easily produce a winning game contract. This is a very powerful convention in my estimation, and I use it regularly with my various partners.
Chapter 23 tell us about Ogust Responses to Weak Two bids. When partner opens a weak two, and you have a strong hand, is a game in the offing? How could you know? The Ogust Convention is one way to find out. In this convention, a 2NT bid by responder asks for much more than just a feature in the hand of the weak two opener. It asks for both strength and suit quality. With it, games, or even slams, should be a lot easier to find after a weak two opening bid, and the convention is explained clearly by the authors in this chapter.
Chapter 24 is about Responsive Doubles. I played these doubles many years ago, and had forgotten just how powerful they really are. They are extremely useful during competitive bidding situations where one opponent opens one of a suit, and the other raises that suit over an intervening bid by partner. In every case, the Responsive Double shows support for either both Majors or both Minors, depending on the auction. It allows a continuation of the competition, even with a fairly weak hand (6+ or 9+ points, depending on whether the bid is made at the two-level or the three-level, and depending on whether partner’s bid was a Double or a Suit bid).
Chapter 25, the final chapter of the book, is about Lead Directing Doubles, and especially the Lightner Slam Double. It is an excellent treatment of the subject that should be useful for even the most basic of Bridge players.
The Summaries and Quizzes at the end of each Chapter are a nice touch. They help the reader to understand, and to remember, what was presented in the book . . . which, by the way, was always presented clearly and concisely.
This book should be required reading for beginning and intermediate level Bridge players who wish to improve their bidding. It covers all of the important bidding conventions in common use around the world, and should be indispensable to anybody wishing to elevate their level of play to the place where the experts play. Whether your partnership chooses to use any or all of them (or not), you can be sure that most of your opponents will be. I highly recommend this book to Bridge players.
Chapter 1 describes the Stayman 2 ♣ response to an opening bid of one Notrump. The description and examples are clear and concise, and everybody might learn a little from reading them. I know I did.
Chapter 2 is about Takeout Doubles, along with how and when to use them. The rules and guidelines for both the doubler and the responder are very clear, logical and easy to understand. The authors also discuss cue bidding in opponents suit (after a takeout double) in this chapter. I found it to be informative.
Chapter 3 is about Weak Two Bids. The lesson explains clearly when, and with what card-holdings, a player should open the bidding at the two-level. The proper responses to a weak two bid by partner are also described. There was at least one tip in the chapter with which I had not been familiar, but which makes perfect sense. I learned something from this chapter.
Chapter 4 is about the Strong 2 ♣ artificial opening bid in the Standard American bidding system. I had forgotten about the 2nd negative by responder, so this chapter was a good reminder for me. The chapter is an excellent description of the strong, forcing bid and its responses.
Chapter 5 is about Reverses, a topic that is near and dear to me after several different partners recently missed my Reverse and stopped bidding short of a game contract in recent games. We are told in this chapter that a Reverse is absolutely forcing for one round. We are also told that the first suit bid by opener must be longer, or of equal length, to the second suit bid. Furthermore, the Reverse bidder must have at least 16 High Card Points (HCP) in order to Reverse. As always, the quiz at the end of the chapter is enlightening.
Chapter 6 is a description of the Blackwood and Gerber Ace/King asking bids. It is important to note that Blackwood can never be used over a Notrump bid because 4 NT is a Quantitative Notrump Raise inviting a slam bid from responder with a maximum hand. The Gerber 4 ♣ bid is the only Ace-asking bid available to Notrump bidders. Of interest is the display of a pair of hand with 34 HCP together that cannot make a slam of any kind. The deficiencies of Blackwood are explained and demonstrated to show that knowing about Aces and Kings will not always benefit a declarer, especially if one Ace is missing. In addition to Blackwood there is still a great benefit to cue bidding controls, in my view. The authors make a sage observation: “Do not use Blackwood as a constructive tool for bidding slams; use Blackwood to avoid bidding bad slams.” We are also advised not to use Blackwood or Gerber in hands with a void or two quick losers in an unbid suit. Useful advice!
Chapter 7 describes the Negative Double. It presents a set of guidelines for when, and how, to use the Negative Double. The Negative Double is probably one of the cheapest, and most effective, ways of finding a Major suit, and especially a Heart, fit. It is an inexpensive bid, requiring only 6 points to Double at the 1-level. It is such a useful bid that you should see its use at least once in every game you play—if not by you and your partner, then certainly by your opponents.
Chapter 8 is about Jacoby and Texas Transfer Bids in response to Notrump. It is a thorough evaluation of when and how to use these conventions. Many players will find the information in this chapter to be useful, if only as a refresher.
The next chapter begins Part 2 of the book, titled More Complicated. The chapters in this Part describe the more sophisticated conventions, such as Chapter 9’s Jacoby 2NT forcing response over an opening bid of One Heart or One Spade. Like the Jacoby Transfer bid, this one was the “invention of the late great Oswald Jacoby (1902-1984) of Dallas, Texas, who also popularized transfer bids and the weak jump overcalls.” The Jacoby 2NT bid is a powerful and streamlined way to find a fit in a Major suit, along with Game-forcing values. It is an extremely useful convention used by a great many Bridge players.
Chapter 10 tells us about the Splinter Bids that were invented and put into widespread use by Dorothy Hayden Truscott in 1964. They are a great way to show partner a singleton or void in a suit while, at the same time, expressing support for his/her Major suit. It is a precise bid, showing 13-15 points and, at most, a singleton in the bid suit. What more could opener wish for?
Chapter 11 was, to me, not as clearly explained as the earlier chapters in the book. In fact, I found parts of it to be downright confusing. I had to read it over several time to get the authors’ point. The chapter is about Cue Bidding the opponent’s suit. As I understand it, a cue bid in opponents’ suit after partner has either opened, or overcalled, in a Major suit is a type of limit raise showing support for his/her suit and a stronger hand than a raise in the suit, which then becomes weak and preemptive, whether a single raise or a double raise.
Chapter 12 explains the concept of Balancing. This is a very important concept in the game of Contract Bridge. Partnerships need to thoroughly understand the principles of Balancing, plus the judgement of when and how to use Balancing bids. As you might have deduced, this is a hot button for me. Partnership understanding and communication is an essential to winning at this game, and anybody who can’t trust a partner to Balance when appropriate will probably not do well at the table. At least . . . that’s been my experience. This chapter clearly outlines the requirements for making Balancing bids, and the appropriate responses to them.
Chapter 13 is about the Help Suit Game Try bidding sequence. One of the less current parts of the lesson is the rule that responder MUST pass after the auction 1♠-2♠-3♠ or 1♥-2♥-3♥ . . . that responder cannot make another bid in this auction. More modern players play that sequence to mean that the Trump suit is the suit in which opener needs help, and that responder should bid game with that help, and pass without it. The Help Suit Game Try is an artificial bid that follows an auction that has responder making a simple raise of opener’s bid of one of a Major suit. If responder has some high card values in the bid suit, or if he/she has a singleton or void along with 4-card support for the agreed-upon Major suit, then a game bid should be made. Otherwise, the contract should be signed off at the three level. This is a great convention, IMO.
Chapter 14 is all about Control-Showing Cuebids. These are an excellent way to find a slam that might not be found any other way, and many Bridge players do not understand, or play, them. The use of cuebids to show controls after a suit has been agreed-on is a slam-going convention that can show Aces, Kings, Voids and Singletons. In many ways these bids are more powerful than the Blackwood and Gerber conventions because they can allow the bidding of a Grand Slam missing an Ace, or a Small Slam missing one or more Kings. It is, however, important to remember the rules for using these bids: A Trump Suit must have been agreed; if a Major Suit has been agreed, then any bid of a suit above the three level of the agreed Major is a cuebid; and if a Minor Suit has been agreed, then any bid of a new suit above 3 NT is a cuebid. This system might be considered to be too complicated for many players, but the potential rewards make the extra work required for mastery worthwhile, in my view.
Chapter 15 describes the Grand Slam Force convention. Although its use might not arise frequently, when it does, you might easily gain a Top Board, or a substantial swing in IMP scoring. It can never be used when the Blackwood convention has been used in an auction, because a 5NT bid after Blackwood is a King-asking bid. It can, however, be used whenever a suit has been agreed upon, or after Partner preempts. Although the situation for its use might not arise often, when it does, this is an excellent convention to use in order to find a makeable Grand Slam, or to stay out of one that cannot make (missing the Ace of Trumps, for example).
Chapter 16 presents the Michaels Cuebid and the Unusual Notrump convention. Used to describe two-suited hands, these bids can be very useful to a partnership that wants to make the opponents work for every contract, or even to take some away from them. Both bids are used after opponents have opened the bidding, and both bids serve similar purposes: they describe two-suited hands. In each case, the suits MUST be at least 5-cards in length. In the case of a Michaels Cuebid over one of a Minor suit opened by Opponents, both Major Suits are shown. In the case of a Cuebid of the opponents Major suit opening bid, the other Major suit and an unspecified Minor suit are shown. A 2 NT asking bid requests that the Cuebidder show the Minor suit. The Unusual Notrump bid is made over Opponents’ Major suit opening bid to show both Minors. Both of these bids can show either a weak hand, or a strong hand (Mini-Maxi). Intermediates strength hands must be bid naturally.
Chapter 17 describes the Landy Convention for bidding over a Notrump opening by Opponents. It is made by bidding Two Clubs to show both Major suits (at least 5-4). Responder can choose which Major suit should be played or, alternatively, with a stronger hand can continue the convention by bidding Three Clubs to direct the Landy bidder to show his/her preferred Major Suit. Many players today choose the more descriptive Hamilton-Cappelletti or Meckwell conventions over Landy, but many others still use it.
Chapter 18 begins Part 3 of the book titled: Sophisticated Stuff. The first convention described in the Chapter is the Lebensohl Convention. An important concept when using this convention is called Slow Shows. What it means is that using Lebensohl generally shows a stopper in the opponent’s overcalled suit, while bypassing it denies such a stopper. Using Lebensohl shows a weaker hand than bidding a suit directly at the three level.
Chapter 19 describes the Reverse Drury Convention. It is a way to determine whether Partner has opened one of a Major suit in 3rd or 4th position with a full opening hand, or a light one. The artificial response of 1 ♦ tells responder that the bid was not light. The original Drury bid was just the opposite, hence the name Reverse Drury to refer to the 2 ♦ bid showing a full opening hand.
Chapter 20 is an expansion of the Blackwood Ace and King seeking convention originally described in Chapter 6. It describes the Roman Keycard Blackwood convention, also known simply as “RKC.” This convention includes information regarding the King and Queen of Trumps by responder to the 4 NT and 5 NT asking bids. It can make all the difference in finding a slam contract in a suit. Two versions of this convention are currently in popular use: 3014 and 1430. These numbers refer to the possible responses of the Club bid meaning either zero or three, or it meaning one or four. The number indicated in the response is no longer simply Aces or Kings, but the number of “Key Cards.” In this case, the first Key Card to be shown would be the King of Trump, and the convention can also ask for the Queen of Trump. It is a more powerful tool than simple Blackwood.
Chapter 21 covers the Fourth Suit Forcing (FSF) convention. Although this name is a misnomer because the simple change of suits is a one-round force all by itself, this is a useful artificial bid that asks partner to further describe his/her hand while, at the same time, forcing the auction to game. Responder has forced to game, but which contract? Opener’s response to the FSF bid will tell the partnership where the contract should be. This is a situation that probably comes up more frequently than one might think.
Chapter 22 explains the New Minor Forcing (NMF) convention. In this convention, bidding the other Minor after opener opens with one of a Minor, responder bids one of a Major, then opener bids one NT, is an artificial and forcing bid showing at least 11 HCP and interest in game. It also shows a that a Major suit response to the one of a Minor opening is a 5-card suit. One other thing I noticed about the bid is that it provides a way to find a 4-4 fit in Hearts when the bidding has gone 1m-1♠-1NT-2m-2♥. This auction might occur when responder is 5-4 in the Majors with five Spades and 4 Hearts. Opener might have 11-15 points, a relatively flat hand with 4 of the bid Minor, and a 4-card Heart suit. With 5-4 distribution in the Majors, responder has no particular desire to play in Notrump, so an 8-card Heart fit might easily produce a winning game contract. This is a very powerful convention in my estimation, and I use it regularly with my various partners.
Chapter 23 tell us about Ogust Responses to Weak Two bids. When partner opens a weak two, and you have a strong hand, is a game in the offing? How could you know? The Ogust Convention is one way to find out. In this convention, a 2NT bid by responder asks for much more than just a feature in the hand of the weak two opener. It asks for both strength and suit quality. With it, games, or even slams, should be a lot easier to find after a weak two opening bid, and the convention is explained clearly by the authors in this chapter.
Chapter 24 is about Responsive Doubles. I played these doubles many years ago, and had forgotten just how powerful they really are. They are extremely useful during competitive bidding situations where one opponent opens one of a suit, and the other raises that suit over an intervening bid by partner. In every case, the Responsive Double shows support for either both Majors or both Minors, depending on the auction. It allows a continuation of the competition, even with a fairly weak hand (6+ or 9+ points, depending on whether the bid is made at the two-level or the three-level, and depending on whether partner’s bid was a Double or a Suit bid).
Chapter 25, the final chapter of the book, is about Lead Directing Doubles, and especially the Lightner Slam Double. It is an excellent treatment of the subject that should be useful for even the most basic of Bridge players.
The Summaries and Quizzes at the end of each Chapter are a nice touch. They help the reader to understand, and to remember, what was presented in the book . . . which, by the way, was always presented clearly and concisely.
This book should be required reading for beginning and intermediate level Bridge players who wish to improve their bidding. It covers all of the important bidding conventions in common use around the world, and should be indispensable to anybody wishing to elevate their level of play to the place where the experts play. Whether your partnership chooses to use any or all of them (or not), you can be sure that most of your opponents will be. I highly recommend this book to Bridge players.
January 17, 2023
According to GoodReads, I first read this book in 2010. That seems reasonable, since I was playing a decent amount of bridge back then. The last time I was playing regularly was at least five years ago, but it's probably been longer.
This is a great introduction to a variety of bridge conventions. I really like the way they separate the conventions into the basic, advanced, and sophisticated conventions. I definitely didn't start including them in that order when I was first learning, though, since I was definitely trying to use FSF and NMF (mostly incorrectly) from almost the very beginning. The quizzes at the end of each section are a nice way to recap, and their explanations for those bids are really helpful.
I guess I wish there were some more comprehensive questions that aren't associated with a convention, since sometimes it's hard to recognize that a certain convention applies when you hadn't just finished reading about it.
This is a great introduction to a variety of bridge conventions. I really like the way they separate the conventions into the basic, advanced, and sophisticated conventions. I definitely didn't start including them in that order when I was first learning, though, since I was definitely trying to use FSF and NMF (mostly incorrectly) from almost the very beginning. The quizzes at the end of each section are a nice way to recap, and their explanations for those bids are really helpful.
I guess I wish there were some more comprehensive questions that aren't associated with a convention, since sometimes it's hard to recognize that a certain convention applies when you hadn't just finished reading about it.
October 1, 2020
This is a good basic book for all Bridge enthusiasts! These are conventions, mostly standard, that work best if you and your partner each are able to use them within a game. 25 BRIDGE CONVENTIONS is a good book to keep as a reference to refresh one's mind when one of the conventions has not been used that often.
March 30, 2019
Our bridge class is using this book.
December 17, 2013
Good for references
September 17, 2015
This is a book that you read over and over again. You are not done until you quit playing bridge, or you die!
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