Book review: Dynamic Defense

The more of his books I read, the more I suspect that Mike Lawrence is the best bridge writer of our time. Over the holidays, I reread his Dynamic Defense. This is written in his classic "over my shoulder" style, in which Lawrence takes the reader through all of his thought processes at the table. There are a lot of detailed descriptions of tough defenses, but one of my favorite hands was fairly simple:

Mike held

♠	T975
♥	QJ62
♦	T93
♣	J2

and was on lead after a long auction. RHO opened 1NT, LHO transferred to hearts and showed long clubs, and they had a power auction, cuebidding and keycarding into 6H.

Mike's reasoning was such: They obviously have a ton of points, so the only tricks we have coming are in the trump suit. I might have two trump tricks, but a strong declarer will take a safety play, probably low to an intermediate card (T, 9, or 8) on the first round. So how do I make sure he doesn't do that?

He led the deuce of clubs, trying to suggest a singleton. Declarer hastily cashed the ace and king of hearts and conceded one down.

Dynamic Defense is a must-read for any improving player. I first read this book about six years ago when I was struggling to break out of Flight C. It helped teach me the right things to think about at the table. Hopefully it can do so for you too! Read this book, then reread it.

Buy Dynamic Defense at Amazon.com

Book Review: Matchpoints

Kit Woolsey's Matchpoints is one of two books that I think all aspiring bridge experts need to have read. (The other is Lawrence's How To Read Your Opponents' Cards.) Woolsey does a masterful job of explaining the mathematics of matchpoints (don't worry - you don't need a calculator!) and tries to help the reader think about the right things, like what the contracts will be at the other tables,  whether or not to take a safety play, and what the expected gain or loss would be from different lines of play. 

Woolsey spends a lot of time on the "two ways to win" principle, and for good reason! It's simple mathematics, but most bridge players don't quite 'get' that combining the chances of two unlikely things can add up to a better chance than one likely thing happening. The simplest case of combining chances is taking two finesses. Every bridge player should know that finding a 3-2 split (68%) is much more likely to happen than finding a finesse onside (50%). But if you can combine your chances on a hand and find one of two finesses onside, it adds up to 75%, considerably better than the chances for a 3-2 split. Woolsey goes into many different "combine your chances" situations in both the bidding and the play.

To go along with the standard pairs subjects, like balancing, doubling, and sacrificing, he also has a good section on the Law of Total Tricks. In my opinion, Woolsey's discussion on the subject is more accurate and valuable than Larry Cohen's more famous work on the subject, To Bid or Not to Bid. 

Surprisingly, Matchpoints is a good way to learn IMP play for those of you who almost exlusively play pair games! The first time (of probably six or seven by now) I read this book, I had been coming along well at the bridge club. I'd placed highly in some Sectional pair games, but never seemed to do anything in the Sectional Swisses. Matchpoints made me realize just how many of the "pairs-only" tricks Woolsey shared that I was already doing, and how many imps they were costing me!

So, in a nutshell, if you haven't read this book yet, get it before your next pair game!

Buy Matchpoints at Amazon.com

Book review: How To Read Your Opponents' Cards

Mike Lawrence is probably the top American bridge author. He has over 20 books in print. All are good and most are excellent. My favorite may be his first book, How To Read Your Opponents' Cards (The Bridge Experts' Way to Locate Missing High Cards). Mike was 30 when he won his first World Championship as a member of Ira Corn's Dallas Aces. When Mike was 32 and two-time defending Bermuda Bowl champion, Corn suggested he write a book. When Mike balked at the idea, Corn reminded him who wrote the checks... and How To Read was born.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to make the leap from Intermediate to Expert. Mike shows the reader lots of basic inferences available from bidding and play of normal, everyday hands. He then moves on to the technique of "discovery play", that is, forcing the opponents to show you their distribution and locations of high cards. The final chapter changes tone from the rest of the book-- it's all about reading hesitations and other tells from your opponents. I don't find this part nearly as useful as the rest of the book. Generally, when I'm playing against strong opponents (say in a Bracket I of a regional knockout), they don't show these tells, and when I'm playing against weak opponents (say at a club game) their hesitations and fumbles generally just mean they weren't paying attention. Maybe these tells were much more prevalent in the early 1970s... and just maybe my "sixth sense" doesn't work as well as it should. The rest of the book is spot-on, though.

Here's an example of a simple discovery play:

♠Q432 ♥KQ92 ♦J74 ♣KQ ♠K ♥J53 ♦T832 ♣87654 ♦2 led ♠987 ♥T64 ♦AK6 ♣A932 ♠AJT65 ♥A87 ♦Q95 ♣JT

At IMPs, East dealer, E-W only vulnerable, a painless auction leads to 4S:

(P) 1S (P) 2NT [1] ;
(P) 3C [2] (P) 4S;
All Pass

[1] Artificial; Game-forcing spade raise
[2] Artificial; Minimum hand, may or may not have side shortness

See my post on Modified Responses to Jacoby 2NT for more on this auction and for better ways to utilize your bidding space.

So our hero South plays 4S on the diamond lead. East wins two diamonds, and hoping his partner's fourth-best was from Qxxx, shoots a third back. South wins, and sees a simple way to make the contract-- play up to a heart and try to hook the king of spades on his right. But like all good declarers, once he's found a good line of play he looks for a better one! He tables the jack of clubs. East, suspecting what declarer's up to, holds up for a round, but is forced to take the second club. East plays a heart to declarer's ace, and South bangs down the ace of spades, dropping the king on his left! Mirrors? No-- South recalled East's first seat pass, and watched 11 HCP tumble out of his hand. South knew that East couldn't hold the king of spades, so the only way to pick up the suit for no losers was for West's king to be stiff, and play accordingly.

West held his cards much closer to his chest for the rest of the session.



Buy How To Read at amazon.com

Book review: Right Through The Pack

Right Through The Pack by Robert Darvas and Norman de V. Hart is absolutely my favorite bridge book. First published in 1947, this book lets the cards tell the story-- each one, from the lowly Two of Clubs to the regal King of Spades, has a narrative ranging from instructional to fantastical. The text is over sixty years old, so the bidding seems quite antiquated to our super-modern minds, but the bidding is usually just used as a way to get to the strange contracts that need even stranger plays to come in. (In fact, in Ely Culbertson's introduction, he states "in many of the deals -- very many! -- the accompanying bidding could not be justified by the world's greatest optimist.") One of my favorite hands from the book is The Tale of the Nine of Hearts:

♠ AJ962 ♥ AJ6 ♦ T3 ♣ AT3 ♠ 74 ♥ 5 ♦ Q986 ♣ 876542 ♠ 5 ♥ KQT872 ♦ J54 ♣ QJ9 ♠ KQT83 ♥ 943 ♦ AK72 ♣ K

An "unjustifiable" auction got N-S to seven spades. The eight of clubs was led to the three, nine, and king, and South saw exactly twelve tricks and no legitimate possibility for a thirteenth... but there was an illegitimate possibility lurking around. He drew trumps while eliminating diamonds, finding out that East held one spade and three diamonds. The play to the first trick suggested that East held QJ9 of clubs, and therefore the 1=6=3=3 shape he actually held, leaving the position:

♠ J ♥ AJ6 ♦ ♣ AT ♠ ♥ 5 ♦ ♣ 76542 ♠ ♥ KQ87 ♦ ♣ QJ ♠ Q53 ♥ 943 ♦ ♣

Declarer led to the ace of hearts, then led the jack of spades, overtaking in his hand, leaving the ace of clubs stranded on the dummy! He then played the rest of the trumps pitching hearts from the board, making poor East believe the end position had been this:

♠ J ♥ AJ6 ♦ ♣ AT ♠ ♥ 95 ♦ ♣ 7654 ♠ ♥ KQ87 ♦ ♣ QJ ♠ Q53 ♥ 43 ♦ ♣ 2

East let go his king of hearts to save the club protection, thinking, as who would not, that declarer would never strand an ace on the dummy... but South took the last two tricks with his two little hearts.

Buy Right Through The Pack at amazon.com