The Notrump Zone

Notrump openings, and the constructive auctions that follow them, are two of the most neglected areas in bridge literature. Following on from his popular articles in the ACBL Bulletin, Kleinman discusses the principles behind notrump bids and rebids in a variety of situations, emphasising the ideas and concepts rather than attempting to teach a series of rigid rules. A must for any duplicate player.

All North American players are taught to play using a strong notrump, but that is not the way of the rest of the world. Even in North America, weak notrump systems, or even Kamikaze notrump systems, are becoming more common. This book discusses the advantages and disadvantages of playing a system with a weaker notrump opening, and shows how the 1NT range impacts the rest of the bidding system. Even those who have no interest in converting to a weak notrump range still need to know how to play against weak notrump systems. For them, the book includes advice on effective competitive methods.

This book discussed the theory of bridge bidding for advanced players, with emphasis on the principles that need to underpin an effective bidding system. These include the concepts of Useful Space, Relays, Transfers, Dialogue Bidding, as well as the conflicting needs for a system that is robust, antagonistic, and also accurate. The ideas are illustrated with dozens of example hands from championship play, showing how these principles work in practice. The book will appeal to serious tournament players.

An anthology of humorous stories featuring Chthonic, the bridge-playing robot. The stories draw unmercifully funny portraits of human bridge players, as Chthonic's bridge brilliance and abrasive and ill-concealed contempt for his human creators leave them all in his wake. A particular target is the pompous Director of the Cybernetics Research Institute, whose opinion of his own bridge expertise differs greatly from that of his protigi. Some of these stories have appeared in The Bridge World magazine, where the characters are established as firm reader favorites. Danny Kleinman of Los Angeles is a prolific bridge writer, theorist, professional player, and teacher, who is a regular contributor to several bridge magazines. He is a Contributing Editor of The Bridge World, and is one of the moderators of 'The Master Solvers' Club' in that magazine. He also writes about backgammon, another game which he plays at an expert level. Nick Straguzzi of Mullica Hill, NJ, is a software analyst specializing in artificial intelligence and knowledge management. Nick has researched ways in which computer game theory could be applied to bridge, but concluded that it would be far easier to write about a perfect bridge-playing computer than to actually build one.

Julian Pottage worked on a number of books with the late Terence Reese, and this one pays homage to a man who was arguably the best bridge writer of his time. One of Reese's classics, Play these hands with me, pioneered the 'over-the-shoulder' style of bridge writing. What that book did for declarer play, the present one does for defense: readers can follow the thinking of an expert player, stopping at critical points in the deal to make their own decisions about how to continue. Julian Pottage (Wales) is best known as a bridge problem constructor, and his many awards include IBPA Book of the Year. His most recent book for MPP was Defend or Declare?

The most complete guide to the modern methods of standard bidding for bridge, from one of America's leading players, teachers, and authorities. With a logical, easy-to-follow style, William Root covers all the bidding essentials.