The holidays are upon us, thus three Sundays will be devoted to bridge book gift suggestions for your partners, opponents and friends. Of course, if you give a regular partner some basic book on bidding or play, it might seem insulting. And a book on a dry topic like defensive signaling or a play and defense quiz book might be the bridge book equivalent of getting socks for Christmas.
Therefore, the emphasis will be more on entertainment with instruction secondary.
The top-of-the-line bridge book this season would have to be the newest addition of “The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge” (published by the American Contract Bridge League, Horn Lake, Miss.).
It’s a hefty book with a hefty price tag, but multiple books in one. Rather than having most entries in just A to Z order, the greatly revised organization of the book better lends itself to casual reading, rather than using it only as a reference work.
There is comprehensive information on bidding, play and defense, the history of the game, duplicate and tournament bridge, top players and the like. Two CD’s accompany the book, one containing the entire Encyclopedia and one for player biographies and tournament results that wouldn’t fit the printed portion.
The 50 pages of suit combinations is invaluable, a guide to how to play just about every important suit combination either for maximum likely tricks available or to maximize the probability of taking just a specific number of tricks.
It’s large with slick cover graphics — one of the most impressive bridge books on the market.
Biographies: How about some bridge biographies? Learn more about the players behind the cards.
Bobby Wolff’s “The Lone Wolff” (Master Point Press, Toronto) is a fairly recent entry in the bridge autobiography field, with one of the game’s most successful players presenting a wealth of fascinating tales not just from high level tournament bridge but the political and administrative side of bridge as well. It isn’t all pretty.
“Bridge My Way” by Zia Mahmood (Natco Press, Little Falls, New Jersey) is from one of the bridge world’s most colorful figures. At one time Mahmood had homes in Karachi, London and New York’s Trump Tower and has had a jetsetting playboy style reputation. His passion for the game is evident.
In 2003, Master Point Press republished Alan Sontag’s 1977 “The Bridge Bum: My Life and Play,” an insightful look into the life of a professional bridge player.
When it appeared in 1994, “At the Table, My Life and Times” by Bob Hamman and Brent Manley (DBM Publications, Memphis, Tenn.) set the standard for a bridge bio. Manley is editor-in-chief for the ACBL’s monthly “Bridge Bulletin” and Hamman was the top-ranked player in the world for about two decades.
Bridge superstardom isn’t just a matter of having an analytical mind, but also a matter of attitude.
It’s been almost two decades and Hamman is still an active player which means another 20 years’ worth of stories about bridge at the top. Sequel, anyone?
Or reach even further back to 1940’s “The Strange Lives of One Man, An Autobiography” by Ely Culbertson (John C. Winston Company, Chicago). Culbertson was the first big name in bridge, pre-Goren, and a genius at marketing the game and himself.
More Expert Bridge: “The Rodwell Files” by Eric Rodwell and Mark Horton (Master Point Press, Toronto) is a book for aspiring experts with a variety of tips, sometimes a bit esoteric, from one of the most successful of current tournament players. Rodwell and regular partner Jeff Meckstroth are so well known they are often just referred to as Meckwell.
