25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know by Barbara Seagram, Marc Smith
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Book Reviews of 25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know
Book Review: Best"popular conventions" book EVER! Easy to read!
Summary: 5 Stars
It is very hard to find a bridge book that won't leave dents in your forehead (when they hit you in the head as you fall asleep). For that reason, never get a hard cover bridge book. Not only is this a reasonable sized softcover, but you can read it without your eyes glazing over. The information in it is dispensed in 3 areas of the book. 1) Learn these first; 2) More complicated; and 3) sophisticated stuff. If you are a beginner player (with some basics under your belt), you can start with this book and grow into it. If you are a bridge teacher, you will find valuable tips and facts (like who is Sam Stayman? - the man who invented the Stayman convention). I am a bridge teacher in Maryland and I have not only bought the book, but am recommending it highly to all my students as well as an excellent resource/reference book for teachers as well. One of my students had to buy two copies - her husband kept "borrowing" hers. BTW, this book recently won the 1999 American Bridge Teachers' Association's Book of the Year Award for Beginner/Intermediate category. -- L. Shafer, Silver Spring, MDBook Review: An Essential Tool For My Bridge Game! What A Fun Book!
Summary: 5 Stars
The 25 Conventions books were essential for me in reviewing the conventions I knew, and learning the conventions I was familiar with and wanted to learn well enough to use and add to my bidding system. Both books are full of the most popular and useful conventions. They each are written in an easy to understand clear and simple language. And they have full explanations of each convention, plus a summary, and quiz. ~~~ They have made a big change in my play on Bridge Base Online as knowing more conventions has expanded my skills, and opened up the range of good partners available for me to play with. ~~~ And, of course, my partner Barb (that I play with in my local duplicate club) and I have fun playing our conventions. And we always enjoy a lunch out to study our bridge and bring a deck of cards and the books along. ~~~ The conventions I added to my play from this book are Cuebid Raises, Fourth-Suit Forcing, and Roman Key Card Blackwood. It was great fun to review the conventions I already use, learn new conventions, and become familiar with the opponents arsenal.Book Review: THE Place to Go!
Summary: 5 Stars
I know of no book that conveys the most popular bridge-playing conventions as painlessly as Barbara Seagram and Marc Smith's remarkable TWENTY-FIVE BRIDGE CONVENTIONS YOU SHOULD KNOW. They are all there, patiently explained, with examples drawn from appropriate circumstances and topical quizzes following immediately.
Generally, the book starts with the basic conventions like Takeout Doubles and Blackwood and progresses to the more esoteric ones like Reverse Drury and Roman Key Card. We might argue about the exact order these conventions appear; Ms. Seagram is BIG on the Jacoby Transfer and its big brother, the Texas Transfer. Should people really learn those before they learn about Cue-bid Raises and Balancing? But that is a small wrinkle in such an excellent presentation; if you and your partner prefer to skip a lesson or two and come back later, this book will serve well anyway. Deserves a place on every good bridge-player's shelf.
Book Review: It's A Slam-Dunk
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a real winner for the wanting-to-get-better bridge player like me. The conventions listed are fully explained and easy to understand. They are also very practical and we actually use them because they come up frequently. To solidify your understanding of the convention, at the end of each convention, a mini quiz is provided. My husband and I are studying this together as we are frequent partners. Then we each take the quiz and compare our "scores". It has been a fun way to improve and gives us an additional interest to share.
I have also bought this for a partner-friend as a Christmas gift, so we can be on the same page when we play ladies Marathon matches. And I have recommended to several people in my couples groups who are looking to improve.
This is a book that we leave out because we refer to it so much. We also carry it in the car when we are driving to a match for a quick review. One of my favorite bridge books ever.
Book Review: Bridge Text
Summary: 5 Stars
"25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know" is a well-produced, well-thought out book that will be an excellent companion for beginners, intermediates, and advanced players. While it seems impossible to address such a broad audience, this book does just that (kinda like the game itself!) Bridge is a lifetime game, keeping us on our toes and learning all the while. "25 Bridge Conventions . . ." goes right along with us. You can read the basic conventions that everyone ought to know, study them and practice them with the clearly illustrated hands and stop there if you wish. For those with some miles at the tables you can dive into the more sophisticated, less used but oh-so-useful conventions and you are helped in understanding why these methods are so successful. Two very experienced authors lead you with clear, easy-to-follow examples in this excellent book. Purchase, learn, enjoy.