Watson's Classic Book
This book, by one of the first and foremost authorities on contract bridge, is regarded as the classic exposition of playing strategy. Practically all variations of play, both in attack and in defense, are explained and illustrated in it.
"1128058565"
Watson's Classic Book
This book, by one of the first and foremost authorities on contract bridge, is regarded as the classic exposition of playing strategy. Practically all variations of play, both in attack and in defense, are explained and illustrated in it.
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Overview
This book, by one of the first and foremost authorities on contract bridge, is regarded as the classic exposition of playing strategy. Practically all variations of play, both in attack and in defense, are explained and illustrated in it.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780064632096 |
---|---|
Publisher: | HarperCollins |
Publication date: | 01/01/1971 |
Edition description: | Enlarged |
Pages: | 496 |
Sales rank: | 986,029 |
Product dimensions: | 5.19(w) x 8.12(h) x 1.12(d) |
Table of Contents
Introduction | ix | |
Part I | Fundamentals of Play | |
Introduction to Part I | 1 | |
Chapter I. | The Power of Honors | 3 |
The Meaning of Rank | 4 | |
The Developing Power of Honors | 8 | |
Control | 12 | |
Summary | 12 | |
Chapter II. | The Positional Value of Honors | 14 |
How to Play Tenaces--The Finesse | 17 | |
Summary | 25 | |
Chapter III. | Double and Combination Finesses | 27 |
Finessing Against Lower Honors Than the King | 29 | |
Some Miscellaneous Examples | 34 | |
Summary | 36 | |
Chapter IV. | When Not to Finesse | 37 |
Summary | 39 | |
Chapter V. | Entries | 40 |
The Vital Meaning of Tenaces | 45 | |
Summary | 46 | |
Chapter VI. | General Principles | 47 |
The Contract Is the Thing | 51 | |
Summary | 52 | |
Chapter VII. | Establishing a Suit at No-Trump | 53 |
Establishing a Suit Before Eliminating Entries | 57 | |
Choosing Between Two Establishable Suits | 60 | |
Summary | 62 | |
Chapter VIII. | Establishing a Suit at No-Trump (Continued) | 63 |
The Time Element in Establishing a Suit | 65 | |
Establishing a Suit by Finessing | 67 | |
A Second Look at the Double Finesse | 68 | |
Reserving an Entry for a Second Finesse | 69 | |
Summary | 70 | |
Chapter IX. | The Strategy of Control and the Hold-up | 71 |
When the Situation Does Not Call for the Hold-up | 74 | |
Should Dummy Play High or Low Second Hand? | 79 | |
Keeping a Weather Eve Open for Suit Control | 82 | |
A Hold-up in a Suit With Two Stoppers | 83 | |
Summary | 85 | |
Chapter X. | Unblocking | 86 |
Unblocking by Leading a Singleton Honor | 87 | |
Unblocking by Overtaking an Honor | 89 | |
When Failure to Unblock Immediately Means Defeat | 91 | |
Unblocking by Discarding | 92 | |
Unblocking to Discover Hidden Entries | 94 | |
Summary | 95 | |
Chapter XI. | Ducking | 97 |
Ducking Twice to Establish a Suit | 101 | |
How to Decide Whether to Duck | 104 | |
Ducking by Refusing a Finesse | 105 | |
Ducking in Desperation | 107 | |
A Matter of Judgment | 109 | |
Summary | 109 | |
Chapter XII. | Trump Management at Suit Play | 110 |
When to Lead Trumps | 111 | |
When Not to Lead Trumps Immediately | 115 | |
Summary | 118 | |
Chapter XIII. | Ruffing Power | 119 |
Struggling to Realize on a Short Suit | 121 | |
Ruffing After First Leading Trumps | 122 | |
Diverting to a New Type of Finesse | 124 | |
Unblocking the Trump Suit | 125 | |
Ruffing Power Is Confined to the Dummy | 126 | |
Summary | 127 | |
Chapter XIV. | Plays Postponing the Trump Lead | 128 |
Postponing the Trump Lead for a Specific Discard | 130 | |
Another Way of Taking Discards Before Leading Trumps | 133 | |
Summary | 135 | |
Chapter XV. | No-Trump Plays at Suit Contracts | 136 |
Again Establishing a Side Suit Before Leading Trumps | 138 | |
Setting Up a Side Suit by Preserving Ruffing Power | 139 | |
Establishing a Side Suit After Drawing Trumps | 140 | |
Retaining Trump Entries Until a Side Suit Is Established by Ruffing | 143 | |
Gaining Tricks by Refusing to Ruff | 144 | |
Is Declarer or Dummy the Dominating Hand? | 145 | |
Summary | 147 | |
Chapter XVI. | Miscellaneous Trump Plays | 148 |
The Cross-Ruff | 148 | |
High-Card Tricks in the "Other" Suit | 150 | |
Sacrificing a Principle to Efficiency | 151 | |
Another Exception to the Rule | 153 | |
Playing a Hopeless Trump Contract | 155 | |
Leading Trumps With a Weak Suit | 156 | |
Summary | 158 | |
Chapter XVII. | Elementary Defense Against No-Trump | 159 |
Opening Leads Against No-Trump | 162 | |
The Honor-Sequence Length Lead | 163 | |
The Plain Length Lead | 164 | |
Leads From Ace-King Suits | 165 | |
Continuation Honor Leads | 167 | |
Leading the Ace | 167 | |
Choosing Between Two Length Leads | 167 | |
Short-Suit Sequence Leads | 169 | |
Short-Suit Leads (Desperation) | 169 | |
Leading Partner's Suit | 171 | |
Choosing Between Your Own Suit and Partner's | 172 | |
Summary | 173 | |
When Partner Has Not Bid | 173 | |
When Partner Has Bid a Suit | 173 | |
Chapter XVIII. | Third Hand Defense Against No-Trump | 174 |
The Rule of Eleven | 175 | |
When Third Hand's "Highest" Is in Sequence With the Card Below It | 177 | |
When Not to Play "Third Hand High" | 179 | |
Summary | 183 | |
Chapter XIX. | Elementary Defense After the First Trick | 184 |
Choosing the Card in Returning Partner's Suit | 186 | |
An Exception | 189 | |
Holding Up in Defensive Play | 189 | |
Unblocking in Defensive Play | 191 | |
Ducking in Defensive Play | 192 | |
Summary | 194 | |
Chapter XX. | Defensive Discards | 195 |
The Echo and Its Uses | 196 | |
When to Encourage and When to Discourage Partner | 197 | |
Echoing With an Honor | 201 | |
Echoing When Unable to Follow Suit | 201 | |
Temporizing Discards | 203 | |
Miscellaneous Discarding | 207 | |
Third Hand's Play to Partner's Short-Suit Leads | 208 | |
Summary | 209 | |
Chapter XXI. | Defensive Plays by Second Hand | 210 |
Playing Defensively Before the Dummy | 210 | |
Playing Defensively Before the Declarer | 221 | |
Summary | 222 | |
Chapter XXII. | Continuation Plays | 224 |
Applying Leads Through Strength and Up to Weakness | 227 | |
Shifting to a Suit Other Than Partner's Lead | 228 | |
Summary | 231 | |
Chapter XXIII. | Opening Leads Against a Suit Contract | 232 |
The Most Desirable Leads Against a Suit Contract | 232 | |
Other Good Leads Against a Suit Contract | 233 | |
Opening Leads Based on the Bidding | 237 | |
Summary | 238 | |
Chapter XXIV. | Defensive Suit Play by Third Hand | 240 |
Discards (Signals) in Suit Defense | 242 | |
Another Echo to Show a Short Suit | 245 | |
Discouraging and Temporizing Discards in Suit Defense | 246 | |
Third Hand Play to Short-Suit Leads | 247 | |
Summary | 249 | |
Chapter XXV. | The Policy of Suit Shifting | 250 |
Summary | 255 | |
Chapter XXVI. | Forcing the Declarer to Ruff | 256 |
Spotting a Danger Signal | 261 | |
Not Forcing When It May Establish a Trick in Dummy | 262 | |
Forcing the Dummy | 265 | |
Preventing a Declarer From Discarding | 266 | |
Summary | 267 | |
Chapter XXVII. | Trump Leads by the Defending Side | 268 |
A Similar but Simpler Situation | 270 | |
Killing Ruffing Power With the Opening Lead | 271 | |
Summary | 274 | |
Chapter XXVIII. | Over-Ruffing by the Defending Side | 275 |
Leading a Low Card for Over-Ruffing | 278 | |
Summary | 280 | |
Part II | Advanced Play and Expert Technique | |
Introduction to Part II | 281 | |
Chapter I. | The Less Common Finessing Situations | 283 |
The Obligatory Finesse | 285 | |
Finessing to Eliminate a Guess | 288 | |
Again the Simple Finesse Is Not Enough | 290 | |
The Backward Finesse | 292 | |
Summary | 294 | |
Chapter II. | Safety Plays | 295 |
Refusing a Trump Finesse | 296 | |
Rendering an Adverse Ruff Useless | 297 | |
Providing for the Worst Possible Distribution | 298 | |
Providing Against a Special Kind of Adverse Distribution | 300 | |
Refusing a Trump Finesse to Lose but One Trick | 302 | |
A Safety Finesse | 303 | |
A Safety Play Against the Queen | 304 | |
Providing Against a 4-1 Break in Trumps | 306 | |
Giving Up a Trick When It Is Seemingly Unnecessary | 307 | |
Establishing a Tenace for the Sake of Safety | 309 | |
Unblocking as a Safety Measure | 310 | |
A Safety Play in a Side Suit | 312 | |
The Acme of Foresight in a Safety Play | 313 | |
Destroying an Entry Card to Play Safe | 314 | |
Summary | 317 | |
Chapter III. | End Plays | 318 |
A Simple End Play | 322 | |
Throwing the Lead in the Suit Desired as the Return | 324 | |
An Elimination End Play | 326 | |
Choosing Between an End Play and a Finesse | 328 | |
Making an End Play for an Extra Trick | 330 | |
The End Play at a Suit Contract | 332 | |
Another End Play When There Is a Trump Suit | 334 | |
A Throw-in With Another Suit | 336 | |
An End Play by Giving Up a Trick That Might Be Saved | 337 | |
An Optimistic Try for an End Play | 338 | |
Another End Play as the Only Chance | 340 | |
A Brilliant End-Play "Coup" | 341 | |
Another End-Play "Coup" | 343 | |
An End Play in Trumps | 345 | |
Summary | 346 | |
Chapter IV. | Defense Against End Plays | 347 |
Escaping an End Play by Unblocking | 348 | |
Proper and Improper Defense Contrasted | 350 | |
Protecting Partner From an End Play | 352 | |
Superior Attack Met by Superior Defense | 354 | |
Making the Declarer Guess | 357 | |
Summary | 359 | |
Chapter V. | Counting | 360 |
Counting Makes Possible a Double End Play | 362 | |
Giving Up Losers to Get a Count | 364 | |
A Simple and Common Method of Counting | 366 | |
Using a Percentage Play When the Count Is Doubtful | 368 | |
Placing Cards From the Bidding | 370 | |
Counting by the Defending Side | 372 | |
Mathematical Tables | 373 | |
Summary | 373 | |
Chapter VI. | Coups | 375 |
The Bath Coup | 375 | |
The Deschapelles Coup | 376 | |
The Trump Coup | 380 | |
A Double Simple Coup | 383 | |
The Double Grand Coup | 386 | |
Defense Against the Trump Coup | 386 | |
An Unnecessary Finesse in Preparing for a Coup | 388 | |
Trump Coups in General | 390 | |
Summary | 391 | |
Chapter VII. | Squeeze Plays | 392 |
The Simple Squeeze End-Play Situation | 392 | |
Working Toward the Squeeze | 394 | |
The Backward Squeeze | 396 | |
The Pseudo-Squeeze | 398 | |
The Progressive Squeeze | 400 | |
A Squeeze to Obtain a Count | 403 | |
The Double Squeeze | 404 | |
The Essentials of a Squeeze Situation | 408 | |
The Vienna Coup | 409 | |
The Vienna Coup Par Excellence | 411 | |
Choosing Between a Squeeze and a Finesse | 413 | |
Making an Adversary Squeeze His Partner | 414 | |
Summary | 415 | |
Chapter VIII. | Two Unusual Echoes | 417 |
The Trump Echo | 417 | |
The No-Trump Echo | 419 | |
Summary | 420 | |
Chapter IX. | Miscellaneous Advanced Plays | 422 |
Holding Up With King-Queen and With Queen-Jack | 422 | |
An Ace-King Hold-Up to Avoid a Guess | 425 | |
Establishing a Trick in a Short Suit First | 426 | |
Leading into a Tenace--The Time Element | 427 | |
Leading into a Tenace to Establish a Suit | 428 | |
The Time Element and the Opening Lead | 429 | |
Unnecessarily Giving Up a Trump Trick | 430 | |
Choosing Between Two Re-Entries | 431 | |
Keeping the Dangerous Hand out of the Lead | 432 | |
Trumping Your Partner's Ace | 433 | |
"Double Dummy" Playing Problems | 434 | |
Duplicate Strategy | 436 | |
Summary | 436 | |
Chapter X. | Psychological Strategy | 438 |
False-Carding | 439 | |
Refusing to Play Third Hand High | 444 | |
An Unusual Play | 445 | |
Misleading the Opponents by Playing Normally | 446 | |
Desperation Tactics by the Declarer | 447 | |
A Desperation Surprise Lead | 448 | |
A Deceptive and Unusual Lead | 449 | |
Leading Against Slams | 450 | |
Leading Against Doubled Slams | 451 | |
Leading Away From an Ace | 452 | |
Another Unconventional Opening Lead | 454 | |
A Pair of Unusual Deceptive Plays | 455
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