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Rating: 
Summary: Conventions clearly and concisely explained
Review: 1999 Intermediate/Novice Bridge Book of the Year. Each convention is clearly and concisely explained and how it fits into a standard bidding system. Learn how and when to use each and know what your opponents are doing.
Rating: 
Summary: For beginners to Intermediates, Excellent resource!
Review: Both readable and well organized, this book is excellent for beginners. Intermediate players will certainly gain even if they already know a particular convention pretty well. I cannot recommend it enough. Indeed, I do recommend it to my bridge students and pals in Salt Lake. The only caveat is that for a few conventions some critical details are left out making it difficult to decide how to use it. An example: for the Ogust convention they omit describing a point range for use of the bid. But don't let that dissuade you from this book! One of the best features is the organization which focuses on basic, intermediate, and sophisticated conventions. This gives confidence to the reader that they can tackle applying these to their game.
Rating:
Summary: Great overview
Review: I have read a number of books on bidding, and had read about many of the conventions in the book before, but never really felt I could use them. This book does a GREAT job of explaining some of the most important conventions in simple terms.
Rating:
Summary: Best"popular conventions" book EVER! Easy to read!
Review: 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, MD
Rating:
Summary: Best"popular conventions" book EVER! Easy to read!
Review: 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, MD
Rating: 
Summary: Good at the basics, but fails to inform you of pitfalls.
Review: This book does a good job of going through the basics of each of the conventions presented. The material is presented in a very digestible form. However, the book sometimes fails to inform you of hands where you will simply be stuck for a proper bid and that is also essential when learning a convention. Good for relative beginners, but I do not recommend this for advanced players.
Rating:
Summary: Good at the basics, but fails to inform you of pitfalls.
Review: This book does a good job of going through the basics of each of the conventions presented. The material is presented in a very digestible form. However, the book sometimes fails to inform you of hands where you will simply be stuck for a proper bid and that is also essential when learning a convention. Good for relative beginners, but I do not recommend this for advanced players.
Rating:
Summary: Bridge Intermediates' Bible
Review: This is an excellent book for all bridge players, except perhaps for the complete novice. I own about 25 bridge books, and this is the one that I find myself going back to over and over. It's clear, up-to-date, easy to follow, and has just the right level of detail. The examples are very helpful. It covers Jacoby, weak 2 bids, takeout and negative doubles, as well as more sophisticated stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Bridge Intermediates' Bible
Review: This is an excellent book for all bridge players, except perhaps for the complete novice. I own about 25 bridge books, and this is the one that I find myself going back to over and over. It's clear, up-to-date, easy to follow, and has just the right level of detail. The examples are very helpful. It covers Jacoby, weak 2 bids, takeout and negative doubles, as well as more sophisticated stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Popular & useful book for novice / intermediate players !
Review: We believe Barbara Seagram's (with Marc Smith) "25 Bridge Conventions" is the original, and to us the best, of the growing series of "25 ..." bridge texts. The teaching technique is such that even the early "easy" conventions, such as Stayman or Weak 2's, are covered in enough detail to instruct a player previously unfamiliar with the topic. Yet even those with years of playing experience can refer back to various subjects as their skills improve, sifting out or reinforcing various subtleties of the material. The book is divided into three sections: "Learn These First" (such as Jacoby Transfers and Blackwood); "More Complicated" (such as splinters, cuebid raises and Jacoby 2NT); and "Sophisticated Stuff" (such as Reverse Drury and New Minor Forcing). Each topic is covered in a standalone chapter.
There are excellent illustrations of every technique being discussed, followed by half a dozen or so problems designed to test your understanding. A clear explanation of the "right" answers follow, which again helps the student firm up his grasp of the topic. The writing style seems to set just the right level of conversational versus pedantic, and the book is generally a pleasure to use and re-use as time proceeds. We direct a novice / intermediate duplicate bridge game in our spare time and this is the one book we recommend all our players acquire and study. While it is not meant to be read cover to cover, and for sure, some of the topics are better suited to those with a year or two of playing under their belts, it is a fine "first bridge book" for many a player. Highly recommended!
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