Rating: 
Summary: A classic no good player should be without.
Review: Believe the reviews--this book cannot be overrated. It is far and away the best book ever written on playing the hand at bridge. It is encyclopedic and appropriate for experienced and novice players alike.
Rating:
Summary: A classic no good player should be without.
Review: Believe the reviews--this book cannot be overrated. It is far and away the best book ever written on playing the hand at bridge. It is encyclopedic and appropriate for experienced and novice players alike.
Rating:
Summary: The classic book on play of the hand
Review: Every accomplished bridge player has a copy of this book, but don't expect them to lend it to you. This is the oldest and most comprehensive guide to understanding the cards. There is a wealth of information on suit combinations, basic strategies, and other principles of declarer play. You won't be able to read it in a weekend, or even a month, so plan to take it slowly and study each chapter carefully. A bestseller for over 65 years. My mother gave me this book almost 40 years ago, and I still find valuable information in it.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific
Review: i am a real beginner but this book is really answering the doubts that arose in me playing hand after hand. it is very clear and exactly what i needed !
Rating: 
Summary: A classic, but dry
Review: The Play of the Hand remains one of the definitive books on declarer play and defense. It's a excellent reference and well worth reading if you want to improve your game. Unfortunately wading through it is something of a chore... it's rather dry. Unless you're serious about "studying" bridge, this book probably isn't for you. Try "Card Play Technique" by Victor Mollo -- it's equally thorough, covers many of the same topics and is written in wonderfully engaging and humorous prose.
Rating:
Summary: The best book ever written on this topic.
Review: This book assumes you know nothing -- it tells you that an ace beats a king and . . . that a king beats a queen! From there, it takes you one simple, logical step at a time to a level of sophistication sufficient to compete against the best players in the world. It should be the very first bridge book of a beginning bridge player and one that he or she will never outgrow. People have written books on this topic for more than 70 years and no one has ever come close to matching this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, thorough discussion of declarer play
Review: This book is the best-ever discussion of declarer play. Broken up into two sections (basics and advanced), it takes the reader from absolute first principles (the meaning of rank, and promotion) to expert plays (squeezes, etc.) Learn this book and you'll never need another book on play of the hand. Because the book was written early in the century, the writing style is slightly strange to modern readers, but shouldn't pose a problem for the interested student.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but too verbose
Review: This is a good book overall, and is generally considered a classic. However, it takes the reader through each deal in excruciating detail. Having said that, I have heard it being said that if you have the patience to go through it a few times(!!), you learn by "osmosis", and your game does go up a level. Meanwhile, for us mere mortals, Victor Mollo's "Card Play Technique" (also a classic) is much, much better. I have read that book cover-to-cover many times, and still learn every time I read it. Both are classics, but the difference is that Mollo's book reads like a modern well-written textbook, complete with review questions and answers.
Rating:
Summary: A must-have for anyone who enjoys playing bridge
Review: Very approachable yet comprehensive guide to play of the hand by declarer. Excellent for the novice player with progressive extensions into more advanced play. This book is still highly relevant despite being last revised in 1958. I'd give it 6 stars if I could!
Rating:
Summary: The pioneering book on Bridge Theory
Review: Watson's "Play of the Hand" is simply the best book from which to learn the fundamentals of card play. The presentation of basic card technique is clear, concise, and complete. Even though the original was written in the 1930's, the book remains astonishingly comprehensive. Even nearly 70 years later, the concepts presented in this work remain sound.
Learn how to play Bridge from a genius. Learn how to play from Louis Watson.
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