Keys to Winning Bridge: The Advancing Player's Handbook [Paperback]

With this latest book he has captured (and in understandable words) not only what it takes to win but the way to get there.In his 40 years as an author, editor, analyst and syndicated columnist,Frank Stewart has had a chance to discern the skills that make a winning player. Theintent of this book is to help aspiring players improve by focusing on thefactors that really determine how well they do. Most are basic, and anyonewho has an ounce of ability and is intent on progressing can do so. The level of instruction inthis book varies. Some material is elementary, some is more advancedand involves the type of logical thinking that winning bridge requires.Although his aim is to build a sound foundation, he also wants to give anyreader who can excel the opportunity to do so.Many elements contribute to success at bridge. Frank believes that two areas account for thedifference between players who do well consistently and those who struggle.(1) A winning player has rock-solid fundamentals. The best partof an expert???s game is that he never -- never -- boots a simplesituation. Give him a basic bidding problem or a textbookexercise in dummy play and he will get it right. If you never make errors in basic technique, you will have an edge over90% of your competitors.(2) A winning player keeps avoidable errors to a minimum. Bridgeis a game of mistakes. Nobody has ever played a perfectsession, nobody ever will. Everybody makes mistakes. Winnersmake the fewest. This quote is attributed to Bob Hamman:???All players are poor players, including some good players.???Hamman wasn???t being opprobrious; he was just acknowledgingthat we all have shortcomings.Many types of errors are common: mishandling suit combinations,forgetting to count, missing inferences. Maybe the majority of errors stemfrom lapses in concentration.Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 PART ONE: DUMMY PLAY At trick one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .l£Ý