All titles available from Master Point Press

The definitive book on (legally) pulling the wool over your opponents’ eyes. Even if you don’t want to get into more esoteric situations, there are times at the bridge table when playing a misleading card is essential if you are to have any chance of an optimum result. This new edition of a classic from Mike Lawrence includes a number of ideas that are new since it was originally published.

• Intermediate
• Advanced

Learn from their Mistakes After a hard-fought match or perhaps a weekend of matchpoint play, it is well worth the effort to look at all your bad boards and see if any lessons can be learned. In this book you will have the chance to learn from other players’ mistakes. We will look at over 150 big swings from international play. The nett swings will average over 18 IMPs per deal, with some of more than 30 IMPs. Every deal will illustrate at least one important point of bidding, play or defense. By analyzing how and why the great stars of the game went wrong, you will have the chance to put your own game in order. To get the maximum benefit from the book, you should ask yourself: ‘Would I have made that mistake?’ or perhaps ‘Why was West’s 5♠ bid wrong?’ Don’t just accept the writer’s verdict as to who was at fault. Bridge is a game of opinions. Sometimes a player’s action is clearly right or wrong. When it’s a close decision, even expert opinions may vary. The purpose of the book is not solely to improve your game. The deals are entertaining in their own right. We all make mistakes, occasionally horrific ones, and it’s reassuring to see that even the greatest players occasionally do the same!

• Intermediate

Start Playing a winning system Not since the introduction of Precision has a new bidding system created such an immediate impact as Fantunes, the unique methods of Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes, the world’s number one ranked pair. The Italians have several world championship wins to their name, and their system has played a major role in that success. This book delves into the system, explaining how it works and, just as importantly, why it works. Two words best describe Fantunes: natural and fun. This is the definitive text for those who would like to try an innovative and proven new bidding system.

• Advanced

Mastering Bridge is a Journey This is a book for improving players who have graduated from the novice class and are embarking on the long journey to that coveted Life Master title — which now in North America requires winning 500 masterpoints. Written in a light, readable style, with liberal use of cartoons and aide-memoires, the book first addresses the mental approach necessary for bridge success — topics including how to learn, being mentally tough, trusting partner, and how to have constructive discussions after a disaster. It goes on to cover the numbers game — basic probability, how the scoring method affects decisions, and how to become a lucky player. The remainder of the book is technical, covering decisionmaking, opening leads, defensive signaling, hand evaluation, and some recommended bidding ideas and approaches.

• Intermediate

"This is not a book about systems, nor is it a book about conventions (although I confess I shall attempt to persuade you to adopt one or two in the course of it). This is a book about bidding and the places in the auction that we (and I use the word advisedly) go wrong. I don't care whether you prefer to play a weak or a strong notrump, or eight-card majors, or the Purple Spotted Forcing Club. But I do care about how you decide when to bypass a major to bid one notrump, or what constitutes a decent opening bid, and why, and what sequences you regard as forcing. You see what I mean about 'bidding' as opposed to 'system'?" - Danny Roth

• Intermediate

For most intermediate bridge players, declarer play is both fascinating and challenging, but too often they are left after a hand is over with the sinking feeling that they could have done better. In this book, acclaimed British author Danny Roth takes his readers through the most common causes of errors on play: mishandling communications, making errors involving trumps, failing to take advantage of all possible chances, and many more. He explains how to recognize the danger signals, and how to avoid the pitfalls. The situations he describes are encountered every day; careful study of the examples in this book will make the reader a better card player, and improved scores will certainly follow.

• Intermediate

For most bridge players, defence is the hardest part of the game. In this book, acclaimed British author Danny Roth takes his readers through the most common causes of errors on defence: taking tricks too early, not cashing out when necessary, not using all the information available from the bidding and play, not making the most of the defensive trump holdings, careless discarding, and many more. He explains how to recognize the dangers, and how to handle each of them correctly. The situations he describes are encountered every day; careful study of the examples in this book will make the reader a better card player, and improved scores will certainly follow.

• Intermediate

Erwin Brecher's Hocus Pocus series has already successfully combined bridge puzzles with logic and IQ tests, and the present volume, Focus on Hocus Pocus, enables chess enthusiasts to improve their bridge skills and vica versa.

How can you become a better bridge player? Follow the Law! If you've read To Bid Or Not To Bid (and who hasn't?), then you'll want to learn more about the Law of Total Tricks, and how it can help your game, in this sequel. Building on the basic ideas in his first book, Larry Cohen introduces sophisticated concepts which can help make your bidding judgement even better, and presents a dazzling array of examples from championship play to prove his points.

• Intermediate
• Advanced

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to spend your time traveling the world and being invited to play bridge in exotic locations? Watching world titles being won and lost? Rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous, as well as the best bridge players on the planet? Find out in these pages as two of the world's top bridge journalists take you behind the scenes of the international bridge circuit, in a book full of great hands, crazy characters and strange but true happenings that often don't (or can't!) get reported in the pages of the bridge magazines. Pack your bags and get ready for a wild ride — and don't forget to take your sense of humor along!

With this handy little book, you can: Learn a new convention, or extend your knowledge of it Learn and practice by yourself using the unique quiz format Practice with your partner using the specifically selected example hands, and compare your results with the recommended auctions.

Frank Stewart's Bridge Club is no ordinary place. It is the regular haunt of a cast of somehow familiar players: Unlucky Louie, against whom no one ever makes a wrong bid or play; Grapefruit, a man with an unnaturally sour disposition; Cy the Cynic, who knows that the Fates will conspire against him whatever he does; Minnie Bottoms, who tends to mix up jacks and kings but always somehow finds the killing play by mistake; Will Rogers, who never met a hand he didn't like; Frank himself, whose dry wit will keep you coming back for more; and many others. Pick up bridge pointers, try the quizzes, and have a great time while you do it.

This is the English translation of Van Short Whist tot Contract Bridge. Card-playing by some is regarded as reprehensible, and by others as contemptible: I do not agree with either. I look upon cards in general as a rational amusement. In some instances indeed they administer to evil; but which of man’s enjoyments does not ?          (Q. Quanti — London, 1822) In From Short Whist to Contract Bridge, the author takes the reader on a fascinating journey through space and time and introduces him to such games as Karnöffel, Whist, Hombre, Quadrille, Boston, Cayenne, Vist-Preferans, Russian Whist, Yeralash and Stormwhist. These old and mostly forgotten games will eventually lead to the assembly of a number of ‘proto-bridge’ variants, of which only Collinson’s Biritch or Russian Whist will survive the labor pains. In its turn, this ‘mother of all bridge variants’ will be superseded by its more sophisticated successors: bridge-opposition, auction bridge, royal auction bridge, plafond and, finally, contract bridge, the world’s most popular card game…

Sparkling Card Play Awaits... This book takes the reader further along the path traversed by the acclaimed Card by Card. The author presents intriguing problems in declarer play and defense and follows them with comprehensive analysis, given with a light touch and the occasional entertaining diversion. I think it is fair to say there will be something here for everyone interested in card play, for those who wish to improve as well as those who wish only to enjoy. — Sami Kehela The critics on Card by Card: Hughes writes with a gentle authority that endears him to readers and I can thoroughly recommend this book to players at or seeking to attain a high level of play.— Julian Pottage This book is as well-written and tightly-knit as its predecessor, Building a Bidding System. We look forward to many more efforts from this engaging writer. — International Bridge Press Association