Download the catalogHand of the Week
Art. # 978-1-55494-640-2
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By:
Joel Martineau
- Number of pages: 220
- Isbn: 978-1-77140-042-8
- Language: English
- Categories:
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About the Book
Perhaps the best way to improve your bridge is to watch an expert play, and try to understand the reasoning behind their bids and plays. Here, readers follow the bidding and play (or defense) of fifty-two deals – one a week for a year – and listen to the author’s thinking as each hand develops. Understanding why the experts do what they do is the first step towards being able to do it yourself – at least some of the time!
About the Author
1
Joel Martineau (Canada) was a finalist in the 2017 Canadian National Teams Championships. Since retiring from teaching literature at the University of British Columbia he has focused on teaching bridge.
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Media Reviews
May 14th, 2018
Tom Anderson
Bridge books often repeat the same ideas, and it is rare to find a volume that offers something new. In Hand of the Week, 52 Bridge Stories Vancouver, B.C., bridge teacher Joel Martineau definitely offers something new.
Joel has produced 52 essays exploring some expected and some surprising topics. You will find much about bridge technique, how to play a better game, tips on how to be a better partner, how to make life easier for your partner and more difficult for your opponents, and how to be a better mentor. You will find some bridge history and some autobiography. This rich collection explores other less familiar themes, such as vocabulary as a technique for bridge improvement. Or, if you’re going to teach others bridge ideas, why do you not follow them yourself? Or, what do we truly love about this game?
Master Point Press is the publisher of many other admirable books on bridge. It has a popular series where 25 ideas are covered in a book: 25 ways to be a better defender, 25 bridge myths and so on. Joel has gone them 27 better and given you 52 stories, packed with ideas to think about. Put yourself in the hands of this skilled raconteur.
August 21st, 2018
ACBL Bulletin
'An enjoyable learning tool because of the thorough articulation of the thought process from the start of a deal to the outcome. Advancing players will do well to make Martineau a Monday-morning ritual.'
August 21st, 2018
A New Bridge Magazine
Joel Martineau may not be a name much known in bridge circles outside his native Canada, but that hasn't stopped him producing a first book that will be useful to improving players around the world. Any player below expert level who wants to improve their game will do so if they use this book well.
August 21st, 2018
MidWest Book Review
Thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Hand of the Week" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal and community library Bridge reference collections.
June 21st, 2018
A New Bridge Magazine
Joel Martineau may not be a name much known in bridge circles outside his native Canada, but that hasn’t stopped him producing a first book that will be useful to improving players around the world. More advanced players will find interest in many of the hands too.
It is written in the over the shoulder format and, as you would expect from an ex-professor of literature, in a pleasing narrative style. The hands all come from his own real-life experience, and so there is a prevalence of matchpoints over IMPs, which is no bad thing since it is the commonest form of the game for most improving players.
What will prove most beneficial to readers looking to improve their performance is the detailed commentary on the thought processes involved in analysing the likely distribution of points and suits around the table, during both the bidding and the play, in particular before playing to the first trick. This is instructive in the true sense of the word.
Any player below expert level who wants to improve their game will do so if they use this book well.
January 29th, 2019
The Bridge World
If you like an over-the-shoulder style collection featuring intermediate-level deals from tournament play, you are a good candidate for this book.The author prefers vocabulary to formulas or statistics when presenting bridge advice, and there is a good discussion of the difference between strategy and tactics.