Page 26 - ABF Newsletter August 2025

BOOK REVIEW
BE A DIFFICULT BRIDGE OPPONENT
by David Bird & Marc Smith
(Master Point Press, Canada, 2025,
soft cover, 230 pages) is available from Paul Lavings Bridge Supplies, $44.95 post-free
The first of the book’s three sections is Declarer Play, with six chapters such as Protecting Your Trumps, Disrupting Signals and Power of the Closed Hand. The second section is Bidding, with twelve chap- ters such as Why Preempt?, Two-suited overcalls and Tactics in Third Seat. The third section is on De- fense, with six chapters including Making Declarer Guess, Defensive Entry Management and Defending Against Squeezes.
Brilliant stuff with as many as eight or nine exam- ple hands in a chapter. How would you handle this problem as declarer:
]A76 [973 }AK8 { J 10 9 4
] K 10 8 5 3
[J62
}974
{K5 {872
]J42 [AK5 }Q52 {AQ63
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1NT pass 3NT all pass
What is your plan when ]5 is led? If the lead is from ]KQxxx you can run the opening lead to your jack. If instead the lead is from ]K10, ]Q10, ]K9 or ]Q9 you can block the suit by rising ]A, much better. When the club finesse loses you have your nine tricks. If you had ducked the lead the defenders would have cleared the spades and taken four spades and one club trick.
The authors are strong believers in the modern ap- proach to preempting. Finding himself in third seat, nil vul with a four-count, Nystrom took the aggres- sive approach:
Dealer North. Neither side vulnerable.
]A9 [642 }962 {Q9752
] K Q 10 5
[ A Q J 10 7
}J }AQ8
]Q9
[ Q 10 8 4 } J 10 6 3
Helgemo could see he was facing a maximum pass, and despite the 3NT drove to slam. +980 was an 11-imp swing.
An exceptional book that is a lesson in expert tech- nique in all areas of the game.
Review by Paul Lavings Paul Lavings Bridge Supplies
{AK8
WEST de Wijs
dbl 5}
{ 10 4 } K 10 7 5 4 3
{J63 NORTH EAST
Clem’sson von Arnim pass pass 4} dbl pass 5[
]832 [8
Deprived of so much bidding space East-West’s focus was on finding the right contract rather than the correct level. At the other table South tried to convince her opponents she had more values than she had:
WEST NORTH EAST Helgemo Driver Larsson
pass pass dbl pass 2}
3} pass 3NT 5NT pass 6[
SOUTH Madsen
1} pass pass all pass
]J764 [K953
SOUTH Nystrom
3} pass all pass
Page: 26
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: August 2025