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Rating: 
Summary: Poorly organized and poorly written
Review: I like the order of the presentation. Whether a bid is forcing or not is presented early (Ch 3).
Rating: 
Summary: First readable 2/1 book I have seen.
Review: I like the order of the presentation. Whether a bid is forcing or not is presented early (Ch 3).
Rating: 
Summary: An Important Book
Review: If you call yourself an Advanced player you have got to get this book. Hardy describes in depth, the current modern bidding techniques. He starts with two over one, game force and adds in conventions and gadgets that should make your bidding much more accurate. His examples and quizzes are very well edited. Of all the bridge books I own (many), I would call this one "my bible."
Rating:
Summary: An Important Book
Review: If you call yourself an Advanced player you have got to get this book. Hardy describes in depth, the current modern bidding techniques. He starts with two over one, game force and adds in conventions and gadgets that should make your bidding much more accurate. His examples and quizzes are very well edited. Of all the bridge books I own (many), I would call this one "my bible."
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Content, but Strangely Presented
Review: What this book is NOT meant for: Not meant for a complete beginner -- this is not a "Learn how to play bridge" book. This book presupposes the knowledge of terms that belong to someone that has already learned at least enough bridge to sit at a table and play (although not necessarily very well). This is a book that is more geared towards teaching someone that already knows something about bridge (and bidding in particular), and gives him/her a self-contained, complete description of the current "standard". I place standard in quotes because I consider his referring to the 2/1 system as "standard" not yet totally accurate (though perhaps before long it will be). Nowadays, at most clubs in the US, you will see a significant percentage of players, even experts, that hold to older standards. Beyond teaching the 2/1 system, this book goes further into refining your bidding judgement. All too often we've all found ourselves saying "Hey we have 25 (or 26) points, we need to be in game! Damn why did I go down?" Or "Hey, we have only 21 points, but we made slam!", and lament that you were (un)lucky at how well/poorly the hands fit. This book does an excellent job at improving your judgement and hand valuation skills, to actually be able to anticipate when the hands do fit well, and therefore should be bid more aggressively, and when they do not well, and therefore should be treated skeptically. Also this book introduces splinters and other bidding techniques to help discover (mis)fits and further aid your judgement. Another important point of bidding all-too-often neglected is the need for planning your rebids. Many books pretend that no matter what you bid, you will never have a problem the next time your turn arises. In reality, sometimes you need to make a counter-intuitive bid to facilitate rebidding. Also sometimes you flat out have no good call, and this book gives you advice on how to make the best of such situations. My only complaint is the strange numbering scheme used -- not worth docking a full star for, but somehow I think I ought to be able to give this book 4.5 stars for it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Content, but Strangely Presented
Review: What this book is NOT meant for: Not meant for a complete beginner -- this is not a "Learn how to play bridge" book. This book presupposes the knowledge of terms that belong to someone that has already learned at least enough bridge to sit at a table and play (although not necessarily very well). This is a book that is more geared towards teaching someone that already knows something about bridge (and bidding in particular), and gives him/her a self-contained, complete description of the current "standard". I place standard in quotes because I consider his referring to the 2/1 system as "standard" not yet totally accurate (though perhaps before long it will be). Nowadays, at most clubs in the US, you will see a significant percentage of players, even experts, that hold to older standards. Beyond teaching the 2/1 system, this book goes further into refining your bidding judgement. All too often we've all found ourselves saying "Hey we have 25 (or 26) points, we need to be in game! Damn why did I go down?" Or "Hey, we have only 21 points, but we made slam!", and lament that you were (un)lucky at how well/poorly the hands fit. This book does an excellent job at improving your judgement and hand valuation skills, to actually be able to anticipate when the hands do fit well, and therefore should be bid more aggressively, and when they do not well, and therefore should be treated skeptically. Also this book introduces splinters and other bidding techniques to help discover (mis)fits and further aid your judgement. Another important point of bidding all-too-often neglected is the need for planning your rebids. Many books pretend that no matter what you bid, you will never have a problem the next time your turn arises. In reality, sometimes you need to make a counter-intuitive bid to facilitate rebidding. Also sometimes you flat out have no good call, and this book gives you advice on how to make the best of such situations. My only complaint is the strange numbering scheme used -- not worth docking a full star for, but somehow I think I ought to be able to give this book 4.5 stars for it.
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