Expert Hand Evaluation; Augie Boehm, September 2017,142 pp (paperback), $14.95
Description
If bidding were as simple as counting high-card points, most of us would have lost interest in bridge a long time ago. Appreciating the life-long challenge of a game immune to mastery, experts are always trying to hone their bidding judgment.
This book’s aim is to help you develop good bidding judgment by refining and improving your hand evaluation, which is the bedrock of good bidding. Learning the requirements for everyday sequences suffices to solve a great many situations — but often not when a borderline hand falls into the gray zone.
Then, it is important to understand what your hand is worth. And that’s the main point of Part I of this book. Part II explores using judgment for potentially problematic bidding sequences not neatly resolved by your bidding toolbox. Applying the hand-evaluation judgment learned in Part I will help you think outside the box.
Contents
Introduction: A Brief History of Hand Evaluation PART I: Learning Judgment 1. The Ins and Outs 2. Location 3. Location, Location, Location! 4. Playing Strength 5. Little Engine and Big Engine 6. Promotions and Demotions 7. Splinters 8. Position 9. Sharing 10. Predict the Play 11. Helpful Opponents 12. Tricks, Not Points 13. Unescorted Royals 14. Context 15. Delayed Arrival 16. You Be the Judge 17. The Slam Zone 18. Slams Without Blackwood 19. Wild Distribution 20. Advanced Hand Evaluation 21. Hand Evaluation Test PART II: Bidding Without Conventions 22. Mark-Time Preference 23. Structured Reverses 24. The Third Bid 25. Planning the Third Bid 26. The Fourth Bid 27. Concentration Calls 28. Anticipation 29. Flying Solo
