To Bid or Not To Bid , livre ebook

Master Point Press - Larry Cohen

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194 pages

English

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Since its publication in 1992, To Bid or Not to Bid has sold over 50,000 copies in English alone and has been published in several other languages. Undoubtedly the best-selling bridge book of the 1990s, its lucid exposition of the empirical Law of Total Tricks (a simple guide to making the right decisions in competitive bridge auctions) has made it a book that literally every serious bridge player just has to read.

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Publié par	Master Point Press
Date de parution	11 janvier 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781554942725
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0998€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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In memory of Nathan Cohen
Thanks to
Randy Baron, Marty Bergen, David Berkowitz, Kitty Bethe, Herb Cohen, Jon Cohen, Neil Cohen, Paul Cohen, Susie Cohen, Allan Falk, Harold Feldheim, Thomas Goodwin, Matthew Granovetter, Mike Lawrence, Eric Leong, Pat Lilly, Edwin Kantar, Robin Kay, Alex McCallum, Eric Rodwell, Om Sundar Sayenju, Paul Shapiro, Stan Sterenberg, Frank Stewart, Alan Truscott, and Steve Weinstein

Edited by Karen McCallum
© 1992, 2002 Larry Cohen
All rights reserved. It is illegal to reproduce any portion of this material, except by special arrangement with the publisher. Reproduction of this material without authorization, by any duplication process whatsoever, is a violation of copyright.
Master Point Press
331 Douglas Ave.
Toronto, Ontario Canada M5M 1H2 (416) 781-0351 Websites: www.masterpointpress.com www.masteringbridge.com www.bridgeblogging.com www.ebooksbridge.com Email: info@masterpointpress.com
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Cohen, Larry, 1959-
To bid or not to bid: the LAW of total tricks
ISBN 978-1-55494-272-5
1. Contract bridge — Bidding I. Title
GV1282.4.C64 2002 795.41’52 C2002-901833-1 Editor Karen McCallum Copy Editor/Interior Format Deanna Bourassa Cover and Interior Design Olena S. Sullivan/New Mediatrix
Contents
Foreword by Marty Bergen
Introduction
Chapter 1 What is the LAW?
Chapter 2 Applying the LAW
Chapter 3 Minor Adjustments
Chapter 4 On the Proper-level
Chapter 5 Off the Proper-level
Chapter 6 Double Trouble
Chapter 7 Notrump and the LAW
Chapter 8 Maxims
Chapter 9 Major Adjustments
Chapter 10 Is There a Downside?
Chapter 11 The LAW in the World
Glossary
Duplicate Scoring Table
IMP Table
Players Index
Bibliography
Foreword
June, 1969, was an important month in my life. I got married, moved into a new apartment, graduated college and read a bridge article.
What's the big deal about the bridge article? If anyone had told me that there was something in my mailbox which would have a dramatic effect on my life, I'd have called the bomb squad! But, there was no one to warn me, so all I knew was that my monthly Bridge World had arrived. My bridge life would never be the same…
The article, entitled The Law of Total Tricks by Jean René Vernes, suggested a revolutionary idea. According to Verne, in the area of competitive bidding, trumps are everything! I was fascinated by the idea. I read and reread the article countless times. It was a revelation. I couldn't wait to test it out at the table. And I loved to pore through hand records after the session to observe the Law of Total Tricks in action. Although it didn't take long for me to become a believer, I've never ceased to be impressed by its accuracy.
It annoyed me in those days to be repeatedly confronted with the puzzling behavior of other expert players. They reacted quite differently to what, by then, had become simply the ‘LAW’ to my now obedient bridge brain. For the most part, they were unwilling to go along with the idea. Instead, they stubbornly preferred to back their judgment. Fortunately, for me, more of them were opponents than partners.
In 1979, another important milestone… I met Larry Cohen, who was to become one of my best friends and most successful bridge partners. Larry was captivated by the Law of Total Tricks, just as I had been ten years before. Our partnership methods were designed specifically to utilize the principles dictated by the LAW. He became an eager disciple, and a skilled practitioner.
Larry and I both have preached the LAW ever since, whenever a chance happens to present itself — writing, lecturing and teaching the concepts to anyone who will listen. We've been nothing less than delighted to have discovered a simple and effective tool which serves to make certain bridge decisions trivial. The time to share the secrets with bridge players everywhere is long overdue.
Larry has set down the principles in a clear, orderly and concise manner, with realistic suggestions on how to incorporate LAW ideas into your own bidding methods. A serious reader will derive a great deal of usable knowledge if he takes it to heart.
Larry's book won't do anything to help your card play – there's not a backwash squeeze to be found. But then, you're not likely to encounter one of those at the table anytime soon. What you will see, every time you play, are innumerable competitive bidding decisions. The practical advice contained in these pages will help you get those right — time after time. Obey the LAW and make winning decisions — that's what To Bid or Not to Bid is all about.
Marty Bergen May, 1992
Introduction
To bid or not to bid. That is the question faced in every competitive auction. Should I sell out to the opponents, or bid one more? Should I defend, or try to win the contract for our side? I first became aware of the concepts discussed in this book back in 1979, when I met the prolific Marty Bergen at the Cincinnati Fall Nationals. Always eager to share his original ideas, Marty monopolized the dinner conversation for several hours, expounding upon his personal favorite — the Law of Total Tricks. I was hooked.
Several years later, Marty and I started our partnership and based our entire system upon the Law of Total Tricks. More than anything else, I attribute our successes of the 1980's to the LAW. Sure, we're both good card players and good constructive bidders, but so are thousands of other experts. What most helped us win seven National Championships as partners was our competitive decisions.
In this modern era of bridge, opponents very rarely give your side a free run in the bidding. Most decisions have to be made in competition — often after preempts. To rely solely on judgment is unpleasant at best. The world's best frequently go wrong when faced with competitive bidding decisions. Because the opponents have taken away the bidding room, it often boils down to nothing more than guesswork.
Fortunately, for Marty and me, we didn't have to rely on judgment or guesswork. We let the Law of Total Tricks make our competitive decisions, and found it to be far superior to any bridge player's judgment.
Experts are renowned for their big egos. They believe that no law can substitute for experience and a keen sense of evaluation and deduction. What they don't realize is that the Law of Total Tricks is at the foundation of every bridge deal, and is far more accurate than their judgement.
I want to share the LAW with not only the disdaining experts, but with bridge players at every-level, including beginners. If I were to teach bridge to a novice, I would consider the Law of Total Tricks to be a fundamental concept — imperative learning material.
The definition of the LAW, and how it works, is the subject of the first chapter. In Chapter Two, you will begin to see why the LAW is of utmost importance in a competitive auction.
If any player were to read only those two chapters, I can promise that his or her bridge game would improve dramatically. However, there are many fine points as well as corollaries to the LAW. The rest of the book is devoted to fine-tuning. At the end, I've included a chapter on World Championship decisions where the Law of Total Tricks came into play (or should have).
I believe that the Law of Total Tricks will revolutionize the way bridge players bid in competition. Such is my belief that I fear that too many people will read this book, and make the right decision the next time they sit down to play at my table.
Larry Cohen
WHAT IS THE LAW?

CHAPTER 1

1978…NEW ORLEANS – WORLD PAIR OLYMPIAD
Brazilian star, Marcello Branco, was well on his way to winning the World Pairs Championship when he picked up:
♠ A K Q 8 6 ♥ 10 7 6 3 ♦ J 8 ♣ A 10
With nobody vulnerable he dealt and opened the bidding with one spade. After a two heart overcall, he was raised to two spades. His right hand opponent jumped to four hearts and it was up to him:

Can you make a better decision than Branco made? By the time you reach the end of Chapter Two you'll know what to do [1] .
The Law of Total Tricks can best be understood by first looking at a very ordinary bridge deal:

On this deal, North-South will probably play in spades, and take nine tricks (losing two tricks in each minor suit). If East-West were to play the hand in clubs, they would take seven tricks (losing two spades, three hearts, and the ace of diamonds).
Even though both sides can't play the hand at the same time, we will, for argument's sake, say that on this deal there are 16 total tricks — North-South have nine tricks in spades, and East-West have seven tricks in clubs.
Now, let's look at how many trumps there are in this deal. North-South, if they play in spades, have eight trumps. East-West, if they play in clubs, also have eight trumps. Even though both suits can't be trump at the same time, we will again, for argument's sake, say that on this deal there are 16 total trumps — eight for North-South in spades, and eight for East-West in clubs.
Is it a coincidence that there are 16 total tricks and 16 total trumps ? Not at all. In fact, this phenomenon is the basis for the Law of Total Tricks, and the entire contents of this book.

The Total Number of Tricks available on any deal is approximately equal to the Total Number of Trumps.
Using its simplest definit