Basic Bridge

Take a quick and easy beginner's course in the world's most popular card game. From evaluating the hand to complex bidding tactics, here is everything needed for a sound grounding in bridge. Even beginners will play with confidence when they have these easy-to-follow instructions and diagrams as a guide. Simple explanations of all the rules, plus illustrations of sample hands and scoring, provide the basics. A "get to know bridge" section explains the pack, choosing partners, shuffling, dealing, sorting, tricks and trumps, notations, and much more. Extensive coverage on bidding includes values for games and slams; a variety of openings; the denial pass; a change of suit response; several responses to opponents' bids; defensive and sacrifice bidding; and a huge range of other options. Move on to actual play with advice on choosing a strategy, the finesse, assuming split honors, drawing trumps, trumping losers in dummy, defenders' and safety play, and card signaling. A quick reference scoring table plus a glossary of bridge terms complete this thorough package.