Why You Lose at Bridge by S J Simon (1904 – 1948), First published 1945

The best Bridge Book ever written

Who says so? - I believe that group of American experts voted it as best book some years ago

Simon does not aim to improve your technical skill, but to improve your losing tactics.  “Points thrown away through greed, obstinacy, refusal to believe the obvious, or just sheer carelessness”.  It is aimed at helping you to avoid the mistakes which you are quite good enough to avoid.

The setting is Rubber Bridge and the bidding methods are dated - do not let that discourage you.

It is very readable.  It feels like Simon is talking to you personally in a friendly way.

At the end Simon gets four people to play a rubber -  their names have passed into our language: 

• Mrs Guggenheim – “She can neither bid nor play a hand and never will”
• The Unlucky Expert – “Cannot bring himself to believe how bad other players are”
• Futile Willie – “Theoretically he is almost expert class, but he lacks any kind of judgment..”
• Mr Smug – “..Represents the epitome of complacent inefficiency”.

Simon uses the hands to demonstrate the bridge frailties of the four protagonists.

At the end the rubber is a washout.

Simon replaces each player with a common sense player in turn and estimates the course the rubber would have taken.  He alleges that in each case the common sense player would have won.

Peter Briggs    April 2014