Secrets of Winning Bridge - Jeff Reubens

Imagine that you, an average Club player, have buttonholed the Club expert, asking for a few tips on how to improve your game.  What you need to do, my friend, he tells you, when playing in the evening duplicate pairs, is estimate what % age of the field will be in your 4S contract; what % age in the alternative 3NT; then factor in the smaller % age likely to be in a part score; followed by the tiny % age venturing a slam.  Then you will be well placed to determine the right line of play.  Is he pulling my leg, you will think to yourself, or perhaps he’s just lost his marbles? Either way you’d send him packing, with a flea in his ear, would you not? 

Jeff Rubens says in his introduction to ‘Secrets of Winning Bridge’, that he is addressing the average player.  The trouble is that Rubens is a genius, and like most of his ilk tends to lose sight of the limited ability of his readers to comprehend and act on his advice.  Paradoxically, however, this is a “must have” book for all players of Club standard and above.  Top Club and County players will make their own way in their approach to it, getting out of it whatever strikes them.  The notes here are addressed to players, new to Club bridge up to average Club standard, in order for them to navigate the treacherous waters effectively.  Without some kind of warning, these players will be seriously disappointed, not to say disillusioned with the whole venture.  Which would be a pity, considering the importance of this work, and its seminal place in the literature.

The book divides naturally into five sections.  Chapters 1 – 5 Hand Valuation; 6 – 7 Money Bridge; 8 – 13 Match Pointed Pairs; 14 – 15 Teams/IMPS; 16 Partnerships and Conventions.

Taking these in order.  The chapters on hand valuation are worth their weight in gold.  Nothing will do more to enhance a player’s bidding judgment than the principles set out here.  I could say “learn these chapters by heart, or at least re-read them every month”.  The pay off will not come at once, but their value will kick in progressively throughout a player’s bridge career.  You see, what Rubens is saying is so fundamental; yet the subject has been cursorily treated by virtually all other authors.

 ‘Antonio Contin’

(Editor’s Notes:

1.    Rubens is currently (2014) the editor of Bridge World, a widely read American magazine.

2.    This is a part of a longer review: used by kind permission of the author).