[mghatiya]

Hello All,

I am looking for a book/guide on all types of doubles. I know there are books on "takeout doubles", "negative doubles" etc. But the problem is doubles come in so many flavours in competitive auctions (especially after couple of rounds of bids), many a times it becomes confusing as to whether this double is penalty oriented or a takeout one or value showing or lead directional or responsive or balancing and so on.

So I am looking for some material which can put forward some guiding principles around identifying which doubles are what. Please share if you know of such materials.

Thanks,
Mukesh

[Tramticket]

There is a pretty exhaustive book by Sally Horton (now Sally Brock): Double Trouble.

It is probably 20 years old now though.

[GrahamJson]

There's the Sally Horton book, also The Complete Book on Take Out Doibles, by Mike Lawrence. Then there is Bridge Lesdons: Double by Andrew Robson, Negative Doubles by Bergen, Double! New Meanings for an Old Bid, by Lawrence. I have only read the Sally Horton book, which is still pretty good, so can't comment on the others.

There are of course several books on competitive bidding, which include advice on doubles. Probably the most recent of these is Competitive Bidding in the 21st Century by Marshall Miles. I must read my copy sometime.

[A7Bob]

mghatiya, on 2016-November-24, 08:40, said:

Hello All,

I am looking for a book/guide on all types of doubles. I know there are books on "takeout doubles", "negative doubles" etc. But the problem is doubles come in so many flavours in competitive auctions (especially after couple of rounds of bids), many a times it becomes confusing as to whether this double is penalty oriented or a takeout one or value showing or lead directional or responsive or balancing and so on.

So I am looking for some material which can put forward some guiding principles around identifying which doubles are what. Please share if you know of such materials.

Thanks,
Mukesh

Hi all,

I would recommend a book, "Larry Teaches Doubles (and Redoubles) by Larry Cohen. Available on Amazon for $14.95

Thanks,

A7Bob

[dave_beer]

"Absolute Doubles - the Scanian Way" by Mats Nilsland is the fourth volume in the Swedish Expert Methods series. It is only 56 pages long and starts with the premise that "A double is for takeout, unless we have defined it otherwise.".

You probably won't find it in any bookstore but you can still order it from Anders Wirgren at scaniabridge,com.

[jogs]

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Books on bridge are passe. "To bid or not to bid", 1991. Robson and Segal, 1993. All other books since then were out of date as quickly as they were published. To learn the latest info on bridge bidding one must read bridge articles, usually from websites.

[kenberg]

Also Competitive Bidding in the 21st Century (Marshall Miles0 has about 80 pages devoted to doubles so his treatment would fit into other competitive situations.

But Jogs has a point, bridge books have a tough time keeping up with the action. Trying to grasp it all is a bit like going to a fire hydrant for a drink of water.

And there are variations, of course. A simple example:

1C-(Pass)-1D-(1M)
X


Whatsit?

My opinion as to how it should be:

1C-(Pass)-1D-(1S)
X

shows four hearts. How else to do so?

1C-(Pass)-1D-(1H)
X

is a support double for diamonds. If opener has four spades he can bid them, and although minors often get no respect in fact there could well be a question of how high we wish to go in diamonds to compete against their heart partial.

But I would not take this logic to the limit if undiscussed.

So there are many sources for info on doubles, but only in the most straightforward cases can they be used with confidence with a casual partner. I play from time to time on bbo with this one guy who loves doubles. I think my rate of figuring out what he intends by his doubles is maybe 75%.

[GrahamJson]

jogs, on 2016-November-25, 19:15, said:

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Books on bridge are passe. "To bid or not to bid", 1991. Robson and Segal, 1993. All other books since then were out of date as quickly as they were published. To learn the latest info on bridge bidding one must read bridge articles, usually from websites.

Hmm, not sure about that. I don't think that it is that kappy important to be up with the latest idea. What is important is that you and your partner are singing from the same sheet, in which case taking a standard text, even if twenty or thirty years old, as your basis is as good a start as any.

Incidentally, I reckon the best bridge book of all time is Play These Hands With Me, by Terrance Reece (also issued as Practical Bidding and Practical Play - which includes an additional section on bidding). You won't find anything in it about bidding theory, and the system used is old and basic. However it explains how you should be thinking when playing; picking up inferences etc. As such it will never be out of date. And of course Reece is the best ever righter on the game; clear and witty.

[jogs]

GrahamJson, on 2016-November-26, 03:16, said:

Hmm, not sure about that. I don't think that it is that kappy important to be up with the latest idea. What is important is that you and your partner are singing from the same sheet, in which case taking a standard text, even if twenty or thirty years old, as your basis is as good a start as any.

Incidentally, I reckon the best bridge book of all time is Play These Hands With Me, by Terrance Reece (also issued as Practical Bidding and Practical Play - which includes an additional section on bidding). You won't find anything in it about bidding theory, and the system used is old and basic. However it explains how you should be thinking when playing; picking up inferences etc. As such it will never be out of date. And of course Reece is the best ever righter on the game; clear and witty.

Sorry forgot to include a qualifying phrase.

Quote

All other books on bidding since then were out of date as quickly as they were published.

Unless you are introducing something entirely new to the bridge playing community an article would probably be sufficient.

[mghatiya]

Thanks folks for the suggestions. I've a list of books to catch up with, now (Not that, that list was small earlier)

As of now my first priority is to come to a basic set of understanding which is complete and clear (if not the best and most modern). That way we avoid the mishaps due to confusion.
Then I'd get on to improving those to cater to different scenarios in better way. For this first step, I guess the suggested books should be good stepping stone.

@Jogs: I agree that keeping up with latest in bidding world is probably not done best by books as things develop fast. What are the resources would you suggest to do that? Should that be material for a different thread?