Winning Notrump Leads was a ground-breaking and very well-received book that used the power of computers to determine which opening leads work best against a variety of auctions at notrump. Using enhanced software, the authors now turn their attention to suit contracts. They generate millions of random deals, retaining those that match the chosen auction, for example 1S-2S-4S. By playing these deals automatically against each of the 13 possible opening leads from a given hand, they are able to discover which lead is most likely to beat the contract (also the best lead at matchpoint pairs). The authors provide insightful commentary to each result, answering timeless questions such as: When should I lead a trump? When is a doubleton a good opening lead? Should I lead differently against a partscore? Should I make an aggressive or a passive lead? Should I lead an ace against a small slam? Which leads work best against a grand slam? By using the number-crunching computer power available nowadays, there is no longer any need to rely on general opening-lead guidelines passed down by our ancestors. We think you will be surprised by many of the discoveries made during this investigation! DAVID BIRD (top) and TAF ANTHIAS were contemporaries at Cambridge University, both reading mathematics. They carried out research and development on software systems for over 30 years at IBM's UK Laboratories. In the 1970s they formed a successful bridge partnership, winning a number of national events. David is now one of the world's top bridge writers with 116 books to his name. Taf moved on to the USA, where he became a vice president of Cisco Systems. They have joined forces on this ground-breaking book.

The book is designed to give a comprehensive and systematic view of the rules of play for suit contracts. The various subjects contain rules for when and how to ruff, how to set up a long suit, when and how to finesse up to a lone honor, how to handle special combinations such as a split A-Q or K-Q, ways to set up a J or 10, when to play for the drop, how and when to get a count on the hand, the ruffing finesse, the backward finesse and choosing alternative finesses. Under each subject, there are numerous examples of how to handle each rule of play.

60 hands to practice asking for help as well as responding to a Help Suit Game Try. Includes practice identifying when, and how, to respond with an alternate suit when lacking help in the requested suit.

"Thinking about learning bridge but don't know the basics? Want to be able to play a social game? Collings need to know? Bridge starts from scratch to teach you how to play and enjoy the ever popular game of bridge."--Back cover.

A 40-page manual to support the popular Learn Bridge in a Day? introductory seminar. Includes basics of point counting, opening, responding, scoring and play of the hand. Perfect for true beginners - fast, fun, fundamental.