Off-road Declarer Play: Unusual Ways to Play a Bridge Hand Paperback – April 15, 2007

In my oppinion, this is one of the best declarer play books for advanced+ players. Off-road declarer play by David Bird is well structured, with chapters explaining one specific theme, first examples presented double-dummy then problems proposed for the reader.The hands are beautiful and pragmatic, I think advanced readers will be able to solve most of the problems in a few minutes, a normal playing bridge deal time. The selected topics includes: entries creating, blocking plays, surviving bad trumps breaks, ways to rectify count for squezees.

Many bridge books are geared toward beginners. This one is not, and is a great learning tool for the intermediate player. It's well-written in a style the reader will enjoy.

This book goes through a lot of hands and lets you see ways to make some impossible looking contracts. Its a different way to view the hands you play.Great read for any level of bridge player.

Just to sell the title.

Bird has collected a host of declarer play techniques that come in handy when you find yourself in an odd contract (e.g., pard just pass you out in a cue bid). Although many of these ploys appear in other places (Many intermediate and advanced players will recognize quite a few of them from other study.), you'll not find so many desperation measures collected in any other single place any time soon. The real bonus with this little gem is not really the exquisite examples, ploys, and exercises. The REAL prize comes with learning a new way to think as declarer (and a new way of declarer scheming to consider as a defender).If you've reached a point where you want to improve your game, and declarer play is one facet of your game you want to improve; this appropriately titled volume belongs in your bridge library. Have a partner or teammate with a habit of bidding to interesting contracts? Make them a present of a copy without mentioning "creative" bidding. It'll be a lot more helpful than engaging in a finger pointing contest about why the wheels fell off during the auction.

Nice variations of common problems.For instance - sometimes you are short of entries to a hand. Consider a fineese you don't have to take. You may go down an extra trick, or make your game contract.The contract looks cold - anything you can do to handle a ba dsplit, maybe a 4-1 trump break? Try ducking a trump trick. You give up on the over trick, but make your contract.Want to pull off a squeeze. Is there a safe way to rectify the count?Maybe you need to end play the strong hand. A few ideas.Northing you haven't seen before if you read A LOT of bridge books, but still well presented.Nice job!

David Bird is currently my favourite bridge author on the subject of declarer's play (as well as comentator on BBO). One of the reasons for this is that he doesn't throw random hands at you, but has the patience to build a theme out of several ones, which makes it much easier to remember a particular technique.I can't afford to buy all his books, because he has written too many, but this one is definitely worth its money. If you are afraid of the mental strain, get it together with one of his Abbot books for entertainment, and alternate between the two :)My 5 stars are reserved for Watson's Play of the Hand, and Love's Squeezes Complete.

This book is an excellent learning tool for the advanced intermediate player and a good refresher for gold life masters. The subject matter is interesting, the style is clear and straightforward, and the test problems at the end of each chapter are helpful.