How to Read Your Opponent's Cards: The Bridge Experts' Way to Locate Missing High Cards

Mike Lawrence is one of the most intelligent authors I have ever read (and I read a lot). This is also one of his better-organized and readable books (surprisingly his first book). Reading this book will teach you how to think at the table. Counting is a skill that separates the novice from the expert, and this book goes a long way towards teaching you that vital skill. This book is among my three favorite Mike Lawrence books, the other two being "Play Bridge with Mike Lawrence", and "Play a Swiss Teams of Four With Mike Lawrence". Another vital skill taught here is deduction. A simple but very useful example: as declarer if you are missing AK of a side suit, and the opening lead is something else, then either the opening leader is missing both cards or the honors must be split, else the A or K would be the natural lead (assuming neither defender has bid).

This, for me, is quite a technical book. I have to read the passages over and over, but I have tried some of the ideas at bridge games, and they are VERY helpful. This week at the bridge table, a woman bid 1C, and she announced (illegally) "could be short". I knew she had 3 diamonds, 2 clubs, and 4/4 in the majors! What a help. Given that and my hand, I knew the placement of half the cards in the deck. After her partner responded, I knew even more!

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Mike Lawrence is not the best bridge writer language-wise but his books usually teach very valuable lessons (Balancing, Judgement at Bridge, Card Combinations, etc). Most of other books he writes contain mostly his own thoughts, rather than the same old rules the uncreative writer repeats and the well-read reader already knows.Except this one. I doubt experienced players will learn anything new here---counting points, counting shape, visualizing your opponents' hands are routine in any decent player's toolkit. However, there is a final chapter on reading your OPPONENTS (gestures, hesitation, etc) that is a bit more interesting (but not necessarily very useful).

I bought this as a gift for a long time accomplished Bridge player and it was the 1 book she didn’t have in her collection she loves it! She’s been using for herself and her partner and is thinking a getting more for their team!

Great book by a young Mike Lawrence. Provides insight into how the pros read the cards. You have to adjust your thinking a bit to cover more modern conventions and bidding practices....so many people open with lousy 11 pointers so its never quite as clear cut as in the book and the range of card possibilities are wider....but the ideas are totally sound. You can practice the techniques as well, I have started playing on line with three robots just to take my time and count out the cards on each side. WIshed i had read this years ago when i was better at remembering everything!

Arrived in excellent shape. The text is not for the novice but for the intermediate or advanced bridge player. Since I am at a higher level I found the book very interesting and informative.

One key difference between intermediate bridge players and strong players is that intermediate players play their own cards well, while strong players play their own cards plus the opponents' cards well, as well. This book will teach you the critical skill of card location: how to determine which cards your opponents are holding based on what they bid (or didn't bid) and what they've led (or haven't led).This book is small, but you're not buying based on word count. The knowledge is dense, with plenty of examples given as quizzes to help teach the material. Plan on reading the book carefully.

Very well written book

Ein tolles Buch , ist schon sehr !!! lange auf dem Markt , solle jeder Bridgespieler gelesen haben .

The book gives lots of easy to follow examples. Some of these tips are so easy, I don't know why I didn't think of them myself. The book opened my eyes to a whole new part of the game that I was missing. It has already helped me make more tricks.

belle analyse claire et didactique.Ouvrage très bien conservé et qui ne vieillit pas : à conseiller à tout expert

This book doesn't tell you how to play, it tells you how to think like a professional. And it does it really well.The power of the book is demonstrated in the first chapter. Here you will learn, as declarer, how to place many of the missing honours before you've played to the first trick. Very occasionally you can place EVERY missing honour before you've played to the first trick.The remainder of the book follows the play of the hand and observes the honour cards and discards played by the opponents. Through observation and deduction you are led in the quest to discover each opponent's distribution and the placement of all the honour cards. When you've got the full picture you can devise your best plan to make your contract. You have the keys to deciding which way to take finesses, whether to play for the drop, how and when to relinquish the lead etc.The book's aim is people who want to move from "Intermediate" to "Advanced" status. And it will help you do just that.Interesting for the casual player, but essential if you're prepared to put in the effort to get the most out of yourself.If you don't determine the opponents' distribution and the location of all the honour cards, and you want to work to find them, buy the book. It works...