Duplicate Bridge Flipper
by Ron Klinger

Cassell/Peter Crawley, £3.99, ISBN No. 0 304 36584 X

The words ‘fits easily in your pocket’ have been applied to many gadgets and handbooks, often using more than a little artistic licence. Here the statement is literally true: this ‘flipper’ measures 4cm by 17cm and weighs 30g. The design strikes me as rather clever: each page is fractionally longer than the previous page, which means that all the page titles are visible. At a rough estimate the flipper contains as much information as about twenty pages of a normal book, so if you judge it purely on quantity you would say it is not very good value. However, surely its portability and ease of use increases its worth. Indeed, I understand that the flipper format is very popular.

The topics covered are: Transfers after 1NT, Stayman and Beyond, Other Responses to 1NT, Raising Opener’s Suit, Two-level Openings, Defensive Measures, Doubles, Slam Methods, Competitive Methods, Interference over 1NT, Game Tries and Game Forces, Leads and Signals.

As you would expect with this author, the available space is well used, the advice given is clear and coherent, and the flipper contains very little controversial material. It is not for the beginner because, for example, you need to know enough to assess whether your hand is good enough to invite game or force to game. Also, you need to be able to understand text without any examples; space does not permit their inclusion.

For someone who lacks the time or inclination to study a full-length book, but who wants to feel armed for the gadgets and competitive nature of a duplicate pairs, this would be an excellent choice.

Julian Pottage

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