Bridge: Defending Together
by Freddie North

Batsford £13.20 inc p&p from the Mr Bridge Mail Order Service
Tel: 01672 519219 (code BK29)

As a professional bridge teacher, I find that it is in the area of defence that most people find most problems. The likely reason for this is that in defence both sides of the partnership have to be on the same wave-length for a quite considerable time.

Freddie North has compiled nearly every defensive manoeuvre known to man in his latest book, in twenty-seven sensible chapters, each not too long and easily understandable. Every chapter is illustrated with examples and to make sure the ideas being promulgated have sunk in, there is another section of the book devoted purely to problems based on what the reader has learnt. The following is a typical example:

K 7 5   K 9 3   A Q 9 6 2   Q 7     9 3 2   Q J 10 6 5   10 8   K 10 3

Declarer's1NT opening is raised to 3NT and your partner leads the 6. Declarer plays the 7 from dummy, and you . . . ?

Freddie North all the time reminds us of what we should be thinking about and here, of course, we should automatically apply the Rule of Eleven and work out that declarer has only one club higher than the six. Clearly it might be the jack or the ace and, if the latter, it would be a tragic mistake to play the king - but can declarer really have the ace?

Most certainly not because, if he had the ace, he would have played the Q from dummy. Wouldn't you? If you played the 10, you would have later found that your partner was looking not only at an original six-carder headed by the ace, but also for a new partner. Also, the defence must return the 10 after winning with the king - the higher of the two remaining cards - otherwise the suit will be blocked as declarer had started with a doubleton jack.

The chapters on signalling and discarding I particularly liked, if only because they were so straightforward and so sensible. (It is amazing how many people who are just starting out are tempted to play absurd signalling and discard methods, which have very little intrinsic value, on the recommendation of their bridge-playing superiors who 'swear' by this or that - fatuous - method).

The book is intended mainly for improvers and it does the job very well indeed. Maybe one or two of the problems are a bit flamboyant - throwing-away-aces stuff that nobody ever really does - but that is just a very minor quibble. The book is well presented, good value for money and has a good title, Defending Together. It is that last word which is so important.

Dave Huggett

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