Adventures in Card Play
by Hugh Kelsey and Geza Ottlik

Cassell, £16.99, ISBN 0 304 36807 5

Almost whatever the level of your game, this book will raise it to new heights. It covers a wide range of positions in detail, such as trump promotions and elopements, entry-shifting squeezes and partial dummy reversals. The authors set out to, and succeed in, disproving any theory that the game has been written out or played out. Whilst, as tends to be the case in most Kelsey books, a number of the settings are a little contrived, this flaw pales into insignificance when one considers the class, originality and technical brilliance of the book. 'Perhaps the most exceptional bridge book ever', Zia Mahmood says on the front cover. Indeed, you would be hard pressed to find reviewers who placed this book outside their top ten books of all time. Possibly the greatest accolade I can give it is to mention that it is one of only three books written by others to which I have considered writing a sequel!

As you will appreciate from the subject matter, this book is not for the novice. You will probably get the most out of it if you particularly enjoy the more challenging of the examples you might find in the Cholmeley school articles or 'Play a Hand with the Expert'. What helps to make the subject matter digestible is that the authors present all four hands and invite you to follow them on a journey through the play. Here is one the simpler deals (as the cards lie) from the book.

South plays in 6NT on the lead of the 10. You capture the queen with the ace and East shows out on the second round of hearts to leave you with only ten tricks.

J 9 3   6 5 3 2   K Q 7   A Q J     10 8   10 9 8 7 4   9 5 3   8 6 3   K Q 6 4   Q   10 8 6 2   10 7 4 2     A 7 5 2   A K J   A J 4   K 9 5

It will do you no good to find West with K-Q doubleton, but this holding with East would allow you to make the contract. You could give up a spade and cash the A. Then, by taking all your winners in the minors, you reduce everyone to three cards. If West keeps two spades and hence only one heart, you cash your third heart winner to leave dummy high. If, instead, West keeps two hearts and one spade, you cash the J to leave your own hand high.

On the actual layout, you do not need a squeeze. When you lead a low spade and West plays the eight, finesse dummy's nine. Later you lead the J from dummy to force a cover from East and drop West's ten. This leaves you able to finesse the five on the third round, thereby making three spade tricks by force. In case West is clever enough to play the 8 from 10-8-6-4, you should cash three rounds of clubs and the A-K before playing the second round of spades.

Julian Pottage

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