Intermediate American Bidding System (eBook)

Overview of the American Bridge SeriesThe American Bridge Series is designed as a sequential set of biddingcourses, suitable for self-study or classroom-style study under theguidance of a professional bridge teacher. Volumes I through III includedeclarer play and defense skills as they relate to the bidding skillstaught in each text. Volume IV is reserved for true experts; thus, declarerplay and defense lessons would be an insult and are not included. Theentire series takes about five years of study and practice to complete. Volume I, The Basic American Bidding System was written for beginners and for social players who need to brush-up onbasic bidding skills prior to tackling modern bidding methods. It features5-card major suit opening bids, strong twos, and some basics of Forcing andNon-Forcing Stayman, Blackwood, Gerber, and few other things designed toform the framework for further study. Volume II, The Intermediate American Bidding System makes the transition to modern methods including weak twoopenings. It teaches all of the pieces of "e;Standard"e; American in a way thatintegrates all of the varied forms of same. Don't be thrown by the term"e;intermediate."e; Many duplicate players think that they have reached thatlevel when they can no longer play in novice games. Not so. "e;Intermediate,"e;as defined by the authors, can vary from folks with zero ACBL masterpointsto 2500 masterpoints. It's not the points that count, it's the skill level. Volume III, The Advanced American BiddingSystem presumes a complete understanding and skill with all of thematerial in Volume II. However, some of the Volume II material is repeatedfor intended redundancy, since the authors suspect that many folks whoshouldn't be attempting to study Volume III will do so anyway. After all,"e;I'm a Life Master, I must be Advanced."e; The authors suggest that anyonenot comfortable playing in Flight A at an ACBL regional or nationaltournament, or the World Bridge Federation (WBF) or other governing bodyequivalent thereof avoid purchase and study of Volume III until they havemastered all that is taught in Volume II. Volume IV, The Expert American Bidding System, (NOT YET RELEASED) presumes two years' experience with the bidding techniquestaught in Volume III, and expert declarer play and defense skills. This isnot a "e;Mom and Pop"e; book. It is for those who wish to successfully competein such ACBL events as Flight A Grand National Teams, the Blue RibbonPairs, the Life Master Pairs, the Spingold, Vanderbilt, and Reisingerteams, etc., and International events like the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup,The London Times Pairs, the McCallan, etc. It features 4-card majors, theTEAS responses to no trump openings, weak no trumps, and a variety of otherbidding methods which will get bidders to the optimum place but willrequire expert declarer play or defensive skills to maximize results. All four books emphasize sound, disciplined bidding and an underlyingphilosophy of "e;You bid your cards, I'll bid mine, we'll get to the rightspot."e; By the time students complete study and practice of Volume III, theyshould be able to know what cards partner holds almost to the spot at theconclusion of an auction. In fact, Jerry and one of his partners were onceaccused of cheating when they got cocky and did this after an auction. Thecomment was: "e;How can you know what cards your partner holds?"e; Jerry'sanswer: "e;Isn't that the whole point of the bidding?"e;