The Complete Book on Balancing in Contract Bridge

Mike Lawrence

• Publisher: Baron Barclay Bridge
• eBook ISBN:
  9780939460885
• Year: 2012

This revised and expanded edition examines bridge auctions where the opponents bid something and you have the opportunity to either let them have it or to balance. The cost of not balancing can be huge, but you must weigh the cost of passing against the cost of bidding and getting a bad result. Lawrence's discussion of hand evaluation and planning a balancing auction goes beyond generic rules. Hundreds of examples help you develop judgment

Table of contents

• Prologue
• Foreword: Read Me
• Introduction: Why Should You Balance When They Finish Bidding?
• ONE Balancing When One of a Suit is Passed Out
• TWO Balancing When 1NT is Passed Out
• THREE The Safety Factor in Reopening
• FOUR Reopening When the Opponents Find a Fit
• FIVE Reopening When the Opponents Have Not Found a Fit
• SIX Responding to the Reopening Bid
• SEVEN Continuing the Auction Balancing Against a One-Bid
• EIGHT Continuing After Balancing Against One of a Suit
• NINE Continuing the Auction When Their Side Bids and Responds and Your Side Balances
• TEN Bidding Naturally in a Suit the Opponents Have Bid
• ELEVEN Reopening After a Preempt
• TWELVE When Partner Reopens After a Preempt
• THIRTEEN Bidding Again When You Have Reopened After a Preempt
• FOURTEEN Two Sets of Example Hands
• About the Author