November 2011 - 25

Reviews

book on defense: the signaling methods of eight of the
world's best partnerships. For each of the partnerships, a
deal is given that shows the champions in action.
Here's a simple but elegant defense engineered by Geir
Helgamo and Tor Helness, formerly of Norway, now playing for Team Monaco. Helgamo and Helness favor a relatively straightforward, standard approach similar to Bird's
recommended system. This deal was played against Italy's
Bocchi and Duboin in the 1997 Bermuda Bowl.
Dlr: East
Vul: Both
 K 10 4 3
976
Q983
 10 5

AJ98
K832
4
J973
N

W E
S

Q76
5
 K 10 6 5 2
AK64

52
 A Q J 10 4
AJ7
Q82

West
Helgemo

North
Duboin

2
All Pass

3

East
Helness
1
Pass

South
Bocchi
1
4

Playing third and fifth leads, Helgamo led the 8 to East's king
and declarer's ace. Bocchi now erred by drawing one round of
trumps with the ace before ruffing a diamond in dummy. He continued with a trump to the queen, exposing the 3-1 break, and
another diamond ruff. With no quick entry to his hand to draw the
last trump, declarer now had to broach the clubs while West still
held a trump. When he led a club from dummy, East rose with
the king and West signaled his count by playing the 10. Sitting
East, how would you have defended at this point?
Helness saw that if he continued with the A and a third
club, ruffed by West, declarer would then be able to discard a
spade loser on the established J. Instead of continuing clubs,
he therefore switched to the 6. West produced the K and
declarer won with dummy's A, continuing with a second round
of clubs. Helness won with the A and gave partner his club ruff.
The Q was then the setting trick.

Although this book is labeled for intermediate players,
the recommended signaling system is one that newcomers
can start working into partnerships they intend to prolong
just as soon as they sit down to complete the left side of
their convention card - even if they don't necessarily
understand all the whys and wherefores at first.
Fundamentally sound defense beats a dozen fancy new
conventions any day of the week.
Published by Master Point Press and available from book
sellers and bridge supply houses.

Talking Bridge
By Larry Cohen
$20
Two audio CDs

Rating: A

Reviewed by Sue Munday

Just talk to me
Larry Cohen is hands-down
one of the world's best bridge teachers. In addition to
his many column contributions to bridge magazines and
web sites, his instructional materials come in the form
of books, software and personal instruction (seminars,
cruises, vugraph commentary, etc.). He has also provided
enough free material on his own website (www.larryco.
com) to take a player from newcomer to intermediate
without spending another cent (except for card fees, of
course).
Talking Bridge is a foray into a somewhat unusual medium - it's an audio CD set. Cohen's clear, calm speaking
voice and easy-going demeanor, along with 20 years of
teaching experience, make this product work.
Aimed at intermediate players, Talking Bridge opens
with Cohen's emphasis on concentration and logic as the
keys to becoming a better bridge player. He then moves to
a discussion of the convention card, segment by segment.
Generally, Cohen's philosophical approach to conventions is that less is best (he describes himself as "a three
on a scale of one to 10 with a 10 playing every convention
known to man"), but he doesn't dismiss the gadgets and
treatments that some players might want to add, as long
as there is agreement between partners and all of the
contingencies have been discussed. He closes the audio
presentation with comments on declarer play, defense and
suggested strategies for improving both, as a bridge player
and a partner.
Given his credentials, no one can possibly doubt that
Cohen's bridge advice is worth listening to - and often
fun, as well. Here's his view on the short (not to be confused with strong) 1 opening:
"When you open the bidding 1, you are almost guaranteeing four of them. And I say almost because the only time
you'll open a three-card diamond suit is when you are exactly
four-four in the majors, with three diamonds and two clubs
... A diamond opening is very rarely a three-card suit. They
say it's about three percent of the time. So when my partner
opens 1, I assume he has four. Now some people like to get
around this by using the system called the short club, which
I find to be a waste of time, really. What that means is that
when you're exactly 4=4=3=2, you open the bidding 1. And
your partner has to say it could be short and nobody understands what you're doing and it's confusing. You're trading
1 guaranteeing four for the downside of 1 maybe being

➤
November 2011 Bridge Bulletin

http://www.larryco

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2011