I was going to devote this page to a list of recommended bridge books, but in truth there is only one I can recommend: Bridge Is a Conversation by Gerard Cohen. Though self-published — no prophet is recognized in his own time — this bids fair to become a classic. Gerard’s writing, like his bidding, dummy play, post mortems and defense, is consistently entertaining and even instructive, in a weird way. All items guaranteed sic.
“For an auction to exist, at least one of the team’s has to enter it by placing at last one bid. If both teams shy away from making a bid other than Pass, there is no auction and the hand is not being played. Usually at least one team will enter the auction, if not both.”
“A conversation between partners in bridge always starts with a statement that means either I have no values in my hand or I have some point values in a long suit or I have an unusual hand with some point values and more than one long suit or I have a huge hand.”
“The captain releases his/her captainship when he/she makes a closing statement, converts his/her partner last answer into a contract to play or makes an invitation.”
“Any bid naming a new suit by the captain after an active opening bid or a reactive opening overcall has been made and that does not imply a weak hand is a question that must be answered.”
“Not only one side has the privilege of bidding, we know that. An expanded and more realistic model would show that the conversation process if the same for both teams. When both teams enter the auction, the auction climbs up much faster than if only one team makes all the bidding, while the other keeps passing.”
“Without competition, and with hands that are fairly standard, a team formed by decent players can find the right contract.”
“Recently, I played Roman Club 1959 with a partner and got rimmed by him because I used a modification that appeared in the 1961 version.”
“The players in 3rd and 4th seats are always the responders, regardless of what you may have heard through the grapevine, even if the players in 1st and 2nd seat have passed.”
“If the auctions continue passed that point, the crew becomes the captain and the process restarts with reversed roles.”
“I personally do not care for invitational raises altogether, because they force the partner to make a decision without really knowing with certainty the contents of the captain’s hand.”