Bridge, as any player will tell you, is simply the best card game ever. It’s challenging—each hand presents a different set of conditions you must figure out and solve. It's very social—you play with a partner and two opponents. And best of all—it's fun.

Bridge For Dummies, 2E gives you a step-by-step explanation of the fundamentals of the game in terms you can understand. It walks you through the different aspects of bridge, featuring real-life examples, so that you can feel comfortable with the basics before you ever start to play. And if you're already experienced at the game, you'll discover a wealth of tips and hints that can make you a better player. You'll learn all about:

• The basics of nontrump play
• How to play the hand in a trump contract
• Bidding for fun and profit
• Taking advantage of advanced bidding techniques
• Playing a strong defense and keeping score
• Playing bridge on your computer
• Playing in bridge clubs and tournaments
• Where to find other great bridge resources

This newly revised edition features an expanded section on playing bridge online, with updated web addresses and other resources, along with new information on the latest bidding techniques. For anyone from novice to pro wanting to learn bridge or learn techniques to improve their game, Bridge For Dummies, 2E makes an ideal partner!

An excellent book. One of my favorites. Get it and improve your game dramatically.

65 of 66 found the following review helpful:


Extremely Useful  Aug 31, 2000 By Karel Kramer
This is the best book I've found on Bridge because Kantar explains the "why" behind the conventions. Once I understand the logic of a convention, and it makes sense to me, I can easily "use" the knowledge in my play. My game has definitely improved as a result of reading this book.

My husband, too, has found it useful and he plays at a higher level than do I. (He plays Duplicate regularly.) My Dad, who has been playing for 30+ years, picked up this book when he was visiting and has asked me to buy him a copy.

Thank you, Mr. Kantar!

56 of 57 found the following review helpful:


Ditto: Great approach to teaching a sophisticated game  Feb 09, 2004 By Carlos N. Velez "carlos_n_velez"
I am also new to bridge, and have also tried several other books on the subject. The three that I tried previously started with covering hand evaluation and bidding. By the time I get to the sections on "Responding to Responses at No Trump", I was getting lost. Kanter's approach is just the opposite. He teaches the mechanics of playing the hand first, THEN teaches how to evaluate the hand and bid. This is a great approach because once you learn how the play should be done, you are in a much better position to understand WHY you should evaluate and bid the way a hand demands you should. I've only studied the first 65 pages or so, but can already see a dramatic improvement in my bidding and my play. I can't wait to continue to study this great book.

Overall, a terrific approach to teaching this great game. I can't wait to read some of Kanter's other books as well.

Addendum: I continue to read and carefully study the chapters on play which preceed the chapters on bidding. There is lots of great material here. Don't let the "For Dummies" title fool you. This is a great book by a great teacher.

Addendum 2: Here I am 6 months after buying this book, and am I glad I did. I'm playing online regularly, and am gearing up for my first NABC in July! I'm still a novice, and there is a tremendous amount of learning and practice ahead, but this book has been a tremendous first step. I think that of all the beginner books that I've read on ANY subject, this has been the best in terms of preparing me for the next level.

36 of 36 found the following review helpful:


Hard to go wrong with this one  Feb 10, 2006 By Allen Smalling "Constant Reader,"
BRIDGE FOR DUMMIES is a good and generous book and I have no trouble saying it excels over most similar beginners' books.

Why? It's CONCISE. Kantar, a world-class authority and bridge player, takes the reader who doesn't even know that Aces top Kings and introduces the fundamentals of play. IMHO I don't think he goes too fast for the beginner, but the book is . . .

EFFICIENT. Kantar teaches the elements of play before the elements of bidding. He does this by teaching play at notrump (so the tactical elements of a trump suit are not at issue) and generally assumes a 3NT (notrump) contact, which is worth game. And it works quite well; play at bridge is difficult but probably less difficult than bridge bidding. Later on, we can take the strategic and tactical material we use at notrump and apply them to contracts at one of the four suits (Kantar defines trumps as "wild cards," perhaps not strictly according to Hoyle but helpful nonetheless.)

COMPREHENSIVE. Kantar goes all the way through trump suits, booking slams (contracts to take all, or all but one, of the card tricks), and other recognizable situations. He has an amiable, at times amusing way of introducing tips and necessary bridge terminology. He's also . . .

MODERN. He assumes the use of 5-card majors and will allow an opening with eleven high-card points (HCP to initiates) in a hand at any position if the bid suit is good enough. Weak two-bids, too, of course.

I'm not crazy about advocating the 11 HCP opener in all positions but this is a very small wrinkle in this engaging and useful book.

Notes on production: It is certainly true that the text of BRIDGE FOR DUMMIES is only in black-and-white and does not show red for the red suits of diamonds and hearts, but then neither does the daily bridge column in the newspaper. The FOR DUMMIES series needs to keep costs down, after all. At the time of this writing (July 2008), Amazon has BRIDGE FOR DUMMIES at an attractive discount, so this is a great way to get more book for your buck.

110 of 122 found the following review helpful:


Somewhat of a disappointment  Aug 24, 1999 By davekarpinski@hotmail.com
I've been playing bridge at an intermediate level for many years and was interested in having a general reference as well as expanding my skills at bidding and playing. This book has two major problems for me. First, the point count system used is non-standard -- at least it is different from anything I have encountered before. Only high card points are used -- no distribution points. So point counts for standard bids are correspondingly lower and one has to remember all sorts of special cases to decide what to do.

The second problem I have is the way hands are displayed. Hands are illustrated with tiny, badly printed card images, with no colors. So Hearts are hard to distinguish from Spades and Kings look alot like Jacks.

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