The Notrump Zone

By Danny Kleinman

Book Overview

Notrump openings, and the constructive auctions that follow them, are two of the most neglected areas in bridge literature. Following on from his popular articles in the ACBL Bulletin, Kleinman discusses the principles behind notrump bids and rebids in a variety of situations, emphasising the ideas and concepts rather than attempting to teach a series of rigid rules. A must for any duplicate player.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1894154703
• ISBN13: 9781894154703
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Master Point Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Worth reading, but are the authors ideas proven?

Lots of interesting material. The non-controvercial stuff is worth the price of the book. What about the controvercial stuff? How strong a player is the Author? If his theories are correct, why are they not widely used, or at least discussed? I'm not saying the author is wrong, just that I won't rush out to be the first to try out all of his complex ideas. Its seems like a large investment in time and effort for a slight improvement. Buy the book, read it with an open mind, think it over, and decide for yourself if these ideas are worth trying. I'd love to see a 600 page book by Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroth on their take on the weak No Trump, and its stregths an weaknesses, and how to use it effectively, how to combat it, and how it affects the rest of your system.

The No Trump Zone--not for the faint of heart

As its title suggests, this is a book all about no trump bidding at contract bridge. So far as I can ascertain, it is the first such comprehensive attempt since Charles Solomon's classic No Trump Bidding, published in 1947, now obsolete, and long out of print. The author is a west-coast American expert, so the book is largely oriented to sequences stemming from the strong (15-17 point) 1NT opening, and for that reason is likely mainly to interest the N. American audience, as the European weak (12-14 point) NT openings demand a somewhat different logic in both offense and defense. Much of the material in this book is sound, basic (yet not always so widely known) information of value to anyone playing club duplicate bridge or serious rubber bridge. At the same time, there are also quite a few surprises to be found within its 217 pages, as the author challenges many received doctrines about NT bidding, beginning with hand evaluation. Chap. 1 reminds us that the 4321 point count gives only a very rough guide to the suitability of a balanced hand for a 1NT opening. We must upgrade a hand with good spots--10s, 9s and even 8s--and downgrade a hand with poor spots and doubleton honours. A persuasive case is made for 15-18 being a better range than the currently fashionable 15-17, as many 18pt hands are actually too weak to open one of a suit and safely rebid 2NT. Transfer bidding, with its rationale of making the strong hand declarer, is well described. Likewise, when and when not to bid Stayman holding a flat 4-3-3-3 hand with a four card major. It may come as a shock to inveterate transfer bidders to learn that not all strong NT hands should declare the NT or major game contracts. When there are mostly Aces and Spaces in the strong hand it is clearly better for responder--who will have the tenances--to be declarer and have the lead come up to those tenances. Strangely, and yet characteristically, the author does not carry his point to its logical conclusion--namely, to offer a method for the strong NT hand to decline a transfer and pass the bidding back to partner to make a natural bid, and so allow the weaker hand to play the final contract. What Kleinman is saying is that Jacoby transfers are a wonderful invention, but they are not to be accepted indiscriminately. There is an important chapter on how and when to compete when opponents have opened in NT. The author, who has a mathematics background, gives an excellent description of the "bidding space" occupied by various calls, and shows why a 1NT call is so pre-emptive; and conversely why it is important to be able to interfere with your opponents NT sequnces, whenever it is reasonably safe to do so. Kleinman discusses a half dozen popular different defenses to 1NT openings, including a couple of his own devising, pointing out the flaws and defects in all of them, and offering some fixes. The reader is led to conclude that despite the many defenses around, there really is still no one de

Detailed discussion of everything to do with NT structure

The first chapter alone is worth the price of the book. It covers the consequence of a particular NT zone. People say 10-12 is obstructive to the opponents, which is true. What are the hidden costs you you? How does it affect your other opening bids? How does it integrate into your system in terms of a later bid of 1NT or 2NT? The author analyzes a variety of NT ranges and discusss their strengths and weaknesses in depth. This is invaluable for system designers as the author surely covers issues you had not thought about. What is the consequence of opening a particular hand NT or not? Why are some hands better played in NT and some in suit contracts? The author presents you with a number of hands and asks you to dynamically evaluate them. The later sections are on various NT "engines" (meaning response structures such as transfers and relays). These conventions are complex and need both partners in agreement. I'm not convinced the extra complexity is worth the slight improvement. This is a valuable book for serious and advanced players. There is a lot of food for thought here, even if you don't agree with the author. Because the majority of the book is on the authors own conventions which you are unlikely to use, I don't recommend this book for anyone who isn't an advanced intermediate level or above.