Control The Bidding

by Paul Mendelson

Winning demands control of the bidding. Before a card is played you must fight for the high ground or hustle your opponents beyond their safe level. Pro-active and fearless but not reckless in this hugely exciting partnership arena, you must judge every last auction nuance and, terrier-like, destroy your opponents' communication and confidence whilst enhancing your own. Dodge their snares, resist their ploys but win the high stakes by forcing them to gamble - yourself delivering their misfortunes - and by your willingness to bet on certainty. Paul is author of companion volumes Bridge for Complete Beginners and The Right Way to Play Bridge, the leading book for the improving player, and bridge correspondent of The Financial Times. He began by winning the National Championships and now writes and lectures worldwide.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2005

About the author

Paul Mendelson wrote stories at school when he should have been doing other things, but went on to become the, then, youngest ever playwright performed at the National Theatre, with his play, "You're Quite Safe With Me". This was followed by further work for theatre and, briefly, for television.

For twenty years, Paul has written on mind sports, such as bridge, poker and casino games, becoming the UK's best-selling author within his genre. He has contributed to magazines and newspapers worldwide, has a weekly bridge column in the Financial Times, and also writes interviews and features.

His debut crime novel, "The First Rule of Survival" was published in 2014, making the short-list of the CWA Golden Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year.
His second novel, "The Serpentine Road" was short-listed for several awards, including the CWA Gold Dagger again - an almost unheard of achievement - and received great acclaim in South Africa where it's political elements chimed with many that were in the news at the time.
Book 3, "The History of Blood" was published in July 2016, receiving accolades from reviewers in the national press in the UK, Eire and South Africa. It has been chosen as a Recommended Summer Read, Thriller of the Week and Thriller of the Month.
"Apostle Lodge" is his fourth novel set in Southern Africa, released for export on November 2017 and in the UK in February 2018, and it has received plaudits from around the world, hitting the top-ten Bestseller List in South Africa throughout the Christmas period.
Mendelson's fifth novel is set in England with a new detective.

Paul's novels now appear as audio books, Large Print books, and have been translated into French and German, with more languages to come, including Afrikaans (for the huge crime reading market in South Africa)

Each of the novels in the Vaughn de Vries series are set in Southern Africa, the novels allowing Paul's creative writing once again to come to the fore, and providing the perfect excuse to return to his beloved Cape Town to gain inspiration and time to write.

Paul lives in London (and, sometimes, Cape Town) with his two and four-legged family.

Reviews

[Philip William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book as it it attempts to get behind the theory of contract bridge bidding and not just tell you what to do.
Inevitably it suffers as at least some of the bidding is different to what I use and you have to skip sections.