{"id":10860,"date":"2026-02-01T17:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T16:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/?post_type=publication&#038;p=10860"},"modified":"2026-02-13T18:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:39:06","slug":"twelve-important-bridge-lessons-on-declarer-play","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/publication\/twelve-important-bridge-lessons-on-declarer-play\/","title":{"rendered":"TWELVE IMPORTANT BRIDGE LESSONS ON DECLARER PLAY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-columns stk-block-columns stk-block stk-60c1a84\" data-block-id=\"60c1a84\"><div class=\"stk-row stk-inner-blocks stk-block-content stk-content-align stk-60c1a84-column\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-column stk-block-column stk-column stk-block stk-f71a61e\" data-v=\"4\" data-block-id=\"f71a61e\"><div class=\"stk-column-wrapper stk-block-column__content stk-container stk-f71a61e-container stk--no-background stk--no-padding\"><div class=\"stk-block-content stk-inner-blocks stk-f71a61e-inner-blocks\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-columns stk-block-columns stk-block stk-0817ac3\" data-block-id=\"0817ac3\"><div class=\"stk-row stk-inner-blocks stk-block-content stk-content-align stk-0817ac3-column\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-column stk-block-column stk-column stk-block stk-19ce0da\" data-v=\"4\" data-block-id=\"19ce0da\"><div class=\"stk-column-wrapper stk-block-column__content stk-container stk-19ce0da-container stk--no-background stk--no-padding\"><div class=\"stk-block-content stk-inner-blocks stk-19ce0da-inner-blocks\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-image stk-block-image stk-block stk-57a93d8\" data-block-id=\"57a93d8\"><style>.stk-57a93d8 .stk-img-wrapper{width:212px !important;}<\/style><figure><span class=\"stk-img-wrapper stk-image--shape-stretch\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"stk-img wp-image-10783\" src=\"https:\/\/bridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/12-lessons-declarer-play-cover.webp\" width=\"212\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/12-lessons-declarer-play-cover.webp 212w, https:\/\/bridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/12-lessons-declarer-play-cover-200x300.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/span><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-column stk-block-column stk-column stk-block stk-447aa60\" data-v=\"4\" data-block-id=\"447aa60\"><div class=\"stk-column-wrapper stk-block-column__content stk-container stk-447aa60-container stk--no-background stk--no-padding\"><div class=\"stk-block-content stk-inner-blocks stk-447aa60-inner-blocks\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-text stk-block-text stk-block stk-dcd5254\" data-block-id=\"dcd5254\"><p class=\"stk-block-text__text has-text-align-left\">The instructive material in this book is presented in a novel way, as if the author is delivering a series of bridge lessons to a small group of enthusiasts. Occasionally, members of the audience ask questions or make comments.<br>Twelve important topics on declarer play have been chosen, describing techniques that you might apply several times during every session you play. Each lesson contains at least eight illustrative deals, fully explained in David Bird\u2019s clear and lucid style. There is then a set of Recap Questions to test you on the chosen topic, along with the answers. Finally, there are four play problems for you to solve, using the techniques just described.<br>Early lessons cover when to draw trumps, making tricks with trumps, and when to hold up. You may be surprised at how much there is to learn about these apparently straightforward parts of the game. Next, enjoy lessons on avoiding the danger hand, establishing a suit, surviving a blockage, and managing your entries. The final lessons cover counting tricks and points, deceiving the defenders, elimination play, combining two chances, and counting shape. You can revisit these lessons time and again.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-heading stk-block-heading stk-block-heading--v2 stk-block stk-98282e6\" id=\"about-the-author\" data-block-id=\"98282e6\"><h3 class=\"stk-block-heading__text has-text-align-justify\">About the Author<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-stackable-text stk-block-text stk-block stk-ce48f92\" data-block-id=\"ce48f92\"><p class=\"stk-block-text__text has-text-align-left\"><em>DAVID BIRD is the author of a record 163 bridge books and is a twelve-times winner of the American Bridge Teachers Association \u2018book of the year\u2019 award. He is best known for his humorous bridge fiction, involving the monks of the St Titus monastery headed by the pompous Abbot, Hugo Yorke-Smith. David is a regular contributor to many bridge magazines, including BEB Magazine, ACBL Bulletin, English Bridge, Bridge World and Australian Bridge. His books have been translated into French, Polish, Danish, Polish, Chinese, German and Dutch. He is a frequent commentator and bulletin writer on international bridge events. Married to Thelma, with two children (Claire and James) and two grandchildren (Daniel and Hannah), he has a great passion for travelling the world. In any country they visit, he and Thelma make sure that they take full advantage of the local food and wine. David has over 1100 reviews on the Tripadvisor site, under the tag \u2018BroLucius\u2019.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The instructive material in this book is presented in a novel way, as if the author is delivering a series of bridge lessons to a small group of enthusiasts. Occasionally, members of the audience ask questions or make comments.<br \/>\nTwelve important topics on declarer play have been chosen,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":10783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[]},"categories":[266],"tags":[],"language":[],"level":[],"class_list":["post-10860","publication","type-publication","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-spotlight"],"acf":[],"publication_lang":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication\/10860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publication"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10860"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=10860"},{"taxonomy":"level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/level?post=10860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}