Playing Suit Contracts

Forty years ago, in 1980, Robert Berthe and Norbert Lebely put the finishing touches to two books that would revolutionize the teaching of bridge cardplay: the first two books in the Step by Step series (Pas a Pas in the original French).

Particular care has been taken with this revision of the second volume, which is devoted to play in suit contracts. In the years since the original publication, the authors changed their minds on how best to teach declarer play when a trump suit is involved. They abandoned the traditional method of counting losers, which is difficult and not very intuitive, to focus on counting winners, much like the technique used at notrump.

Again, the first part of the book teaches the techniques, by the leading the reader ‘step by step’ through a series of examples. The second part consists of problem deals where what has been learned can be applied and reinforced.