AMAZON.COMGreetings from Champaign, Illinois USA                                                                                             

  Home of 500,000 acres of corn and soybeans,

    the University of Illinois Fighting Illini,

       the Bridge at Ginger Creek duplicate club,

          the Illini Regional Bridge Tournament  (May 20-25, 2025) and

 

Karen's Bridge Library

For bridge players . . . current and aspiring

Bridge books,
 software & gifts

Custom Search

For Beginners

   Quick-Start Course: Teach yourself to play with this 12-step guide 

The basics -- Lessons on how to play bridge

  Introduction

Opening 2-bids (weak) Slam bidding
  Bridge glossary Opening 2-bids (strong) Defense: Opening leads
  Bidding "cheat sheet" Opening 3-bids Defense: Play & signals
  Opening 1-bids Opening 4-bids Declarer Play: Forming a Plan
  Opening and rebidding minors Overcalls & takeout doubles Declarer Play: Establishing Tricks
  Responding to an opening 1-bid The redouble Declarer Play: The Finesse
  Responding with a two-suited hand Opener's reverse rebid Declarer Play: Simple Odds
  Opener's second bid Game-try bids Quick tips to improve your game
  Responder's second bid Responder's bids in competition Rubber-bridge strategy
  Responding to 1NT Forcing & non-forcing bids Rubber-bridge scoring
  Hand evaluation    

Learning to play bridge -- How to get started, and get better

Bridge for Beginners and Beyond

 A self-teaching guide to good bridge for
 beginning and intermediate players.

 Updated and expanded 18th edition, featuring
 new lessons on the 2-over-1 system.

  Why play bridge?  FREE Learn to Play Bridge software
  Group classes & self-teaching     Web links to good sites for learners
  On-your-own activities to build skills     Just for fun Should you be a bridge player?
  Developing your "card sense"  Want to help others learn?  Guide for new teachers

  

For Advancing Players

   Lessons and convention summaries -- For experienced beginners and intermediates

Declarer play Competitive bidding Other conventions

Counting the Hand - Part 1  &  Part 2

Balancing over 1-bids

New minor forcing

Tips for declarers

Balancing over other auctions

Michaels & Unusual 2NT overcalls

Safety plays

Preemptive openings & overcalls

Jacoby transfers

Hold-up plays

Responding to partner's preempt

Jacoby 2NT major-suit raise

Defense

Bidding over opponents' preempts

Drury convention

Opening lead strategies

Advancing partner's bid over a preempt

Roman Keycard Blackwood

Trump leads

Lebensohl over their weak two-bids

DONT convention

Lead conventions

Cuebids of the opponent's suit

Lebensohl over reverses

Signaling methods

Mixed raises

Soloway-Style Jump Shifts

Doubles

"Sandwich seat" bids

Constructive bidding

Negative doubles

Lebensohl in 1NT auctions

Accepting game-try bids

Responsive doubles

"Law" of Total Tricks

What is 4NT?

Lead-directing doubles

  5-level decisions

Game-before-slam principle

Lead-directing penalty doubles

   

Penalty doubles and exceptions

   

   Duplicate bridge

  IMP (teams) strategy Matchpoint (pairs) strategy Web links for duplicate players

  Discover the Fun & Challenge of Duplicate -- a booklet on duplicate play, scoring, customs & strategies.   PDF format

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For Intermediate to Advanced Players

   Advanced bidding conventions and treatments

  2-over-1 Game-Force System Opener's Jump-Reverse Your 2C Bidding Structure  (4 parts)
  Forcing Notrump Convention Defenses to 2-Suited Overcalls  (3 parts)  
  Improving the 2-over-1 System Negative freebids  (5 parts)  
  2-over-1 partnership checklist Strong Jump Shifts  (3 parts)  

   ACBL Bridge Bulletin articles -- Opening Leads, Counting, Troubles with Redoubles, Table Feel, Notrump defenses, "12 Habits" series, "Relearning bridge" series

   Bidding forums and quizzes

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For Players of All Skill Levels

   Flashes of brilliance -- Bridge feats & fun (all true) from my favorite partners & team-mates

  The one that got away The missing redouble cards Sometimes, pessimism pays off
  Toby and the Passion Coup Count, count, count A nightmare on opening lead
  A rare trump squeeze Never put down an 8-card suit in dummy If I had bid hearts ...

   Bridge features

  A tribute to my first bridge teacher 

Bridge & basketball The King has left the building
  D-Day memories of the Bridge Player in Chief Bridge & poker  (interview with Barry Greenstein) The Obvious Solution  (a bridge poem)
  Most disastrous bridge hand ever played Bridge & marriage  (interview with Chip & Jan Martel) Concentration  (another bridge poem)

 

 Bridge books, software & web sites

Bridge Bookstore -- Recommendations and reviews of books for beginners through experts, with links for discounted purchases from Amazon.com

Bridge for Beginners and Beyond -- A self-teaching guide and class textbook 

Online clubs -- Links to multi-player bridge games on the Internet

Playing online -- Getting started with Bridgebase Online

District 8 Online -- Homepage of District 8 of the American Contract Bridge League (Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri)

District 8 Advocate newsletter

Bridge features, Solvers Forum column & Midwest bridge news.
 Published bi-monthly by ACBL District 8.
 Archive
of previous issues & Solvers Forum columns.

  Search for books by topic, title or author.

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Bridge in Champaign-Urbana IL

 Bridge at Ginger Creek -- Champaign-Urbana's community bridge center     Game results with hand records     Club photo album

 Local bridge lessons

 Central Illinois Virtual Bridge Club -- Online ACBL masterpoint games on Bridgebase.com

 Illini Regional Tournament -- May 21-25, 2025 (Memorial Day week), Holiday Inn, Champaign IL 

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Travelogues & photos

  England 2001

Ireland 2003

Scotland 2004  France 2006 article & photos Hawaii 2006
  Alaska & DeNali 2010

South Africa 2011 

Peru 2013 
   Newspaper story

Galapagos Islands 2013
   Newspaper story 

Tanzania 2014
   Newspaper story 1 & 2 

  Rhine River & Amsterdam 2016 Sydney & New Zealand 2016 Tanzania 2017 Baltic & Scandinavia 2018 Tanzania & Zanzibar 2019

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For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name,

He marks not that you won or lost, but how you played the game.

                                                        -- Grantland Rice