Bridge SenseA Newsletter for Intermmediates

Formerly called the Club Letter, Bridge Sense is a newsletter aimed squarely at the I/N market (intermediates and serious novices intent on improving their game) and lists some powerful names on its masthead (Paul Soloway, Alan Sontag, and Al Roth) but the Editor and Head Writer are lesser-known names, Lee Rautenberg and Bernie Chazen. The issue I saw (January 1999) drew a nice balance between bidding and play, with articles on counting, the opening lead, and play of a simple suit combination (xxx opposite KQx or KQ10) on the play side. Bidding was represented by an article on Simple Overcalls vs Weak Jump Overcalls, and by several examples of choosing the lesser of evils when no bid is available which clearly describes your hand, something which is totally ignored in the Audrey Grant beginning textbooks. I applaud their courage in testing these waters, even though I take mild exception to a couple of their recommendations: opening 1C with AKJ10 when holding five small diamonds, and opening 1D with AKJ3 when holding 87532 in spades. Before calling (954)720-4929 and investing $24.95 for a subscription, you might want to look into a competing newsletter by Edith MacMullin with my favorite bridge writer (Mike Lawrence), but I can't review that one yet, since I've never seen a copy.

My main objection to the newsletter format for bridge instruction is the way it is necessarily organized. No subject is ever covered comprehensively in a single issue; the authors always want to keep the readers coming back for more, and to include several subjects in each issue for variety. This defect is not limited to products aimed at the I/N market. I bought the Bridge Today University 101 email course for my daughter Kathryn, and had the same objection. The instructional material was first rate, but each weekly issue covered a little bit of a half-dozen or so different major topics. Reviewing everything the authors had to say on any single topic would involve searching through all eleven issues, and even then the reader would rarely find any description and evaluation of alternative methods which deviate from the recommendations of the authors. With today's publishing technology, a comprehensive description and comparison of differing treatments of any single topic can be found, if at all, only in the book format. I'm hoping that this situation will change as the Internet becomes a major publishing vehicle.