Below I've listed my favorite Bridge books and software. The beginner and intermediate material will help reinforce what you've learned in LearnBridge, while the more advanced material will help you go beyond what's currently available in LearnBridge.

Click here to see all of my recommended learning material in one easy infographic! Make sure to zoom in to see everything.

Declarer Play

Beginner

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  Bridge Master

  • Bridge Master (available for free on Bridge Base Online), is a collection of over 500 interactive declarer play problems. While I've put this in the Beginner section, Bridge Master actually has an extremely wide range of difficulty. To start with, check out the Level 1 hands. Each one focuses on a fundamental declarer play idea.
    
    (To access Bridge Master, log in, click Practice, and then Bridge Master)
• A First Book of Bridge Problems (Patrick O'Connor)

  • As the title says, if you've never sat down with a book of play problems, this is a great place to start. Most of the problems are about declarer play, though there are a few defense problems thrown in. Each hand tends to test a single, fundamental idea.
• A Second Book of Bridge Problems (Patrick O'Connor)

  • Very much like the book above, but just a touch more difficult, and with a few more defense problems than the previous book.
• When to Draw Trumps (Adam Parrish)

  • While the title might seem quite specific, this book is about all aspects of planning and playing suit contracts. It goes into great depth (while remaining very readable!) about counting losers, categorizing losers as fast vs. slow, and contructing a plan that takes tempo and entries into account.
• When to Bid Notrump (And How to Play It) (Adam Parrish)

  • This is very much the notrump companion to the book above. While the title emphasizes bidding, most of this book is dedicated to playing notrump contracts, with very specific strategies and planning techniques to learn. The bidding portion is also great, and actually gets into the decidely non-beginner topic of when you might decide to play notrump even when you have a major suit fit.

Intermediate

• Take All Your Chances at Bridge (Eddie Kantar)

  • One of my favorite books of declarer play problems. The focus is on finding multiple paths to make your contract and then deciding how best to combine those chances. Most of the hands require only basic technique, but a good amount of consideration.
• Take All Your Chances at Bridge 2 (Eddie Kantar)

  • Another 100 problems, but a bit more advanced. More hands require endplays and throw-ins than in the first volume.
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  The Complete Bridge Technique Series (David Bird & Marc Smith)

  • This is actually a collection of 12 short books on 12 different topics, all of which are excellent. Each topic is explored from all angles, with many example deals and quiz questions throughout. See the Test Your Bridge Technique Series below as well, which is a companion series.
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  Counting at Bridge 1 (Mike Lawrence)
  Private Bridge Lessons 1 (Mike Lawrence)
  Private Bridge Lessons 2 (Mike Lawrence)
  Counting at Bridge 2 (Mike Lawrence)

  • These are all Windows-only software (sorry, Mac users). But if you have a Windows computer at your disposal, this is some of the best declarer play material available. Counting at Bridge is about paying careful attention to small details, whereas Private Bridge Lessons covers a wide variety of declarer play topics. Each program has 100 great deals. The order above is the order that Mike Lawrence recommends you tackle them in.
• A Bridge to Simple Squeezes (Julian Laderman)

  • Squeeze technique is one of the harder areas of Bridge to break into, but this is by far the best introduction.
• How To Play Card Combinations (Mike Lawrence)

  • Rather than learn how to play card combinations in a vaccuum, in this book you'll see the same combination in multiple different hands to see how the overall context of the hand affects how a single combination is played.
• How To Read Your Opponents' Cards (Mike Lawrence)

  • This book is all about the deductions you can make from the auction and how the defender's play. You'll be amazed how far you can take your deductions from just the opening lead on a number of hands.
• Play Bridge with Mike Lawrence (Mike Lawrence)

  • This is an over-the-shoulder look at Mike Lawrence playing a 52-board event at a regional tournament. You get to follow along with his decision making as each hand progresses. There's an element of "realness" in that some hands have bidding and play mishaps, just as you would encounter in a real event.
• Play a Swiss Teams of Four with Mike Lawrence (Mike Lawrence)

  • Essentially the same as Play Bridge with Mike Lawrence, but this time with IMPs scoring instead of matchpoints scoring. While that certainly matters, it's also just more of the same great content from the first book.

Advanced

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  The Complete Test Your Bridge Technique Series (David Bird & Tim Bourke)

  • A companion to the Test Your Bridge Technique Series above. Another 12 volumes, but instead of being instructional, each volume has 36 problems to solve, and some are quite challenging.
• Card Play Technique (Victor Mollo & Nico Gardener)

  • This book is actually about half declarer play and half defense. The topics it covers are varied, but the presentaion is particularly useful as it alternates between declarer's view and the defense's view of the same sort of problem. This holistic approach really helps solidify the similarities between these facets.
• The Rodwell Files (Eric Rodwell)

  • An extremely unique book. Rodwell has a lot of his own vocabulary and a way of looking at problems that you don't see in other books. I don't think all parts of this book will necessarily be a winner for everybody, but it's definitely worth a look.
• Bridge Squeezes Complete (Clyde Love)

  • Definitely the most advanced book on this list, and definitely not my recommendation for your first book on squeezes (see A Bridge To Simple Squeezes above). But once you've become used to the general technique of simple squeezes, this book goes into an incredible amount of depth on just how many variations on the squeeze exist, and what conditions are necessary for each type. A great eye-opener if you ever find yourself thinking that you've more or less mastered declarer play.

Defense

Beginner

• Modern Bridge Defense (Eddie Kantar)

  • My absolute favorite introduction to defense. Kantar is great at breaking down a complex area into managable topics while keeping the mood light.

Intermediate

• Advanced Bridge Defense (Eddie Kantar)

  • A continuation of Modern Bridge Defense above, but with a big emphasis on counting. When you learn to count high card points, distribution, and tricks, your ability to defend accurately goes through the roof.
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  Defense (Mike Lawrence)

  • Like the other Mike Lawrence software above, this is Windows-only, but great if you can use it. Another 100 excellent interactive deals that go through many useful defensive ideas. I recommend going through Counting at Bridge 1 first.
• Opening Leads (Mike Lawrence)

  • While many books on defense give you a general idea of how to think about opening leads (and the Kantar books above certainly do a good job), it's an area worth diving into in more detail.
• Dynamic Defense (Mike Lawrence)

  • This is essentially the completely-about-defense version of Play Bridge with Mike Lawrence, with over 60 over-the-shoulder defense problems.

Bidding

Beginner

• 2 Over 1 Game Force (Audrey Grant & Eric Rodwell)

  • I plan soon to introduce a 2-over-1 option in LearnBridge, but in the meantime this is a great introduction to 2-over-1 if you're currently used to Standard American.

Intermediate

• Slam Bidding Made Easier (Marty Bergen)

  • A lot of the ideas in this book are discussed in LearnBridge, but you'll find even more detail here, as well as some other ideas about hand evaluation. Hand evaluation is actually quite a large part of the book. There's a big focus on how you can bid slams with (relatively) few high card points, something every player will enjoy!
• The Complete Book on Takeout Doubles (Mike Lawrence)
  The Complete Book on Balancing (Mike Lawrence)
  The Complete Book on Overcalls (Mike Lawrence)
  The Complete Guide to Passed Hand Bidding (Mike Lawrence)

  • These are a great series of deep dives into specific areas of bidding. In each book, Mike Lawrence has an example for every situation you might find yourself in and can answer any question you might have. It's worth reading each book cover-to-cover once (or more!) and then having them on hand as references when you need to look up a tricky situation you encountered at the table.

Advanced

• Roman Keycard Blackwood (Eddie Kantar)

  • There's even more to Blackwood than you think! Kantar explains the more advanced followups (beyond just a keycard ask and queen ask), and also has useful ideas around how you might change the responses depending on which hand is doing the asking.
• Matchpoints (Kit Woolsey)

  • If you spend your time playing matchpoint games (by far the most common type of competitive event), this is an indispensible book. Matchpoints incentivizes some strange behaviors in both the bidding and play, and Woolsey covers it all excellently.