Book review: My Life with Bridge by Mike Lawrence

When I started playing duplicate, the more experienced players at my campus club encouraged me to read books. Their suggestions included not just books on bidding methods and play techniques, but those on how to think through bridge problems.

I started with Play Bridge with Mike Lawrence, a hand-by-hand account of a tournament session where Lawrence describes how he analyzed clues and made decisions at the table. That read was so illuminating that I began looking for more of this author’s books. Some of my favorites were Judgment at Bridge, How to Read the Opponent’s Cards and titles in the Complete Book of . . . series.

Those are just a few of the 30+ books written by world champion Mike Lawrence, one of the bridge world’s most popular and prolific authors. His latest effort is My Life with Bridge, a 320-page volume that he describes as “a totally new adventure”.  It’s a fascinating look into the life and career of a bridge legend and is unlike any bridge book you’ve ever read.

Lawrence starts with stories about his early life, the unusual way he became a bridge player (it involved an explosion in a university chem lab) and how he made the transition to professional play. Bridge became his full-time career in 1968 when he moved to Texas and joined the Dallas Aces team, sponsored by Ira Corn. Corn's goal was to train and field an expert team to play in world championships and end the streak of wins by the Italian Blue Team.

The book includes many humorous anecdotes and some fantastic adventures, all written in the engaging style that has made Lawrence's other books so popular. This is more than just a memoir, though. As Bob Hamman states in the cover blurb, “Mike’s selection of hands is worth the price of the book.” 

Some of the most interesting deals are from the Dallas Aces matches against the Italian Blue Team. “They may not have been the first to cheat, but they did it best,” Lawrence writes. An example:

Two big sections of the book are titled “Advice” and “Serious Conventions Discussion”. There are valuable tips here for players of all skill levels. A sampling of topics: “4S – The most difficult opening bid in the world to bid against”, “The Box Principle” and “Conventions to Avoid”.

I agree with Lawrence that My Life with Bridge is a book “to enjoy as much as it is to improve your bridge”. For an autographed copy, you can order directly from Mike. Details are here:  https://michaelslawrence.com/product/my-life-with-bridge/

   - Karen Walker