Eric Rodwell … bridge champion and now bridge author

I have had the pleasure of reading some of the drafts of Eric Rodwell’s upcoming book, the Rodwell Files.  This book was considered for the book of the year even before it was complete.  And why not?

The book started from some files that were circulated among Rodwell’s friends in the 1980’s.  My son Colin had a copy of these notes which he shared with me.  They were notes in point form but they contained a lot of great stuff.  Ray and I have wanted to develop a book based on these notes ever since.  Because the notes were not to be shared and were secret Ray and I always referred to them as the X-files.  Later on Mark Horton, author and publisher of BRIDGE Magazine, heard about the X-files.  He too was anxious to see these notes developed into a book.

Finally after many years Eric Rodwell was ready to “share his secrets”.  Working with Mark Horton with a lot of assistance from Ray (the world’s best editor, IMHO) they expanded the notes into a wonderful book.  The book contains many brilliant examples.  As Eric was playing in events he always seem to come back with new hands.  After a Regional, a Nationals hands would arrive that Eric had played and analyzed.

Why is this book revolutionary?  It has been a long time since much new has been written on card play, both declarer play and defense.  But this book has so many new ideas.  Eric believes in terminology.  You have to name things so that you can know them and recognize them.  (Some of the names of the plays had to be changed to protect underage bridge players though).   While the book is certainly at an expert level (Eric pulls no punches) I think a lot of the ideas will be useful for teachers.  I especially liked the section on making a plan that has some ideas that can easily be adopted for beginners.

I believe that in a few years we will all be talking about the speed of light play and many of Eric’s other wonderful ideas but for many of us the structured and comprehensive approach to planning the play initially will be just as important.

This is a magnum opus from one of the world’s greatest bridge players and bridge thinkers.  It was an honor to have a chance to read some of the early drafts.  I congratulate all who were involved.  At Master Point Press we publish bridge books at all levels and all types.  We care about each and every one of them.  But for us too this is a magnum opus.  We recognize this as one of our greatest projects.  It probably won’t be the biggest money maker (that honor will likely belong to 25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know).  But it will be one of the books we treasure the most.

It is going to press in the next few days.  It should be available online fairly soon.