Mike Lawrence

20 years ago, bridge writer Mike Lawrence published a series of short pamphlets for intermediate players with advice on various aspects of bidding and card play. Long unavailable, this material has now been revised, updated, and republished in three anthology volumes, each comprising about 10 of the original booklets. Mike Lawrence is acknowledged as one of the two or three best writers in the world for intermediate players, and there will be a ready audience for this series in its new format. The second volume in a three-volume series, 'Mike Lawrence Bridge Tips', based on bridge tips for intermediate players first published twenty years ago. All the material has been completely revised and updated.

20 years ago, bridge writer Mike Lawrence published a series of short pamphlets for intermediate players with advice on various aspects of bidding and card play. Long unavailable, this material has now been revised, updated, and republished in three anthology volumes, each comprising about 10 of the original booklets. Mike Lawrence is acknowledged as one of the two or three best writers in the world for intermediate players. First volume in a three-volume series based on bridge tips for intermediate players first published twenty years ago. All the material has been completely revised and updated.

In bridge, a 'falsecard' is a card that is played in attempt to deceive one or more players at the table. Falsecards are not unethical. You can falsecard as much as you want, although prudence is invariably the golden rule for success. The only type of falsecarding that is banned is purposeful falsecarding that a partnership has agreed to use in certain situations. This is the definitive book on (legally) pulling the wool over your opponents' eyes. There are times at the bridge table when playing a misleading card is essential if you are to have any chance of an optimum result. This new edition of a classic bridge book from Mike Lawrence includes a number of ideas that are new since it was originally published. Skill Level: Intermediate / Advanced. Revised and updated for the first time in 20 years.

This is a practical guide to insulating and draughtproofing your home, as well as improving ventilation. It is a guide to the different kinds of insulation materials available, including loose-fill, blanket and slab insulation, and how to fit them correctly. How to draughtproof your home to eliminate cold air coming through doors, windows, floorboards and letter boxes. It includes techniques for ventilating your home, such as fitting ceiling, window and wall extractor fans, and adding airbricks for extra circulation of air. It shows how to recognize different types of damp, whether from condensation or from penetrating or rising damp, and how to find a remedy. Overcoming common problems such as damp, condensation, dry rot and wet rot. Energy efficiency is an important issue today, and no one wants to waste money by losing heat from their roofs, walls or windows. With this practical guide, you will find out the different ways of insulating doors, windows, floors, walls and roofs, as well as reducing heat loss by protecting your home against currents of air and preventing condensation by adequate ventilation.

This is a practical instructive guide to building shelves and storage facilities in your home. How to fit a wide variety of shelves, brackets and shelf supports on walls and in alcoves. It provides storage ideas for different rooms in the house, and how to make useful projects such as a double shelf wall unit. It includes woodwork projects for more advanced do-it-yourselfers, such as a folding magazine rack, a white oak bookshelf and a sloping cherry wood CD rack. It is a guide to tools, fixtures, nails, screws and drill bits, and advice on which materials to use. It features step-by-step instructions for making freestanding shelving units, cabinets and drawer kits, fitting built-in wardrobes and creating clothes organizers. Whether you want to hide belongings away, store them accessibly or simply want to display them, tailor-made storage is the answer. This book helps you decide what type of storage you need, then sets about showing you how to make it. With inspirational ideas for every type of storage, you will have the satisfaction of making a more efficient and tidy place to live in.

This is a practical hands-on guide to painting any area in the home, with over 200 step-by-step pictures. It is an instant guide to basic techniques, including preparing surfaces, filling cracks, and the best way to apply paints and varnishes. It is a useful advice about the various types of paint such as matt, eggshell or gloss, as well as binders, diluents, varnishes, and wood stains, and their specific uses. It helps how to use painting tools and equipment for applying the paint, including brushes, rollers, pads, sponges and aerosols. It helps you to estimate the quantities of paint you will need, using diagrams and charts. It includes special paint effects, such as sponging, dragging, dry brushing, stippling and ragging. Home decorating using paint can be a satisfying experience. With appropriate preparation and the correct application of paint, even an amateur will find it easy to end up with a professional result. This book will guide you every step of the way, from using the right tools and preparing the surfaces, to applying the final coat of paint or varnish.

This is a practical illustrated guide to tiling surfaces in the house, using ceramic, vinyl, cork and lino tiles. It includes expert advice for tiling walls, splashbacks, floors, borders and worktops. It offers detailed information on how to lay a wide range of tiles, including ceramic, quarry, vinyl, lino, cork and mosaic tiles. It includes techniques for preparing surfaces, cutting tiles, and applying grout and adhesive. It covers all the materials and equipment needed for tiling in the home. It includes clear step-by-step photographs, diagrams and charts for instant reference. You can learn effective ways to use tiles creatively for borders, or try hand-made tiles for a dramatic result. For decorating floors, worktops or walls, tiles are the ideal material. This book explains how to achieve the best result with ceramic, as well as vinyl, cork and mosaic tiles. Clear photographs help you every step of the way, from the equipment you need, preparation, cutting, applying adhesive and grouting. Once you have mastered the basics, advice is given on creative designs.

This is a practical and useful guide to laying floors for any room in the house, using a variety of different materials. It includes practical tips for laying floorboards, wood panels, woodstrip, parquet, mosaics, vinyl, lino, cork and carpet. It is a useful guide to choosing the right flooring tools and materials for different rooms in the house. It includes preparation techniques for every surface. It shows how to remove old floor coverings, and how to sand, paint and varnish wooden floorboards. It highlights common flooring problems, such as cracks, uneven surfaces and damp, and how to solve them. It includes decorative variations, such as distressed floorboards, rubber flooring and chequerboard effects. It shows techniques such as fitting around corners. The right design and style of flooring can dramatically change the appearance of any room. This book will help you choose appropriate materials for your floors that will harmonize with other furnishings, as well as advise on preparation, the equipment you will need and the technique to lay your particular floor. Clear step-by-step photographs show you the way.

This revised and expanded edition examines bridge auctions where the opponents bid something and you have the opportunity to either let them have it or to balance. The cost of not balancing can be huge, but you must weigh the cost of passing against the cost of bidding and getting a bad result. Lawrence's discussion of hand evaluation and planning a balancing auction goes beyond generic rules. Hundreds of examples help you develop judgment

This is the definitive book on the oldest - and most useful - convention in bridge, the takeout double. Originally published in 1994 (Magnus Books, 978 0963753 31 1), this book quickly became recognized as a 'must-read' for any would-be bridge expert, and has never been out of print. Now, almost twenty years later, the author has revised and updated the text to take into account modern developments in competitive bidding, one of the most rapidly changing parts of the game, not least in the new and varied uses of doubles.

Each chapter takes a principle, helps the reader understand it, and gives examples, plus a quiz on the subject. A great help if you seem to guess right half the time or less when playing the dummy.

An over-the-shoulder look at the most difficult part of bridge. Attempt to find the winning plays. 65 problems explained and analyzed.