Computers & Bridge
by Kathy Anday-Fallenius

[This is the first article of what will be a regular feature in post Mortem. If you want more details on any of the material in this article, or have any comments or suggestions, you may send e-mail to info@ny-bridge.com or a Letter to the Editor.]

You have a computer or are thinking of buying one. Since you are reading this magazine you are also a bridge player, somewhere in the range between a total novice and a World Champion. What bridge uses can you find for your computer?

1. You can use a spreadsheet to keep track of your winnings/losses if you are daring enough to play bridge for money. If you are a duplicate player you can use the same spreadsheet to keep a record of the masterpoints you've accumulated at clubs and tou rnaments, to check against the totals computed by ACBL that you get with your monthly Bulletin. Even they are not infallible - mistakes have been made!

2. Let's say you have a regular partner but will be apart from each other for a time (e.g., you're going to Florida for the winter; you've accepted a temporary assignment in Portland; he's going to do six months in Allenwood, etc.); you don't have to gi ve up your partnership--you can play as a pair against the most varied opponents - all over the U.S. and the globe.
   An alternate scenario: you've recently split up your regular partnership or don't have a regular partner. The weather isn't great and you just don't feel like going out in search of a 'pick-up' partner. In both cases, your next live bridge game is no further away than your keyboard. There are a number of networks where, for varied costs, you can play duplicate bridge, rubber bridge and even knockout tournaments.
   The services currently available are OKBridge, Bridge Player Live for playing on the Internet and Imagination (an autonomous network with subscribers all over the US), with the promise of more to follow.

3. The Internet: This is the famed Information Super-highway. There are many services which will permit you to access it, Pipeline, America OnLine, Prodigy, Compuserve, to name but a few. The `bridge' reasons for joining are twofold: a) there are vast a mounts of information about bridge currently on the `Net'; b) to play bridge via the aforementioned OKBridge or BridgePlayer Live.
   a)The first source of information are the newsgroups, several of which are forums dedicated exclusively to bridge. You can get updates on tournaments, ask (and receive answers to) bid/play problems. The best known of the bridge-related newsgroups on t he `Net' is rec.games.bridge.
   b)The Internet's World Wide Web has several impressive Web sites dedicated to bridge. There is one, based in Holland, called Bridge-on-the-Web which, among other useful services, provides daily Bulletins from the Nationals as well as from the major in ternational tournaments.
   Two of our Unit's clubs have their own Web Pages:
   The Manhattan BC at: http://www.ny-bridge.com/ (hosted by Pipeline NY).
   The Beverly BC at: http://www.bway.net/~beverly/

4. You can play bridge against your computer for fun or use it to improve your bridge skills. There are many programs on the market. This first article reviews five of the best programs currently available for a PC which will run under Windows.

Bridge Baron 6 (formerly called Micro Bridge Companion) $59.95 Great Game Products Inc., 8804 Chalon Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817 (Tel: 800-GAMES-4-U)
The new version incorporates 2/1, Forcing NoTrump, etc., lets you input opening 1NT range. A welcome feature would be a complete convention card, but this is a minor gripe, as is the fact that you must load your saved bidding options every time you s tart the program.
The most fun with this program is playing a Match (choose IMPs, Board-a-Match or Total Points). You bid and play and then watch the computer quickly do the same. Another interesting feature is the Tournament of Champions where you can compete for priz es with players at your own skill level.
For those interested in improving their playing skills, there is a set of 24 declarer play problem hands, Sheinwold Challenges, with commentary by Alfred Sheinwold. You are given a hand to play, the bidding having already been completed. When you play the wrong card, you won't be able to go on until you find the correct one.
The level of bidding and play is good. Unlike some other programs, the Baron will not let you make a bad claim.

Bridge Mate 2 $59.95 Bridge Mate, 8845 42nd Ave. S.W., Seattle, WA 98136 (Tel: 206-938-3426)
Presents you with a variety of modifiable convention cards: Standard American, 2/1 Forcing, Precision, Kaplan-Sheinwold, among others. Once youÕve set up your preferences, the program remembers for the next time. This program too has the `closed room' feature.
An unusual feature is that the program includes alerts (with explanations)
This is the only one of the programs not to show cards graphically, but the text display is attractive and easy to follow.
The level of bidding and play is good, although every now and then, the computer makes an insane bid, particularly when partner opens 1 NT.

Bridge Buff 3.0 $99.95 BridgeWare, PO Box 65077, 358 Danforth Ave., Toronto, Ont. M4K 3Z2 (Tel: 800-WEAK-1NT) Presents you with a choice of 5-card majors or 2/1 Game Force as basic systems and permits you to add a variety of conventions. The program remembers your choices for the next time.
Good learning tool, provides bidding tutorials and well executed practice sessions.
If you play a match, you will see the results from `the other table'
A slight annoyance is that when you are bidding you have to prompt each player for a bid by clicking on the Auto button. The only way to speed things up is to press `Zip' which gives you a completed auction but will also make your bids.
The same holds for the play, you have to keep prompting for the computer to make its move. That said, both bidding and play are quite good.

Meadowlark Bridge (version 1.09) $59.95 Meadowlark Software, 2718 N. Broadway #283, Fargo, ND 58102 (Tel: 701-235-5113)
Also presents you with a choice of 5-card majors or 2/1 Game Force as basic systems and permits you to add a variety of conventions. You may save your bidding options and load them the next time you play. The program has many attractive features and f uture versions will have the `closed room' replay.
A demo version can be downloaded from Meadowlark's Web site.
Bidding is good, as is most of the card play.

Perfect Partner $59.95 Positronic Software Inc., 114 Thornhill Drive, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3B 1S3 (Tel: 1-800-565-4005)
The concept behind this program is advanced, the idea is that it takes advantage of artificial intelligence. With much patience, you can tech it your bidding system as well as your strategic thinking on playing the cards. It comes with several choices of convention cards, and will remember your selections. Although the program is fun to play and, as the other four reviewed, quite user-friendly, right now, there appear to be some glitches in the program which cause very erratic bidding. Level of play i s quite acceptable.

CAVEAT: There is at present no bridge computer which will consistently beat (or even play as well as) an expert player. There are too many variables, including human psychology (unlike chess which primarily involves major league number crunching).

(All of the programs in this review can also be ordered from Baron Barclay Bridge Supplies at 1-800-274-2221. By the way, the toll free number also serves as a Bridge Hot Line--they will answer any bridge-related question you might have. They can also be reached by e-mail at bbarclay@iglou.com.)