Hi, bridge pals.
I just put together a very long post that is something of a mashup of several how-to posts. I did it because not everyone has the technical know-ho to connect all the dots that I am forever scattering about on this blog.
Now, with some very handy new features recently completed, I thought I would connect one set of dots by showing you, end to end, how to get a bridge hand file from a live bridge session, reformat it as needed, then get it into bridgebase.com where you can relive the glory (or nightmares) to your heart’s content. One of my goals when writing my program was not only to generate new deals, but to be able to analyze and replay past deals to improve my learning. Thanks to the existence of actual bridge-playing sites like bridgebase.com, that is easily done.
Not to brag, but I just replayed the first deal from a recent session a dozen or so times until I figured out how to make an overtrick that would have given us top board. When I kept bidding exactly the same way to reach my contract, I never got the overtrick. I finally tried a different (but legitimate) opening bid before arriving at my usual contract. This caused the bridgebase robot to use a different opening lead, which then opened a path to the overtrick. I think this is a correct and very useful avenue of exploration, since live opponents should also lead differently based on different auctions. I was so happy with my eventual overtrick that I didn’t study the new and improved auction, but I can always go back and do it again and see if it always comes out that way. The beauty of learning through repetition and testing the results of different bids and different carding!
The resulting post is too long for email, so I just published it on the blog and now I’m pointing you to it. Click here if you are interested in the topic.
Enjoy!