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Copyright 1995-2005, Thomas Andrews
Bridge at Sunset image created with POV-Ray.
Non-dynamic version

What's New?

Testing Binky Points
A new hand evaluation article.
Deal 3.1.7 point release [Oct. 31, 2008]
Deal 3.1.7 contains just minor changes from Deal 3.1.6.
Google Code project for Deal
Deal's source code is now hosted as a Google Code Project.
Deal Release Blog
A simple blog to use to announce new releases of Deal. Subscribe to the feed to learn about the latest point release.
New deals added to Bad Fit Deals and Doubly Asymmetric Deals.
Found using Deal 3.1 using the new double-dummy solver
Deal 3.1 Released!
Includes a built-in double dummy solver, DDS, written by Bo Haglund.
High Card Points Versus Binky Points
Comparing values between Binky Points and High Card Points, added to the Hand Evaluation Research page.
Deal gets mentioned in The New York Times.
In a column about research on bidding notrump games opposite balanced hands even with major suit fits...
A New Address: bridge.thomasoandrews.com
I've finally gotten a vanity domain address. The various old addresses should redirect you to this address.
An Ajax implementation of The Impossible Bridge Book.
Ajax stands for "Asynchronous Javascript and XML" and it's a powerful way to write Web-based applications.

Support Thomas's Bridge Fantasia

Things you can do to support this site:

  • Visit one of my advertisers.
  • Email me a hand you found interesting.
  • Find a correction to a typo or error in some analysis.
  • Give me ideas for further research.
  • Sign my guestbook.

Thomas's Bridge Fantasia

Bridge at Sunset

On the web since 1995

To navigate through the sections, click on the buttons to the left.

This is a new start page for users of Mozilla-based browsers, which includes Mozilla itself, Netscape 7.0, and Phoenix.

This page works with Internet Explorer, but it loads ugly - I have to do lots of style "corrections" with Javascript to make it look nice.

Privacy This front page uses a cookie to remember the last tab you looked at, so when you return to this page, it remembers to display that same tab. The cookie is forgotten when you shut down your browser and is not used for user tracking or any other invasion of privacy.

Bridge Stories and Deals

If you can't see the suit symbols between the brackets [♠♥♦♣], you probably can't read these articles. You might be able to fix the problem by upgrading your fonts.

Interesting Bridge Hands [Non-Framed]
A large collection (50+) of bridge hands, with my own, occasionally flawed, analyses. I am partial to squeeze plays.
Everybody Makes [PDF]
A single remarkable deal where 3 NT can be made by any declarer against best defense.
Everybody Makes 1♠
A new deal where every seat can make 1♠ as declarer.
Par Zero Deals [Non-Framed]
A collection of double-dummy oddities where no contract makes.
Bad Fit Deals [Non-Framed]
A set of double-dummy oddities; a collection of deals which play best in six-card fits.
Doubly Asymmetric Deals [Non-Framed]
A set of double-dummy oddities; not for the casual reader. In these hands, north/south make contract A only declared by south, and contract B only declared by north.

Software

Hand Generation

Deal 3.1
The latest version of my Tcl-based dealer which allows programmatic analysis of bridge hands. The GIB web site says that Deal is "the most powerful dealing program we've seen."
The Impossible Bridge Book
I have a book with every possible bridge deal in it. Just give me the page numbers, and I will give you the deals. Says someone in Germany, ...irgendwo zwischen Genie und Blödsinn... which translates as, somewhere between genius and rubbish.

XML Formatting Notes

XML Test Documents [Non-Framed]
All of the articles in Bridge Stories and Deals are generated from XML via XSL and CSS. These test documents are my method of making sure I haven't broken anything in my XML scripts. The test documents include sample input and output.
XML and Bridge Publishing
More examples of bridge with XML/XSL. This page discusses the advantages of XML and gives some examples which can be formatted by Internet Explorer or Mozilla, the only browsers with good XSL support.

Research, Articles, and Humor

Hand Evaluation Research
Several articles on hand evaluation methods based on double-dummy trick data. Also, try out an online version of the evaluators.
A Surprise in the Law
This is an article detailing a statistical oddity in the Law of Total Tricks.
Taking the "Suck" out of Suction
An article briefly noting the problems with the "Suction" convention, and a suggested solution, introducing two systems, "Psycho Suction" and "Inverted Psycho Suction."
Marketing bridge
My meeting with a marketing consultant.

Hand Play Articles

George Coffin's Great 88
A classic set of 88 five-card endings that are dazzling and disorienting.
Hugh Darwen's Double Dummy
A large collection of fascinating double dummy problems.
Richard Pavlicek's Site
Many interesting articles, including much stuff thematically related to this site. He has a great double-dummy hand, Mind Bogglers III: Optimum Contract, where both sides have three spades as their best making contracts. Also related are his deal encoding algorithm, which I've implemented in the Impossible Bridge Book, and his Bridge Writing Style Guide, which I used as a guide in my Bridge/XML work.
Mike Lawrence Articles
A good set of articles by Mike Lawrence, including an interesting framed presentation.

Dealing and Software Articles

In Shuffling Cards, 7 is Winning Number
A New York Times article about the seven-shuffle result. Essentially,this result says that seven shuffles yield good randomness, while fewer shuffles do not, and more shuffles do not significantly increase randomness. If you have some mathematical knowledge, you can read a proof of the result.
ACBL Article on Computer Deals
An ACBL response to frequent fears that computer deals are not 'true' or are somehow rigged, it gives a reasonable layman's description of why the perception is there, and why that perception is inaccurate.
Disorder in the Deck
Another article on computer dealt hands, from Science News.
Deja Vu at the 1995 CNTC Final
Fred Gitelman reports a case where computer dealing clearly was flawed. [This page doesn't look good with Mozilla because Fred is using applets to display hands.]
Bridge software development mailing list
A mailing list for bridge software development issues. Check out the archive.

Other Software

OKbridge
The oldest, and, last time I checked, best, online bridge service. I used to be a member, with name thomaso, but I let my membership drop.
GIB
The best-playing computer bridge program. It uses a variation on my evaluation techniques during bidding, and its double-dummy solver is callable from my dealing software, Deal 3.1.

Organizations

The American Contract Bridge League
It ain't perfect, but it's the main option for American tournament play.
The World Bridge Federation
International body.
MIT Draper Labs Bridge Club
Where I started playing.
The Bridge World
The most venerable bridge magazine.
Great Bridge Links
Probably the best organized collections of bridge links.