Bridge Baron

Great Games Products

www.bridgebaron.com

Reviewed By Ellen "Caitlin" Pomer

Tom Throop first developed the very popular Bridge Baron (www.bridgebaron.com) program in the late 70s, just as the IBM PC Jr. made its appearance, along with the Apple, Commodore VIC 20, and the larger Commodore 64. Bridge Baron was the only program available to run on each of those machines, but at varying levels of skill. By the early 1990s, the field was reduced to two major players: PC (IBM-style) and Apple/Mac. Bridge Baron has since continued to produce material for both platforms.

When the World Computer Bridge Championship (www.ny-bridge.com/allevy/computerbridge) was started in 1997, Bridge Baron had almost 20 years of development behind the program. It won the inaugural competition, was a semi-finalist in 1998, and emerged with a finals appearance in 2007 and runner-up in the first individual event in 2008.

Bridge Baron is easy to load, and can deal every hand available. The bidding levels --thinking time-- range from one second to 2 minutes in roughly three second intervals. There are finer calibrations that can be made for bidding and play. In regular play mode, you are always South. The auction/deals go clockwise, so it helps certain functions, especially in third- and fourth-seat actions. As well you can ask for 'hints' when you are stuck for a bid or play!

Hint: Type in your activation code to allow the program to work beyond 30 days.

There are four sections to the CD: Play, Compete, Learn and Tools. For 'Play' there are seven basic bidding systems: Standard American, Acol, SAYC, Precision, Two over One, Forum D and La Majeure Cinequieme. To the delight of most players, you can choose options amongst these systems for basic, intermediate or advanced players with conventions that compliment the system and level you choose to play, As well you can play duplicate or rubber bridge with any friend/partner with Bridge Baron.

The 'Compete' section has two segments: one is Tournaments, where hands from North American Sectional, Regional and National sessions as well as five Cavendish Invitational Tournaments are offered. You try for the best score, comparing with those who played the hands. Additional tournaments can be purchased from Bridge Baron. The other is Bridge Match, where you and the computer play against a computer pair at your table and the hand is replayed with the program sitting in all four seats.

The third section is exciting for all students of the game, an excellent 'Learn Conventions' segment with 97 conventions/treatments (up from 83 in Baron 17) ranging from Stayman and Blackwood to Splinters, Bergen Raises, Garbage Stayman, Control Asking Cuebids, Ogust and many more. You can also try your luck at the Blackwood challenges where over 600 grouped hands are loaded and you try to replicate or beat the computer.

The fourth section is the 'Tools' category including a Deal Library, where you can save and retrieve deals that you have found interesting or challenging, and build your own library of noteworthy deals. As well here there is a deal generator, creating specified point-count and distribution criteria or conforming to particular bidding sequences.

The key to Bridge Baron is that with all its bells and whistles, it is very easy to load and play and enhances the game for players of all skill levels. I personally encourage each of my many students to purchase this great program and I give out homework to be practiced on Bridge Baron, depending on what systems and conventions we are working on at any given time. My students rave about the practice they get and from lesson to lesson, I see their prowess grow.

Relatively new to the Bridge Baron family are two books: Bridge Baron Companion, which helps you get the most from the main program by explaining how to use various sections, and A Computer's Twist: Play Problems for you with Bridge Baron Analysis. The latter allows you to see the way a computer looks at bridge hands and decides how it acts in both bidding and play. Lastly, there are three teaching programs on CD (PC only) which newer students of the game should purchase. Here you get extra practice on fundamental bids, from takeout doubles, preemption, 2C openers, Michaels, Unusual Notrump, negative doubles and more. These are the kind of bids/conventions which holds on in good stead for all systems of bridge.

As both a forever student of the game and Bridge Forum founder, teacher and author, I give this CD a five-star rating!

For those who cannot wait for the postal service or courier service to deliver, check with your local bridge supply house for availability.