[Scarabin]

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Hi I live in sydney,australia and i am searching for a good rule based bridge playing computer program. Monte carlo simulations infuriate me because they are unreliable in both bidding and play. Fred Gittleman worked on a program, Base 111, in 1991, which would have grown into the sort of thing i look for. To me the holy grail of bridge program is rule based bidding and play based on a single dummy analysis like Suitplay. Unfortunately FG abandoned his program to work on BBO. The point of this enquiry is a program with the unlikely name of "Bobby knows bridge", has anyone come across this or purchased it? does it actually exist or is it just an elaborate hoax? Please help?

scarabin

[mwalimu02]

hi, haven't come across such a software! When and if you do please share!

[Scarabin]

Hi,Will share of course. There are a few possibilities: a couple of AI depts at universities are working on suit combination analysis - using it as the basis for playing individual suits and combining these into a declarer's strategy. Unfortunately they've been doing it for some time without reporting success but we can hope? Of the monte carlo clones I have encountered i find Wbridge5 the most congenial and Jackbridge and Bridge Baron the best-supported. There are two further hopes: Shark Bridge uses monte carlo simulation I think but also claims to give the closest to a human player. The declarer advice it gives may be a bit trivial and I have not been able to get a copy because they are still trying to clear last year's backlog of orders. If you visit their website you'll understand what I mean. "Bobby knows bridge", the program I mentioned before claims to be rule-based and of a very high standard. This may be "pie in the sky" because its websites are abandoned (like space detritus) and the programmer,Martin Johnson, is remarkably reluctant to discuss his program. And there you have it. Best wishes scarabin