Bridge in your pocket

For years, players had to go to the bridge club or friends' homes to play bridge. Computers changed all that -- they allowed people to stay at home and play online. The third generation is here: You can play bridge on your iPhone with iBridgeBaron.

The iBridgeBaron lets you load games, play new games or play deals from previous ACBL tournaments. For many players, the last option will be the most exciting. Take this deal, for example, from a sectional tournament in Wilmington DE:

Dlr: North Vul: None

West led the ♠9. I was South and won the ace in dummy. I led the ♦6 to my ace. I ruffed a diamond, played the ♠4 to my king and ran diamonds. East ruffed in and I clicked on claim -- the rest were mine. The opponents won only one trick and my score was plus 680. Next, iBridgeBaron presented a scoresheet, similar to a traveler, and I saw I scored 7 matchpoints out of 10.

That was fun, but there was more fun ahead. I clicked on replay to try the same deal again. This proved to be instructive. After 1♣ by North, I responded 1♠ (instead of 1♦) and North rebid 3♠. That makes sense. If I had bid 1♦, North would fear a misfit. On this auction, North made the value bid of 3♠. This indicates that iBridgeBaron bids on a fairly high level.

There are various settings to choose among. You can pick beginner, intermediate or advanced play. You can choose the bidding system from among various flavors of SAYC, 2/1, Standard American, Precision Club, ACOL and La Majeure Cinq. If you are playing and don't understand a bid, you can ask iBridgeBaron to interpret it for you. If you pick the wrong bid or play, you can ask for an undo by tapping on "back." You can also replay deals.

To play, all you need to do is reach in your pocket and pull out your iPhone or iPod Touch that has the iBridgeBaron application.

The web site www.ibridgebaron.com explains how to order this product. For help doing either, call Great Game Products at 888-762-8922.

Attention Teachers: Here is a program that you can recommend to your students.

Attention Teachers: Here is a program that you can recommend to your students. There are 6 conventions that every student needs to know to be competitive at duplicate games. 1. Stayman 2. Jacoby Transfers 3. Weak Two Bids 4. Michaels Cue Bids 5. Jacoby Two NoTrump 6. Negative Doubles

In each of the topics, the topic is defined, examples are given of why it is useful, when it should be used, what is lost by using the convention, and examples of its use. There is a quiz for each topic to check for understanding. This is essential to do before you play the practice hands.

I especially was glad I had this program when I was reviewing Negative Doubles for my supervised play class.

I got lots of hands from the program to use for the class. Even though the class is experienced, there were a lot of hands that they did incorrectly.

One of the most common errors was over 1C-1D. The student would make a negative double and only had one 4 card major and not both. They had forgotten that this is the one time they didn't need 5 cards to bid over the overcaller. Others wouldn't bid the negative double over 1D-2C holding only one four card major and 10 points. They didn't remember that with count they can make a negative double and then correct on their partner's next turn to partner's suit or NT if partner doesn't have their suit. It was handy to have the program available for them to review.

As a teacher, I am always looking for different ways to explain a concept. Not all students learn in the same manner. For the visual, the hands on the table works but there is always a student who wants to know why. This is where this type of program comes in handy. Teachers can get lots of ideas from software such as this that explains simply without a lot of long rhetoric.

"Great Games Products" is very generous to members of the ABTA. We can get a 50% discount if we identify ourselves as a teacher and ABTA member. Plus the actual price is very affordable for the student at only $29.95. You can call 1-(888)-762-8922 or e-mail to sales@bridgebaron.com