My desk with computer monitor and Dealer4 machine. On the screen is the Dealer4 software with a hand displayed.

Most players take my word when I say, "The hands are randomly generated and dealt to the boards by a machine." That's all true as far as it goes, but what does it really mean?

Let me give you a peek behind the curtain and show you what it takes to make pre-dealt hands and hand records for a duplicate pairs game1.

Since the early days of generating bridge deals by computer, quite a bit of research has gone into the mathematics involved. Early random number generators were woefully inadequate for being able to replicate a hand-shuffled deck of cards.

The big winner this month was Ron Lu with 1.81 masterpoints in May. Fred "Big Fred the Mischief Maker" Nelson was second with 1.53.

In all in May, 44 players earned masterpoints, and a total of 27.22 points were awarded. That includes a bit of silver for the May 7 STaC game.

June will be a short month with two Monday night games, but the extra benefit game for Alzheimer's Association on June 21, The Longest Day.

Lynn Sager and Adam Barron picked up almost two silver points for their 65% game in the May 7 BridgeMojo STaC game. Close behind were Rosemary Schroeder with Hilary Clark, and Dona Clark with Carolyn Buzin.

From the posted results, it appears that there were two clubs playing 749er games on Monday evening, BridgeMojo and the Bridge Gallery in Northern California. The table count was 16.5 total tables.

The full Monday evening STaC results can be found at this link.

The next Unit Game with lunch is Sunday, May 6, 1:00 p.m.
May 1, 2018

April featured not four but five Monday evenings to play bridge in San Marino. Here are a few happy statistics:

Bonnie and Angela take on the robot pair.
Photo by Roy Wilson, April 2018
Roy's article on the Unit web site here

Last week was our first trial-run for having a pair of BBO (BridgeBase Online) robots fill a half-table at the BridgeMojo game.

What's wrong with having a sit-out?

Normally when the game has a half-table, on every round there's a pair who can't play. That pair has a 15-minute break. For the BridgeMojo game, that means seven pairs in the game will play twelve boards, and the rest will play fourteen.

To compensate for the difference, the total matchpoint score for those pairs is factored before comparing it with the other pairs in the game. Their final score is multiplied by 14/12 (7/6, 1.166). (Remember your fractions?) That brings every player up to a common baseline score.

Mailing label for an ACBL Bridge Bulletin

When I applied for the sanction for my bridge club, one of the questions on the application form asks for a seven-character code for your club to appear on masterpoint reports.

For my club, it had to be BRGMOJO, of course.

So when I got to see it in print for the first time (yay, Jane!) it was a bit of a thrill. :)

My desk with boards, cards, and the Playbridge Dealer4 machine.

Morris Jones
March 11, 2018

When I was deciding how to equip my bridge club, I took my cues from the ACBL North American Bridge Championships. As the pinnacle of tournament play, and heavy-duty supply usage, I had a strong bias toward their selections.

I purchased "Neo Classic" bidding boxes. (They take more space than the folding boxes, but are more durable.) I bought "Imperial-Plus" duplicate boards to use in a Dealer4 dealing machine, Cosco tables (the MECO tables are good too but have minor problems).

Our first "special event" at the BridgeMojo club will be a STaC (Sectional Tournament at Clubs) game on Monday, March 19.

The game will start at our regular time of 7:15 p.m., but we will play a bit longer: 21 boards instead of 14, finishing a bit before 10:00 p.m. We won't hold a postmortem that evening, so it's about the same ending time for those who like to stick around after playing.

So what is this event and why that evening?

To become a Life Master, you must have been awarded at least 75 silver points. Silver points are only awarded at sectional tournaments. (There's another way to look at this requirement: It's the ACBL's way of keeping attendance up at sectionals!)

Morris Jones
Feb. 11, 2018

At the Feb. 5 BridgeMojo postmortem I gave an overview of the standard Convention Card. The object was to show the various regions of the card and how it was laid out:

• The right half covers constructive bidding (our side opens)
• The left half upper two-thirds cover competitive bidding (their side opens)
• The left half lower portion covers defensive signals and carding

Each of the major areas are divided with titles that explain themselves fairly well, for example:

• Notrump openings and responses
• Major suit openings and responses
• Minor suit openings and responses
• Two-level openings and responses

The competitive bidding section on the left isn't quite as organized as the constructive section, but then competitive bidding is messy too. :)