Hands
At the end of each game, we all want to know how well we’ve done. We huddle around the Bridgemate, jab a few buttons, and (if we’re lucky), see an analysis which shows, the theoretically possible, contracts that might have been achieved.
This page will contain the hands for each tournament and the same analysis that you see on the Bridgemate.
This analysis , known as Double Dummy Analysis, shows the makeable contracts based on an optimal opening lead and perfect subsequent defence.
In other words, the optimal card is always selected by all players so as to give the best result possible. The analysis is based on knowing everyone’s cards.
Double dummy analysis is independent of any bidding system. It gives an indication of what might have been and not necessarily what can be bid or what can be achieved in actual tournament play.
One final point: when the analysis shows that a contract is makeable, it means there is a line of play (sometimes extremely difficult to find) that succeeds against optimal defence, starting with the best possible opening lead.
However, that line of play may rely on knowing the exact location of all the cards, something human players cannot do in real life, especially under tournament time constraints.
So if you go down if a particular contract even though the analysis indicates it can be made, it is not necessarily due to an unlucky opening lead or a mistake. More often, the “double-dummy” solution was simply not realistically achievable at the table. Please do not be hard on yourself, and certainly do not get annoyed with your partner.
*Hands will give you all boards in the competition along with their analyses. You can download and/or print.
*Solve will bring up an online bridge hand solver where you can experiment different lines of play to see how the optimal contract might be played. Under options you can switch between makable contracts and number of tricks. So if you see a – under makable contracts (indicating no contract possible) the other option will show you how many tricks could actually be made