catch22

Wish I could claim credit for that one as well, but it wasn't me, I was just plugging it as I thought it was a cool app as well :)

I've added a set of bridge problems for Android to the Google Play Store - It contains 34 free bridge problems of varying difficulty, plus 70 bridge problems for purchase from the Virtual European Championships series from Krzysztof Martens. Normally I struggle to come up with good hands, so if anyone has any play problem suggestions let me know. Also, any feedback will be welcome, unless it is really bad ;) Links - My Bridge Quiz http://tinyurl.com/c9j44gf Krzysztof Martens' web site http://www.martensuniversity.com/ Another set of bridge problems - These are from Richard Pavlicek http://tinyurl.com/btumr55

+1

I thought Steve Moe answered it QT-A954 Q9-AT54 is the difference. But this is a priori, so if you lead the 2 and west follows with the 4 then both lines are the same

Full auction was: P - (1C*) - 2C* - (2S*) 3H - (3N) - P - (4S) The other hand was: 4 94 QT982 AKT86

Sometimes at the table partner reacts when something is alerted that they weren't expecting. I'm not saying this happened here, but 3H seems very pessimistic at these colours, given the side support of Axx for partners other suit. So, perhaps I should have asked how strange does a bid have to look before there is any redress. Maybe there never is.

[hv=pc=n&s=sat2hqt752d852cj2]133|100[/hv] Green - IMPs (1C*)-2C*-(2S*)-3H West opened 1C (prepared, could be just 2). North overcalled 2C. This was natural because their 1C only guaranteed 2: if it guaranteed 3, then 2C would have shown the majors. South thought the opps bid showed 3+ so he alerted and explained it as the majors when asked. East bid 2S (alerted - North/South did not remember the explanation). South bid 3H The explanation for only bidding 3H was: There is no need to bid to the level of the fit (4H) because the opps "clearly" don't have a spade fit (we have 3 plus a theoretical 5) and I wouldn't want to bounce them into a likely making 5C contract? Should we be happy with this explantion?

[hv=pc=n&n=saq964hat9d732c92]133|100[/hv] Green IMPs Auction 1 (1C)-1S-(P)-P (1NT)-P-(3NT)-P (P)-P Auction 2 (2D*)-2S-(X*)-P (3C)-P-(3S)-P (3NT)-P-(P)-P 2D - 18-19 balanced (includes 4441s) X* - TO (2NT+ would have been Rubensohl) Your lead? The Cayne team got all these right :(

[hv=pc=n&n=skqt2haj7dqt65cj5]133|100[/hv] Amber IMPs Auction 1 (1C)-X-(P)-4S (5C)-? Auction 2 (1C)-X-(P)-4S (4NT*)-? *2 Suits

We lost 61 IMPs on 5 boards. 21 were gratuitously thrown, the rest, well you be the judge [hv=pc=n&s=sthakq86dkqt85c85]133|100[/hv] IMPS Red Auction 1 1H-(x)-3C*-(x) 4H-(5C)-P-(P) ? *4h 6-9 Auction 2 1H-(x)-3H*-(4C) 4H-(5C)-P-(P) ? *4h 5-8

Thanks for the update, it is possible to squeeze the memory further. Could you try checking KT854 - J32 and KQT84 - 32, as that will indicate how much memory I am playing with. Thanks, John

I checked the error that was reported and it appears to be an issue with Android versions prior to 2.3. Although the publisher was happy to target 2.2 :(. I've put in a fix to remove the code that relied on 2.3, but I can't test it on a device, I can only test on the emulator, but it does work there. I've uploaded a new version, but it normally takes a couple of hours before it appears I the store. Version will be 1.0.2 for Suit Player Six and 1.0.6 for Suit Player. Thanks for trying the app and would be interested to know if this fixes the problem. John

Sorry you are having problems - I've tested on friends Android phones, but the coverage is by no means comprehensive. Could you e-mail me with details of the cards you are trying to enter, the version of Android you are using and the model of your phone. It runs successfully on my 2 year old HTC Desire HD, but that allows 32MB of heap per application, which may well be important. So, it is possible if you have an older phone that there is not enough memory allocated per application. The biggest issue I have faced is trying to get the memory usage down, particularly on hands that have lots of combinations. e.g. K432 - J975 was the worst I have seen generating 80,000 nodes. But if it is a memory issue I would expect it to work with simple hands. For example, AK32 - QJ generates 0 nodes, so I would expect that always to work. Thanks, John

I've published an Android app, Suit Player Six, which solves single dummy problems. This version only allows 6 cards total for North South as I was hoping, maybe foolishly, I could get some reward for the time I have invested in this, through a paid app with no restrictions. App is available through Google Play http://tinyurl.com/9z4xh6v Any feedback would be most welcome. In particular: Is this an App bridge players would use? What additional features, if any, would people like to see? Would people only use it if it was free or supported through ads?

I also think this is the best approach. I've had very few problems with the rule based approach in the early stages of the auction. Even on invitational auction rules with KNR points evaluation can be effective. Competitive auctions probably either need simulations or another valuation method that adjusts the value of a hand based on the opposition bidding.