gixxer1000

I will never get to use the Windows client, but I don't like that the web client can freeze and lag sometimes, especially when I am playing a tourney. That being said, I understand that you retired the Windows client for a reason, and I respect that.

I am a young bridge player, and I think the best way to teach beginners is to start with declarer play and defence. Most bridge books for beginners start out with bidding, but I find bidding to be extremely dry and boring. I would also give them bidding (maybe even declarer play and defence cheat sheets to start with) cheat sheets, and only teach them bidding when they have gotten into bridge - otherwise you will scare them off. I once taught the basics of bridge to some of my mates (14-15 year old boys - not the average bridge player demographic) and they enjoyed it, but I know that they probably wouldn't want to spend weeks learning it. I think kids who like strategic games such as chess will like bridge. I would also particularly target chess players as they are already willing to spend time playing a game that isn't on a computer. Anyway, I hope this was helpful and good luck.

I think that while Bridge programs will continue to get better over time, I doubt they would ever be able to consistently beat top bridge players. I think that because Bridge is a very psychological game and not much information is present (the dummy and your hand are visable, whereas chess and go are games of open information)it will be very hard to create a program that can beat top human players. There is also a lack of interest when it comes to Bridge in computer science.