Review of Bridge Baron 12
Jim Loy
www.jimloy.com

Jim Loy of Bozeman MT has been testing bridge-playing programs for the ACBL since 1996. He has spent thousands of hours at his computer bidding and playing with dozens of programs.

In the past, Bridge Baron had relatively few optional bidding conventions. The publisher's philosophy has been that it is better to do a few things well instead on many things poorly. As a programmer, I agree that that makes a lot of sense, as the subtle interactions between conventions can become exceedingly complex.

Some of the other strong programs, however, have many, many conventions and normally bid very well. The new version of this program, Bridge Baron 12, has more optional bidding conventions than do earlier versions.

The 1 NT opening range can be set at 12-14, 13-15,14-16,15-17 or 16-18. You can chooose Weak Twos, Weak Jump Overcall, Forcing 1 NT over 1 heart/1 spade, Negative Double, Jacoby Transfer, Unusual Notrump, Limit Major Raise, Cappelletti, Michaels Cuebid, Texas, Flannery, Drury, Reverse Drury;

Roman Key Card Blackwood, Weak Jump-Shift Response, Splinter Bid, Control-showing Cuebid, Inverted Minor Raise, Lebensohl over Overcall of 1 NT, Lebensohl after Double of a Weak Two, Smolen, Minor Suit Stayman, Grand Slam Force;

Voluntary Five-Major Bid, Responsive Double. The program has three bidding systems (Standard American, 2/1 Game Force, and Acol). Out of the box, you get Standard American, with none of the above conventions selected. In particular, you get Strong Two Bids, right out of the box.